
Class \ bb lo 
Gopyriglitl^°Xjibu2- 

COESRICHT DEPOSm 



History of Nebraska 



FROM THE EARLIEST EXPLORATIONS OF THE 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI REGION 



BY 

J. STERLING MORTON 

AND 

ALBERT WATKINS. PH.B.. LL.B. 



A REVISED EDITION 



EDITED AND REVISED 

BY 

AUGUSTUS O. THOMAS, A.M.. PH.D. 

STATE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT OF MAINE; EX-STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF NEBRASKA : 
EX-PRESIDENT OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT KEARNEY. NEBRASKA 



JAMES A. BEATTIE, A.M.. LL.D. 

EDUCATOR AND LECTURER ON EDUCATIONAL THEMES; EX-PRESIDENT OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL 
AT PERU. NEBRASKA; PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION COTNER UNIVERSITY 



ARTHUR C. WAKELEY 

JUDGE IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF NEBRASKA. ASSOCIATE EDITOR 



WESTERN PUBLISHING AND ENGRAVING COMPANY 

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 

1918 



r lnis}<j 



(yi-'-^z 



COPYRIGHT. 1918 

BY 

WESTERN PUBUSHINC AND ENGRAVING COMPANY 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



m -S 1918 ^ 



>Ci.A5UI380 



,V 






THE TORCH PRESS 
LINCOLN. NEBRASKA 

AND 
CCDAR RAPIDS. IOWA 



< 

r 



I V 



iJ 







I 



History of Nebraska 



Leg byHenrvTtLv 



.fi\3L4^|WsV^-r^^ 






DEDICATED 

To the memory of the strong men and noble women who 
dared the dangers and endured the hardships of pioneer 
Hfe in the "Great American Desert"; who first plowed 
and planted these Plains, who here first built and conse- 
crated homes, and who laid the foundations of an endur- 
ing civilization. 



A STATEMENT BY THE PUBLISHERS 

The publishers take pleasure in presenting to the people of the state and of 
the country this History of Nebraska. While it is the history prepared by J. 
Sterling Morton and Albert Watkins, it is much more. It is a careful and a 
thoughtful revision of their edition which was completed in 191 1 and 1913. 

The revision has been made in the light and according to the following guid- 
ing principles : 

1. To preserve, as far as possible, the order and the current of events as they 
are presented in the former work. 

2. To furnish, at reasonable cost and within moderate space, a trustworthy 
history of the days of exploration and discovery, of the pioneer sacrifices and 
settlements, of the life and organization of the territory of Nebraska, of the first 
fifty years of statehood and progress, and of the place Nebraska holds in the 
scale of character and civilization. 

3. This revision is the result of a conscientious and painstaking efifort to 
preserve the unity and spirit, the aim and purpose of the original work. Where 
changes have been made they have been to bring the parts together, to preserve 
the unity and harmony of statement, and to add important events which have 
taken place since the publication of the parent work. Changes have been made, 
also, to include the events and progress which fall within the semi-centennial 
period which had not taken place when the larger work was written. 

4. It has been the specific aim to include the facts of life and the events in 
history which exhibit for the people of today and for those who are to come after 
us a true picture of the plains of Nebraska and to give a trustworthy account of 
the progress which has been made during the years which lie between the date 
when the first hunters and trappers saw the Platte river and valley and March 
I, 1917 — the end of the first semi-centennial of the state. 

5. The publishers take the opportunity to say that no mention is made of the 
activity, loyalty, and patriotism of the people of Nebraska in the great war now 
raging in Europe. It must be apparent to all that the time has not come to re- 
count the deeds of valor of our soldiers in the army and navy and to record the 
devotion and contributions of the people to the cause of freedom and for the 
relief of the distressed, the comfort of the sick and wounded, and for the deliver- 
ance of the oppressed. For, in all probability, we are nearer the beginning than 
the end of the great struggle — the task we have undertaken because of the cry 



viii STATE^IENT BY THE PUBLISHERS 

of the oppressed and in answer to tlie call of humanity. It is the purpose of the 
publishers, when the war is over, to present to the public a volume giving Ne- 
braska's record in the great war. Enough has been done during the fourteen or 
fifteen months since the United States declared a state of war exists and took 
her place with the allied nations, to assure us that Nebraska's record will be 
worthy of the great cause in which we are engaged and of the loyalty and patri- 
otism of a free, intelligent, and independent people. 

Western Publishing and Engraving Company. 
Lincoln, Nebraska, July, 1918. 



INTRODUCTION 

Two or three statements may aid us in appreciation of history in general, and 
more particularly they may help to show the value, for all citizens, of local and 
state history. They will enable us to understand and to realize that he lives the 
best and most useful life, both for himself and for all with whom he is in any way 
connected, who lives in the present, who makes a wise use of all the past, and 
who provides as far as possible for the future. 

This relation of past, present, and future points to the true meaning of history 
and helps us to determine its real significance. It suggests the most significant 
thing in the study of history, whether it relates to a community, to a state, to a 
nation, or to the world. This is the case whether history is one of the means of 
mental growth and intelligence and a source of enrichment of life, as in the case 
of a student, or from the standpoint of the busy man or woman who has time for 
only a few pages in a week. This meaning and significance may be expressed 
thus: We study history that we may know how the present came to be — how 
the present came out of the past — what the relation of the present is to the past, 
and, then, by a wise use of the knowledge we gain and the strength we acquire 
we may prepare for the future. This is the practical, everyday side of the 
knowledge of history. From this point of view history has a meaning and a 
significance which are beyond our ability to measure. 

2. A second thing worth while to mention in this connection is this : Every I 
state in the federal union has certain things which distinguish it from others. \ 
These special characteristics may be in the relative position, in the form or con- 
tour of the surface, in the richness or poverty of the soil, in the depth or shallow- 
ness of the subsoil, in the water supply, in the presence or absence of trees, in the 
quality, quantity, and variety of the native fruits, in the size and number of its ' 
watercourses, in its exposure to or protection from destructive storms, in the hfe i 

, and character of the native peoples, in the aim, spirit or purpose of the first set- 

' tiers, in the adaptation of the earlier and later inhabitants, in the changing con- _ 
ditions which advancing civilization imposes, or any one or more of a hundred \ 

! other peculiarities. 

I While these qualities are often difficult to find in advance they determine the 
trend of development and fix within definite limits the extent and character of 
the progress and civilization of the inhaliitants. 

The foregoing statements and that which they suggest about the state explain 
in part that which has been accomplished and that which Nebraska is at the end 



X INTRODUCTION 

of the first semi-centennial period. This is the case because the trend of growtli 
and development was determined in part by the physical features upon which 
the social, economic, political, educational, and religious forces have acted and 
reacted. Had they been different the history of those who came to build an 
enduring civilization would have been different. The divine hand through na- 
ture's forces and laws laid the foundations of a commonwealth and the builders 
have erected a structure worthy of themselves, of the opportunities which were 
theirs, and of the physical conditions into which they came. 

3. A third thing which may be in place in this introduction as we think of the 
significance of history and of the relation of the past to the present and to the 
future, is the complete transformation which has taken place in the valleys and 
on the plains of Nebraska within much less than one hundred years. What does 
that transformation say when we question the future? What is the answer 
when we ask what the future ought to be in the light of the growth of the past? 
And again when we see the answer in the light of the condition of the present? 
Do we have the courage of the real conviction necessary to face the future with 
its ever-increasing demands? Do we possess the knowledge of the past and 
likewise the ability and skill to use the forces and institutions of the present and 
thus make the future worthy of the past and of the present ? Have we the wis- 
dom which the past is willing to supply and the strength which knowledge gives 
so completely at our command that we can make the physical well-being, the in- 
tellectual attainments, the moral worth and spiritual excellence of the future 
worthy of the past and present? In the light of that which the history of Ne- 
braska unfolds, what kind of a future will discharge the debt we owe the future? 
Think of the comparatively short time since the great stretches of Nebraska 
lands were occupied by Indian tribes and herds of buffalo, and of the very few 
years since the Oregon and Mormon trails were followed by the thousands of 
people who sought homes and fortunes in the far West ! A little study will teach 
us what and when and how our forefathers accomplished, in so brief a space, so 
great a transformation. The pages of this semi-centennial history show us by 
what means our children and our children's children may be worthy of the log 
cabin, the sod house and the ox team of our fathers. To make our children and 
ourselves worthy sons and daughters of noble men and devoted women is one of 
the chief purposes of this publication. 

J. A. Beattie. 

Lincoln, July, 1918. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 



Natural Conditions — Geology — Archseologj- — Climatic Conditions — Vegetation — 
Fauna. 

CHAPTER H 24 

Aboriginal Occupants — Spanish and French Explorers — American Expeditions — 
Fur Trade — First Settlements — Early Traders — Authentic Explorations. 

CHAPTER HI 62 

Early Travel and Transportation — The Overland Stage — Pony Express — River 
Navigation — First Railroad and Telegraph. 

CHAPTER R^ 98 

The Louisiana Purchase. 

CHAPTER V 112 

The Missouri Compromise — The Second Compromise — Stephen A. Douglas — The 
Richardson Bill --The Dodge Bill — The Kansas-Nebraska Bill — Provisional Gov- 
ernment — Division of Nebraska — Estimate of Douglas — Proposed Boundaries — 
Suffrage Qualifications. 

CHAPTER VI 138 

The Mormons in Nebraska. 

CHAPTER VH 143 

The First Governor — Rival Towns — Organization — Election Precincts — First Cap- 
ital Controversy — First Election. 

CHAPTER Vni 171 

First Legislature — Administration of Governor Izard — Location of the Capital — 
Laws of the First Session — L'nited States Surveys — Claim Clubs — Incorporation 
Laws — Nebraska's Peculiarity — First Independence Day — Judicial Organization. 

CHAPTER IX 201 

The Second Legislature — Second Congressional Campaign — Political Conditions. 

CHAPTER X 223 

The Third Legislature — The Third Congressional Campaign — Richardson Succeeds 
Izard ^ The Fourth Legislature — Florence Session — Death of Governor Cuming. 

CHAPTER XI 253 

First Political Conventions — Postponement of Land Sales — Fifth Legislature — Res- 
ignation of Governor Richardson. 



xii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XII 273 

Land Sales — Half-Breed Tract — United States Surveys — Appointment of Governor 
Black — First Territorial Fair — Chapman-Ferguson Contest — Annexation to Kansas. 

CHAPTER XIII 287 

The Territory under Party Organization —The First Party Campaigns — Daily-Esta- 
brook Contest — Sixth Legislature. 

CHAPTER XIV 297 

Pohtical Conventions — Congressional Campaigns of 1860-1862— Seventh Legisla- 
ture — Morton-Dailv Contest — Departure of Governor Black — Appointment of Gov- 
ernor Saunders — Military Affairs — Eighth Legislature. 

CHAPTER XV 329 

Ninth Legislature — Constitutional Convention, 1864 — Political Conventions, 1864 — 
Tenth Legislature — Reappointment of Governor Saunders — Politics in 1865 — Elev- 
enth Legislature — The First State Constitution. 



CHAPTER XVI 



359 



PoUtics in 1866— Rock Bluffs Contest — Johnson and Anti-Johnson Factions— Strug- 
gle Over Statehood — Election of First State Officers — Twelfth and Last Territorial 
Legislature — The Negro Suffrage Condition in Congress, and in the First State Leg- 
islature. 

CHAPTER XVII ■ 394 

Territorial Military History. 

CHAPTER XVIII -^-0 

Territorial Products. 

CHAPTER XIX -^33 

Territorial Press. 

CHAPTER XX . . ++9 

Slavery in Nebraska. 

CHAPTER XXI 465 

The Pioneer Railway of Nebraska. 

CHAPTER XXII 492 

Schools, Colleges, and L^niversities. 

CHAPTER XXIII 526 

Organizing the State Government — Removal of the Capital — EstabUshing Lincoln. 

CHAPTER XXIV ^^^ 

Starting the State — Scandals in the State Government — Senator Tipton Reelected- 
Governor Butler's Third Election — Hitchcock United States Senator— Impeachment 
Proceedings. 

CHAPTER XXV -""^^ 

Anarchy in the Legislature — Sessions of 1871-1872— Lunatic Asylum Burned — 
Constitutional Convention of 1871. 



CONTENTS xiii 

CHAPTER XXVI 552 

A Special Session Fiasco — The Tennant Case — Right of a Negro to be a Juryman — 
Validity of Admission to Statehood — Political Disruption of 1872 — The Furnas Libel 
Suit — the Kennard Claims — State Finance — Retirement of Tipton and Election of 
Paddock for United States Senator — Final Defeat of Thayer — Capital Removal — 
Legislature of 1875. 

CHAPTER XXVn 578 

Constitutional Convention, 1875 — Constitutions Compared — Elections of 1875 — Rise 
of Van Wyck — Politics of 1876. 

CHAPTER XXVni 587 

Blunders in Procedure — Defeat of Hitchcock for Senator — The Legislature of 1877 
— Capital Removal — Increase in Population — Legislation and Politics, 1877-1883 — 
Omaha Labor Riot of 1882. 

CHAPTER XXIX 603 

Political History, 1882-1890 — The Period of Mainly Unsuccessful Attempts to Procure 
Reform Legislation Culminating in the Poprulist Revolution — First Railroad Commis- 
sion — Three Cent Passenger Rate. 

CHAPTER XXX 615 

The Populist Revolution — The Strangled State Election Contest of 1890-1891 — De- 
feat of the Prohibition Amendment — Political Conventions and Elections, 1890-1892 — 
Legislatures of 1891 and 1893 — Election of Wm. V. Allen, Populist, for United States 
Senator — Impeachment of State Officers. 

CHAPTER XXXI 634 

The Populist Probation — Return of the Republican Prodigal — His Conversion to 
Populism — A Period of Party Rotation. 

CHAPTER XXXII 651 

Material Growth and Resources — Agriculture — Commerce — Manufacture — The 
Grasshopper Plague — Drouths — Farmers' Organizations — Trans-Mississippi Exposi- 
tion. 

CHAPTER XXXIII 677 

History of Railroad Construction — Final Indian Hostilities — Nebraska in the War 
with Spain. 

CHAPTER XXXIV 693 

Greater Omaha — Christian Science in Nebraska — Ak-Sar-Ben of Omaha — Develop- 
ment of the Potash Industry. 

CHAPTER XXXV 706 

The Semi-Centennial Celebration — Nebraska and the Great War in Europe. 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



i 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



CHAPTER I 

Natural Conditions — Geology — Archeology — Climatic Conditions — Vegetation 

Fauna 



IN THE long run physical environment, such 
as soil, climate, and topography, shape the 
man and the society ; but human character and 
social propensities, formed in older states and 
in other and older countries, have been trans- 
planted into this new state, and while, accord- 
ing to a marked American instinct or charac- 
teristic, the people have been quick to adapt 
themselves to a somewhat important change of 
conditions, yet the time during which they 
have been subject to them has been too short 
appreciably to change their character or social 
aspect. If they had only the richest and most 
easily tillable soil in the world to conjure 
with, this might tend to breed mental and 
esthetic dullness; but they have been saved 
from this influence by the rarefied and bracing 
atmosphere, by the sunshine in which they are 
almost perennially bathed, as well as by cer- 
tain adverse climatic conditions which chal- 
lenge their vigilance and ingenuity. While 
the people of the Plains have missed the com- 
forting companionship of brooks and hills and 
groves, whose friendly presence sustained the 
courage and inspired the esthetic sense of the 
settlers of the Mississippi valley, yet these 
Plains have a beauteous aspect of their own 
which often inspired the limning pen of Irving 
and engaged Cooper's romantic eye. The il- 
limitable expanse of landscape, the unrivaled 
beauty of morning and evening lights and 
shades, the marvelous clearness of the air, 
however monotonous, do not fail to excite the 

1 Astoria, pp. 2S8-2S9. 



esthetic sensibility and widen the spiritual 
vision of the people. 

But when Irving undertook to estimate the 
material value, and to picture the future use- 
fulness and development of this vast prairie 
empire, he looked with blindfold eyes and 
painted a dismal black: 

It is a land where no man permanently 
abides. . . Such is the nature of this im- 
mense wilderness of the far West, which ap- 
parently defies cultivation and the habitation 
of civilized life. Some portions of it along the 
rivers may partially be subdued by agricul- 
ture ; others may form vast pastoral tracts like 
those of the East ; but it is to be feared that a 
great part of it wMl form a lawless interval be- 
tween the abodes of civilized man, like the 
waters of the ocean and the deserts of Arabia ; 
and like them be subject to the depredations of 
the marauders.^ 

And then, as this polished poet-historian 
continues to contemplate the lugubrious pros- 
pect, his style, in general the refinement of 
grace, dignity, and self-control, breaks into an 
almost grotesque delineation of the fate of a 
land which was destined within the space of a 
man's life to become "the home, the portion 
fair" of nearly ten million prosperous and 
happy people. And Cooper, the leading ro- 
manticist of that day, observes in The Prairie 
that the plains are "in fact a vast country in- 
capable of sustaining a dense population in the 
absence of the two great necessities" — wood 
and water. This great story-teller aflfected a 
knowledge of geology, but it was not pro- 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



found enough to penetrate to the hiexhaustible 
sheet of subterranean water which, fed by the 
eternal snows of the Rocky mountains, is coex- 
tensive with the great slope between these 
mountains and the Missouri river and within 




AlortiU Ccoiugical Exj^cdttion, l^uo. 

Arikaree Falls 
Ten miles east of Valentine, Neb., fed by Sand 
Hill springs and leaping over a wall of Arikaree 
sand rock. First plunge, eighty-five feet ; second, fif- 
teen feet. These are the loftiest falls in the state. 



easy reach of the UTodern and post-Irving- 
Cooper windmills which now dot these plains 
in such profusion that they would set a whole 
legion of Don Quixotes in simultaneous 
frenzv. Nor could the lively imagination of 



these great romancers foresee the practicabil- 
ity of the substitution for the lacking wood, 
of the great deposits of coal in the adjacent 
mountains and underlying a large part of these 
vast i)lains, because railroad transportation was 
beyond Irving's ken or fancy and Coopter's 
practicable view. As to this, Cooper skeptically 
remarks : "It is a singular comment on the 
times that plans for railroads across these vast 
plains are in active ■discussion, and that men 
have ceased to regard these projects as chimer- 
ical." 

And Long, in the story of his expedition of 
1819, gives the following hopeless character- 
ization to the Nebraska plains, which, in their 
easterly portion at least, for prolific production 
of live stock and of the forage which sustains 
them, including the .staple cereals, and for ease 
of cultivation and lasting fertility, excel any 
other region of so large an area in the world : 

The rapidity of the current (of the Platte 
river) and the great width of the bed of the 
river preclude the possibility of any extensive 
inundation of the surrounding country. The 
bottom lands of the river rise by an imper- 
ceptible ascent, on each side, extending later- 
ally to a distance of from two to ten miles, 
where they are terminated by low ranges of 
gravelly hills, running parallel to the general 
direction of the river. Beyond these the sur- 
face is an undulating plain, having an eleva- 
tion of from fifty to one hundred feet, and 
presenting the aspect of hopeless and irre- 
claimable sterility. 

Logically Long's conclusion as to the hope- 
less sterility of the plains of the Platte should 
be an inference from the misstatement of fact 
by Marbois, made as late as 1830, in his his- 
tory of Louisiana (p. 350) : "On the two 
^ides of the river 'Plate' are vast jilains of 
sand from an hundred to an hundred and fifty 
leagues in extent where no indication of living 
creatures is to be found." The ignorance of 
■Marbois is not as inexcusable or remarkable 
as the lame logic of Irving and Long, for the 
abundance of wild animals with which they 
perceived the plains were stocked, would have 
suggested to them that the region would be 
peculiarly adapted, under cudivatiou, for the 
sustenance of domestic animal life. 

When some phenomenon which may have 



NATURAL CONDITIONS 




Photograph, Morrill Geological Expedition, iSgS- 

Bad Lands 
Bad Lands of Brule formation (Oligocene) two and a half miles west of the Burlington & 
Missouri railwaj' station at Adelia, Sioux county, Nebraska, looking northwest. 




Photograph, Morrill Geological Expedition. iSg^. 

Pine Ridge 
North face of Pine Ridge at Warbonnet canyon looking north across the Hat creek basin toward 
the Black Hills outlined in the distance. The pine covered clifTs are Arikaree formation. The white 
patch in the distance is the Brule clay of the Little Bad Lands, .Sioux county, Nebraska. Beyond the 
Brule clay the Pierre formation begins. 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



been an eternal fact or is a manifestation of an 
eternal law of nature, but which has been hid- 
den from our imperfect understanding, is, 
from the changing jxiint of view or in the nat- 
ural course of events, suddenly revealed, we 
call it Providence. And so this vast hidden 
reservoir of water and the man-wrought mir- 
acle of the steam railroad, which opened the 
way for the waiting millions, were the Provi- 
dence of these Plains. Because Irving and 
Cooper and their compeers failed mentally or 
physically to penetrate to the one and to di- 
vine the coming kingdom of the other, they 
consigned the whole region to the doom of 
eternal desolation. God indeed moves in a 
mysterious way his wonders to perform. This 
"wilderness which apparently defies cultiva- 
tion and the habitation of civilized life" is the 
granary as well as the shambles of the world. 
Of two typical states — Iowa and Nebraska — 
which cut through the heart of the Plains, the 
first is the imperial agricultural common- 
wealth of the richest farming country of the 
world, and in the production of the great food 
staples the other lags but little behind. 

During incalculable numbers of centuries 
there was a like providential preparation on 
the surface of these plains of the richest soil 
in the world to cover so wide an area. 

Geology.^ From a geological standpoint 
Nebraska doubtless stands as the most dis- 
tinctly agricultural state in the Union, yet it is 
not without other resources of economic im- 
portance. Its rocks are undisturbed sediment, 
and its geology is apt to be regarded as simple 
in the extreme and its topography as that of 
an undiversified plain ; but investigation shows 
the state to be diversified and interesting and 
even startling in the boldness of certain physi- 
ographic regions. The altitude varies from a 
general level of about a thousand feet along 
the Missouri river to that of over five thou- 
sand feet some four hundred miles further 
west in the state. At this distance the prairie 
lands of the eastern portion, which are some- 
times level but often rolling, begin to merge 

2 For this description of the geology of Nebraska 
we are indebted to Erwin Hinckley Barbour. Ph.D., 
professor of geology in the University of Nebraska; 
state geologist and curator of the state museum. — Ed. 



into the tables and lofty buttes of the western 
edge of the state. The climatic conditions 
vary somewhat with the distance westward, 
and are comparable with those of Ohio and 
Indiana. In general the atmosphere is dry 
and considered quite as favorable to health 
and longevity as the more famous air of Colo- 
rado. 

The rainfall of the eastern portion is about 
twenty-three inches and the evaporation four 
feet, while the precipitation of the western 
portion may fall as low as twelve to fifteen 
inches with an evaporation of six feet. The 
geologj' of Nebraska is seemingly complex, 
chiefly because the strata are so deeply buried 
that they are not exposed for study. First, 
the strata sag or dip to the west, not appear- 
ing again until the flanks of the Rocky moun- 
tains are reached, thus forming a deeply bur- 
ied trough. Second, the beds are covered by 
loose surface materials which are very dis- 
tinct and generally recognized as bluff deposit 
or loess, glacial drift, and sand-hills. All of 
the southeastern half of the state is covered 
more or less deeply by loess, which is a sandy 
loam of glacial origin of a light yellow color 
and of inexhaustible fertility. The northwest- 
ern half is covered largely by sand-hills re- 
sulting from the action of wind in transport- 
ing and piling up the disintegrated sand of 
Tertiary rock. The loess being as thick in 
many places as one hundred feet, and the 
sand-hills as thick as three hundred, it is plain 
that Nebraska rocks are concealed, and that 
they are not to be found except where streams 
have trenched the superficial beds. 

Along the streams of southeastern Nebraska 
the limestones are found, which are well 
known because they are extensively quarried. 
These belong to the Coal Measure or the Car- 
boniferous age, the oldest rock in the state. 
Though rich in beds of limestone and produc- 
tive beds of valuable clays and shales, our 
Carboniferous rock is poor in coal, the best 
seam being scarcely more than eighteen inches 
thick and encased in tenacious shale. Ex- 
posures of Carboniferous rock are common 
along the streams in Richardson, Pawnee, Ne- 
maha, Tohnson, Otoe, Cass, Sarpy, Douglas, 



GEOLOGY 



and Washing-ton counties, and in scattered 
patches as far west as Lancaster and Gage 
counties. From an economic standpoint this 
is the most important geologic formation in 
the state, since it yields the limestone for lime, 
rubble, riprap, building, smelting, sugar refin- 
ing, and flint for ballast, as well as enormous 
amounts of excellent clay for brick, tile, and 
terra cotta. 

The Carboniferous is lost west of Lincoln 
by dipping under beds of the Cretaceous age 
and by sinking several thousand feet before 
again coming to the surface in the mountains. 
If the state could be divested of its great man- 
tle of soil and sand. Cretaceous clays and 



artesian water, building stone (which, though 
ocherous and soft, is often put to use), and 
beds of superior clay, which furnish brick of 
all desired colors and kinds. It also furnishes 
a large amount of sand for building purposes, 
and, from a layer near its base, the best gravel 
in the state. Overlying the Dakota is the Ben- 
ton Cretaceous, consisting essentially of a 
white layer of chalk rock overlying a layer of 
black shale. It may be traced along the Re- 
publican river from Harlan county to Hebron, 
Endicott, Milford, Niobrara, and westward 
along the Niobrara river to Boyd county. Eco- 
nomically this layer may become important. 
The chalk rock is quarried for lime and build- 




Morrill Geological Expedition, igoc. 

ScHLEGEL Rapids and Falls 
Southwest of Valentine, Cherry county, Nebraska, in the Arikaree formation. 
Plunge, about twelve feet; width, about fifty feet. 



shales would predominate. As it is, they oc- 
cur in widely scattered patches along the 
courses of streams. 

Though enormously thick and broad in ex- 
tent, our Cretaceous rock is known by small, 
local patches. The oldest Cretaceous layer, 
the Dakota, being the water-bearing bed, is 
the best known as well as the most important. 
It consists largely of rusty sands and beds of 
clay which may be traced from Jefferson coun- 
ty northeast to Dakota county and beyond. 
Economically, this formation of sparsely ex- 
posed rock is of the greatest importance to 
the Plains, yielding excellent water, including 



ing purposes. Being very soft when "green," 
it is commonly cut into proper shape with or- 
dinary hand-saws, and, after drying and hard- 
ening, is laid up with mortar in the usual way. 
In this layer is found also an undeveloped re- 
source of great promise, in as much as the 
chalk rock, when prop>erly tempered with the 
shale, gives an hydraulic cement of excellent 
quality. Next above the Benton comes the 
Pierre formation, ordinarily spoken of as 
Pierre shale because it consists essentially of 
shale throughout its extent. In western Ne- 
braska it attains a thickness of several thou- 
sand feet. Though broad in extent, it is sel- 



6 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



dom seen save where exposed by the cutting 
of some river ; and though four thousand to 
five thousand feet thick, it presents nothing 
of commercial importance, being destitute of 
water, gas, oil, coal, building stone, or any- 
thing else of economic value. At least two- 
thirds of the state consists of Pierre shale, 
though covered from general view. 

Next above the Pierre come the Tertiary 
bedls, which may be divided into a lower 
clayey layer eight hundred to one thousand 
feet thick known as the Bad Lands (Oligo- 
cene), and an upper layer five hundred to six 



forts shall be provided. These beds, consist- 
ing essentially of marly clays of fresh-water 
origin, are peculiarly rich in vertebrate fossils 
and are the classic collecting grounds of Amer- 
ica. Where the wash is not excessive the 
Bad Lands come readily under cultivation, be- 
ing fertile and productive ; but seen as they 
are by the average tourist, destitute of water 
and living things, trenched, bare, and baked, 
they seem to typify desolation and waste. 
Continuous with, and rising high above the 
Bad Lands are the butte sands of Arikaree 
formation. 




Morrill Geological Expeditwu , isg^. 

To.\DSTooL P.\RK, Sioux Countv B.\d L.'\nds 
Two miles west of Adelia on the Burlington & Missouri River railroad. 



hundred feet thick known as the butte sands 
(Arikaree, Miocene). Like the Pierre, the 
Bad Lands are without natural resources of 
the least economic value, save the valuable fos- 
sils, in digging and collecting which a consid- 
erable number of men are employed. It is 
necessary constantly to remind the general 
public that Bad Lands is a misnomer. They 
are not bad in the sense of sterility ; but to 
drive over they are bad beyond question, being 
cut and w^ashed into deep gullies and lofty pin- 
nacles. There is a magnificence and grandeur 
about the Bad Lands which must attract tour- 
ists when suitable accommodations and com- 



AU of western Nebraska has a general alti- 
tude approaching five thousand feet, and here 
the magnificent buttes and tables add diversity 
and beauty to the landscape. Here also thou- 
sands of pine trees flourish and are the chief 
natural resource of this formation. Being 
sandy, it is productive of pure water, and its 
grazing lands are of the best. It lends itself 
to profitable and easy cultivation, especially 
where irrigated. In many places in south- 
western Nebraska a still younger formation 
rests upon what is known as the "magnesia" 
or mortar beds (Ogalalla). -\1I of the remain- 
ing: beds are still more recent in time and con- 



ARCH.EOLOGY 



sist of unconsolidated materials. The sand- 
hill region which covers the northwestern half 
of the state is derived from the disintegration 
of Tertiary sands and their subsequent trans- 
portation by the wind. In the early history of 
the state, when herds roved unrestricted over 
the Plains, and when prairie fires were un- 
checked, the bare sands became shifting sand 
dunes, and grass, underbrush, and trees were 
destroyed, and the region presented the ap- 
pearance of a desert, as it was then supposed 
to be. Now some of the best ranches, hay 
lands, and grazing lands are to be found in the 
heart of the sand-hill country. The south- 
eastern half of the state is covered, from a 
few feet to one hundred feet or more in depth, 
with a fine, light yellow loam of great fertilit}', 
known as the loess, or bluff deposit, from its 
habit of standing in vertical walls. Econom- 
ically this constitutes the basis of the agri- 
cultural greatness of Nebraska. The eastern 
fifth of the state has a thin layer of glacial 
drift under the loess. West of Seward county 
evidence of glacial drift ceases. The material 
composing our drift is clay, gravel, sand, 
bowlders of granite, green stone, and the like 
from distant northern points, but more espe- 
cially pink bowlders of Sioux quartzite from 
Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This formation 
is of little economic value, although its bowl- 
ders, some of which are as much as twenty 
feet in diameter, are utilized to some extent 
for foundations and other building purposes. 

The youngest deposit in the state is the al- 
luvium of our streams, useful chiefly because 
of its great fertility, and because it furnishes 
material for making a fair grade of brick 
where good clays are wanting. 

The known minerals of the state are of in- 
terest mineralogically rather than economical- 
ly. Gold, native copper, meteoric iron, ter- 
restrial iron, iron pyrite, marcasite, limonite, 
magnetic iron sand, pyrolusite, selenite, barite, 
celesfte, calcite, agate, chelcedony, and tur- 
quoise are among the minerals recorded for 
the state. Among the mineral resources al- 
ready developed or of probable utility are 
ocher, peat, bituminous coal of the Carbon- 
iferous, lignite coal of the Cretaceous, dia- 
tomaceous earth, natural pumice of volcanic 



ash in extensive beds, enormous amounts of 

clay, limestone, sand, gravel, flint, and mate- 
rial for manufacture of hydraulic cement. 
The preparation of the geological history of 




Falls of the North Loup River 
Plunge about twelve feet; width, forty to fifty feet. 



a state requires the closest inspection and 
study of past and present conditions in every 
quarter of it ; and already it may be predicted 
with certainty that many of the natural re- 
sources of Nebraska, when they become better 
known, will be developed to such an extent 
that its present boasted agricultural products 
will not be its only source of wealth. 

Arch."Eglogy.' The geographical position of 
Nebraska, situated as it is between the Mis- 
souri river on the east and the great Rockies 
on the west, is conducive to a complicated and 
interesting archaeology, as well as geolog}'. 
fauna, and flora. We find the Stone Age im- 
plements distributed along the waterways so 
abundantly that we may readily conclude that 
primitive man gradually worked his way over 
the entire state by following the streams. The 
archaeology of the state can be determined only 
by the implements. The quantity of Stone 
.\ge material found, naturally divides itself 
into three classes. While these three classes 
overlap each other in many cases, yet every 
implement may be readily placed in one of 
them. These classes may be subdivided, it is 

3 For this description of the archeology' of Nebras- 
ka we are indebted to Mr. E. E. Blackman. archaeol- 
ogist of the Nebraska State Historical Society. — -Ed. 



8 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



true, but in that subdivision some one imple- 
ment will be found which is doubtful, and at 
this stage of the study, lines of demarcation 
point out but three distinct classes. The first, 
or most primitive class, is found, without pot- 
tery intermixed, along the Blue river and in 
the southeastern portions of the state. The 
second, or intermediate class, consists of 
chipped implements of massive size, found 
along the Elkhorn and Missouri rivers; they 
are abundant in the northeastern part of Kan- 
sas as well. A few have been found along the 
Platte river. The third class (which may be 
subdivided most easily) consists of chipped 
flints showing fine workmanship; and abun- 
dant potsherds, some beaten copper orna- 
ments, and a few "ceremonials" are inter- 
mixed. The houseform, or lodge circles, may 
be studied in this class, and are most abundant 
along the Platte and its tributaries. 

It should be borne in mind that these three 
classes of Stone Age implements may belong to 
one people — that they may only represent a 
single tribe in its evolution from barbarism to 
semi-civilization ; or they may belong to twen- 
ty or more tribes having no ties in common. 
Only years of careful study and comparison 
can settle that question, if, indeed, it can ever 
be definitely settled. 

It should be borne in mind also that primi- 
tive man used stone implements entirely. The 
aborigine wandered over this state before the 
Bronze Age ; in fact, there are no known indi- 
cations that there ever was a Bronze Age in 
Nebraska. 

One of the three following propositions is 
true, either wholly or in part: first, the ab- 
origine was extinct before civilization came to 
this continent ; second, the Amerind,* with im- 
plements obtained from the whites, drove out 
the aborigine ; or, third, he was, himself, sup- 
plied with implements of civilization and is 
now counted an Amerind. Archaeology has to 
deal with prehistoric man, the man who used 
the implements of the Stone Age, and when 
this aborigine has developed into an Amerind, 

* The term Amerind is coming into general use 
among archaeologists and scientific men as a short 
and appropriate designation of the American In- 
dian. — Ed. 



ethnology takes up the study where archaeol- 
ogy leaves off. If the aborigine frequented a 
spot there was certainly a reason for so doing. 
Let us examine the conditions that would en- 
tice the primitive Stone Age man. The white 
man cultivates the soil and produces his sub- 
sistence, but the aborigine followed the chase 
and supplied his wants direct from nature ; to 
do this he must have flint or some kind of 
stone from which to- make his implements. 
Flint is the most available material for this 
purpose, as it possesses the property of con- 
choidal fracture, as well as great toughness, 
very desirable in stone-cutting implements. 

The southeastern part of tlie state contains 
flint nodules imbedded in the limestone ledges ; 
the watershed of the Republican river contains 
a brown flint or jasper in strata ; the north- 
eastern part, along the Niobrara river, has a 
green quartzite which chips easily. Most of 
the chipped implements of the state are made 
from one of these kinds of stone ; we may 
therefore conclude that this natural deposit of 
implement-making material largely influenced 
the aborigine in his choice of location. The 
numerous running streams and the proximity 
of the buffalo plains, together with an abun- 
dance of small game, doubtless helped to make 
eastern Nebraska a favored place for the ab- 
origine. 

The Blue river valley is strewn most abun- 
dantly with the earliest type of Stone Age im- 
plements. They are found on the high points 
of land which overlook the Blue river, and are 
usually not far from a water supply. The ma- 
terial used for these rude implements was 
found near at hand. As far as the Blue val- 
ley has been explored (from Beatrice to the 
state line on the south) tliere are imbedded in 
the limestone which rests near the water line 
many nodules of blue chert or flint. The qual- 
ity of this material is much better than that of 
the chert ledges farther south in Kansas, but 
the nodules are not so abundant and are much 
harder to procure. In making the implements 
it is evident that the work was done by beating 
the edge of another piece of rock until the de- 
sired shape was obtained. The edges are blunt 
and the implements very rude. Many frag- 



ARCHEOLOGY 




Flint Spearhead found near 
Blair, Nebraska 



Flint Implements of Nebraska 




Hematite Bust found near 
Lincoln, Nebraska 



Flint Tomahawk found near VVymore, Nebraska, 
BY James Crawford 



10 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



inents of flint are found with very sharp edges 
left by the fracture, showing that cutting tools, 
having sharp natural fractures instead of hav- 
ing been artificially chipped to a cutting edge, 
were used. 

From the Blue river eastward to the state 
line many high points of land have a few of the 
chips of blue chert mixed with the soil, show- 
ing that aboriginal man once had his camp 
there. But the most pronounced evidence of 
this first or lowest stage of the Stone Age is 
found near the mouth of the Weeping Water ; 



fourth ledge from the top. The trench, as dug 
from the hillside surface back to the edge of 
the pit on the brow of the hill, terminates at a 
solid, perpendicular wall. Here appear marks 
of discoloration caused by fire. Quantities of 
charcoal and ashes were found at the base of 
the wall and scattered throughout the debris 
which the trench passes through for half its 
length. 

At the beginning of the trench, some forty 
feet above the water level and a hundred feet 
from the bed of the Weeping Water, broken 




Quiver.'^ Tomahawks found by \V.\lter Rice near Blue Springs, Xebr.\ska 



at that point one may draw a circle five miles 
in diameter with the town of Nehawka well to 
the southeast side of this circle, and he will en- 
close a vast area of quarry pits made by prehis- 
toric man.'' The exact surface area of these 
pits has not been measured, but they cover 
many acres. 

Mr. Isaac Pollard, who owns some of the 
land upon which the pits are found, made an 
excavation through one of them. The trench 
is eighty feet long, six feet wide, and from ten 
to twelve feet deep. This trench has its floor 
on a solid ledge of limestone, wliich is the 

^ See report of Archaeologist in Annual Report 
State Board of Agriculture, 1902. 



rocks and quarry debris were found for a few- 
feet, then the trench passed through a bank 
of earth and stratified rocks that had not been 
moved. This bank is sixteen feet thick on the 
floor of the trench. After this comes a mix- 
ture of spalls, broken rocks, and soil inter- 
mingled. This debris appeared to have been 
thrown out in layers resting at an angle of 
about forty-five degrees with the level of the 
floor. It is loosely packed in places, while 
here and there is very closely packed stra- 
tum of brown clay filled with flint spalls and 
bits of limestone : it has every appearance of 
being well tamped, and is hard to dig through. 
The most abundant material in the debris 



ARCH.EOLOGY 



11 



is broken lime rocks having large fractures 
on them as if struck by some heavy body. 
Many of these rocks show the rounded matrix 
of a flint nodule which has been removed. The 
surface near the pit is strewn with flint spalls. 
The first stratum, as shown in a quarry 
near by, is a rotten lime rock ; the second is a 
fairly good building stone without flint nod- 
ules, and at the perpendicular wall where the 
trench ends it is from twenty-six to thirty- 
eight inches thick. The third stratum, which 
is very compact and from thirty to forty-two 
inches thick, contains the flint nodules, about 



tected for a certainty has been found in the 
trench, and no pottery. A few of the first class 
of Stone Age implements were found in the 
vicinity; and a few sherds of pottery, as well 
as some of the third class of implements, were 
found, in lodge circles and graves near these 
pits. They doubtless belonged to other peo- 
ple who came along the Missouri at a later 
date. 

In this limited sketch can be given but a 
faint conception of the skill shown in quarry- 
ing, of the years spent in systematic labor, and 
of the vast numbers that must have been en- 




The only Complete Piece of Indl-vn Pottery ever Discovered i.\ Nebraska, so i-ar as know n. 
Found by R. Dewitt Stearns near Fullerton 



two-thirds of the way down. These nodules 
are from the size of an egg to the size of a 
man's head, and are about twelve inches apart 
each way. They cleave out very readily, and 
leave a rounded matrix when the ledge is 
broken up. 

No tools and no perfectly chipped imple- 
ments have thus far been found ; in fact, no 
flint upon which artificial chipping can be de- 



gaged. In one of these pits stands a bur-oak 
tree six feet two inches in circumference. 

The second class of Stone Age implements 
comprises those of massive, chipped stone 
found along the Elkhorn and Missouri rivers. 
Quantities of these are also found along the 
Sioux river in Iowa, as well as in the north- 
eastern part of Kansas. They are shaped like 
the smaller implements of class three ; they 



12 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



are undoubtedly chipped by the pressure pro- 
cess, and at times show much skill in their 
manufacture. With them are often found the 
finer and smaller implements of class three. 

The characteristic of these implements is 
their size; they are too large for use in the 
chase or in war, and may be classed as digging 
tools. On the Wright site, near Genoa, these 
massive implements are abundant in a field 
near the lodge circles now to be seen there, but 
not at the same place. It seems that the newer 
village site is a few rods from the old one, 
where the lodge circles are not plainly defined 
but where these massive implements are abun- 
dant. This may lead to a better understand- 
ing of this second class in time. Near th*^ 
Elkhorn, where no lodge circles can be no 
ticed, these massive implements are abundant- 
ly scattered with implements of the third 
class, and pottery is found there, too. 

The third class of Stone Age implements is 
abundant in most parts of the state and con- 
sists of finely chipped arrows, scrapers, and 
spears in use by the Indians when early hunt- 
ers and trappers first came among them. This 
class may be subdivided. Every tribe which 
the early trappers and missionaries visited 
manifested a certain individuality in their chip- 
ped flints. This difiference is not easily studied 
from the meager data left by the early writers, 
and there are many stumbling blocks encoun- 
tered in trying to classify them from their in- 
dividuality of chipping alone. 

This class is most abundant along the Platte 
river, where the lodge circles are most plainly 
defined. These lodge circles antedate the tra- 
ditionary knowledge of the Amerind, but are 
so similar to the ruins left by the recent tribes 
that we can but connect the two as the product 
of the same people. In many cases we know 
that these ancient ruins were abandoned before 
contact, even indirectly, with whites, as the 
red man prized so highly the arts of the whites 
that he adopted them on sight. There is not 
the slightest trace of such contact, and we may 
safely conclude that there was none, and there- 
fore this latest class is properly a study in ar- 
cheology. A lengthy description of these im- 

« London, 1842. 



plements may not find room here, but the Ne- 
braska State Historical Society museum illus- 
trates the three classes in question. 

It is true in a limited degree only that we 
may judge the people by their pottery. The 
potsherds found in Nebraska are mainly of 
three kinds : those having fabric impressions, 
those ornamented with designs drawn on the 
plastic clay, and a poorer quality of more re- 
cent manufacture. The first two are black, 
feebly burned, and tempered with quartz, peb- 
bles, mica, and pieces of pottery crushed. The 
last is often very red, having been burned 
more severely ; it is tempered with sand and at 
times small pebbles are found in it as well 
as powdered shells. 

Buche'' describes a Scandinavian pottery 
which corresponds in every way to this Ne- 
braska pottery. The Scandinavian pottery 
was made two thousand years B. C. 

It is evident that the first class of the Stone 
Age, as described above, had no pottery. It 
is equally certain that the third class had pot- 
tery in abundance ; the second, or intermedi- 
ate stage is so closely associated with both that 
it is difficult to say definitely what it contained. 

The third class had pottery of the first two 
kinds mentioned, and the third kind was prob- 
ably brought here by some later tribe. 

The study of Nebraska archaeology has been 
in progress, in a systematic way, only a few 
years, and it is perhaps venturesome to sup- 
ply even these brief data. No other state in 
the Union offers a more fertile field. It is com- 
plicated, as the aborigine was a nomadic crea- 
ture, and so many tribes of recent Indians have 
made these vast buffalo plains their hunting 
grounds that it is very difficult to follow the 
line of demarcation between the ruins of the 
aborigine and those of the Amerind. Many rel- 
ics have been gathered into the Nebraska State 
Historical Society museum, which forms the 
basis of this study. Many more are scattered 
over the state, not only in the fields and along 
the streams, but in the keeping of people who 
enjoy their possession, but who do not realize 
their importance in completing this branch of 
our history. 

Twenty-four village sites have been explor- 



CLIMATIC CONDITIONS 



13 



ed and charted; while the remains of others, 
from walled cities whose metes and bounds 
are still plainly defined, down to temporary 
hunting camps of a few tepees, are thickly 
scattered over the state. Of the recent village 
sites, or those occupied during historic days, 
five have been explored: the Bryant site, near 
Yutan : an Otoe site, where Elsworth visited 
the Otoes in 1832 ;' the Esty site, a recent 
Pawnee village, seven miles south of Fremont ; 
the McClain site, a Pawnee site, immediately 
across the Platte from Fremont ; the Otoe site 
at Barneston, and the very recent Pawnee site 
at Genoa. A history of these sites may be ob- 
tained from published works, so one need not 
resort to relics. 

Relics of domestic economy and of art are 
being gathered, which will reveal the people 
who used them as truly as we may read the 
lives of our associates in their everyday walks. 
Archaeology may, in time, construct a true his- 
tory of the race which lived, loved, and wor- 
shiped on the soil of Nebraska. 

Ci^iMATic Conditions.' It is probable that 
all pioneers notice more or less carefully the 
conditions of temperature and rainfall in the 
new region in which they are making a home. 
Particularly is this true if the region is popu- 
larly supposed by former neighbors and friends 
to have a rather inhospitable climate. Proba- 
bly reasons of this nature account, in part at 
least, for the unusual and intelligent interest 
which was manifested in- climatic conditions 
by the early settlers of Nebraska. Preceding 
the settlers, at least in the matter of accurate, 
preserved weather observations, comes the 
United States army. The soldiers, in accord- 
ance with the usual practice, kept weather re- 
cords at the frontier army posts. The earliest 
of these records commenced in 1849 at Fort 
Kearney, and for twenty years the records 
at the various army posts form an important 
part of our knowledge of the Nebraska weath- 
er. The earliest preserved records kept by 
settlers commenced at Omaha in 1857, Brown- 

^ Irving's Indian Sketches. 

^ This account of the meteorology of Nebraska 
should be credited to Prof. George A. Loveland, di- 
rector of the United States Weather Bureau in the 
University of Nebraska. — Ed. 



ville and Bellevue in 1858, Nebraska City and 
Fontenelle in 1859. The number of observers 
increased but slowly for the next twenty years, 
and many records are broken, or perhaps have 
been but partially preserved ; for there was no 
organized attempt to encourage or collect and 
preserve the results of the work of those who 
are carefully noting events. A leader to stim- 
ulate interest was wanting. 

In January, 1878, Gilbert E. Bailey, profess- 
or of chemistry and physics in the University 
of Nebraska, organized the Nebraska volun- 
tary weather service, similar to a service or- 
ganized three years earlier in Iowa, "for the 
purpose of collecting facts and securing an 
accurate and complete history of the weather 
of Nebraska." The organization thus formed 
has existed essentially the same to the present 
time, nearly forty years, and during this 
period there was issued, without a single 
omission, a monthly statement of the weather 
which prevailed in Nebraska. Much credit 
should be given to the intelligent citizens who 
have composed this band of workers, and espec- 
ially to the "director" of the service who, par- 
ticularly in the early days, contributed largely 
in enthusiasm, time, and sometimes money to 
secure the object sought. The directors were 
Gilbert E. Bailey, 1878; S. R. Thompson, 1878 
to 1884; and G. D. Swezey, in 1884, until the 
work was turned over to the officials of the 
United States Weather Bureau in 1896. The 
continued activity of the service seems the more 
unusual when it is noted that but once — in 
January 1884 — have the workers met in con- 
vention. 

The first attempt to collect the scattered re- 
cords and determine the climate of Nebraska 
was made in 1878 by G. E. Bailey, at the time 
he organized the voluntary service. He charted 
the rainfall for the two ten -year periods end- 
ing 1867 and 1877. The results seemed to 
prove that the rainfall in Nebraska was increas- 
ing. Thus was advanced the theory of increas- 
ing rainfall (perhaps already in the minds of 
the people) with seemingly good reasons, which 
in the next ten years became firmly fixed as a 
belief in the mind of the average Nebraskan. 
The second attempt to present the climatic 



14 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



conditions of Nebraska was a more complete 
and pretentious "Climatology of Nebraska," 
printed by Samuel Augbey, professor of nat- 
ural sciences in the University of Nebraska. 
This was a chapter in a book entitled Sketches 
of Physical Geography and Geology of Ne- 
braska. It contained many statements of sup- 
posed facts which were determined from in- 
sufficient data and which are now known to be 
incorrect. It included an elaborate exposition 
of the mistaken theory of increase in rainfall. 
In 1890, a comprehensive statement of the 
Nebraska climate was prepared by the United 
States Signal Service and printed as Senate 
Document No. 115 of the Fifty-first Congress. 
The unusual weather conditions of 1894 arous- 
ed considerable interest in the climate, especial- 
ly as regards rainfall. A complete summary 
of the rainfall records was prepared by the 
Nebraska voluntary service, and was printed 
as Bulletin No. 45 of the Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station of Nebraska. In 1895 Professor 
G. D. Swezey prepared an excellent survey of 
the climate of Nebraska for the July number 
of the Nortlm'estern Journal of Education. 

The intelligent interest of the citizen, start- 
ing with the early history of Nebraska and 
continuing for a half century, has resulted in 
the collection of sufficient data to establish the 
characteristics of the climate with consider- 
able accuracy, also to point out some of the 
errors of early students. There is every evi- 
dence that no permanent change has occurred 
in the climate of Nebraska since its occupation 
by man. The variations of climate observed 
in the half century would have occurred if the 
country had been uninhabited, and they are 
similar to those occurring in all parts of the 
globe. The climate of Nebraska is controlled 
by its location on the globe ; that is, its latitude, 
elevation above sea level, distance from large 
bodies of water, and the extensive mountain 
ranges to the westward, with the absence of 
such barriers to moisture-laden winds, to the 
south and east. 

The average temperature for the year varies 
with the latitude and elevation. It is highest — 
52° — in the extreme southeastern portion of 
the state, at an elevation of about nine hundred 



feet, and 2° less in the southwestern portion, 
at an elevation of about three thousand feet. 
The mean annual temperature decreases north- 
ward at an average rate of 1° for forty miles 
in the eastern and southern portion of the state 
while in the northwest the decrease in tempera- 
ture is somewhat less rapid. Along the north- 
ern boundary the average is slightly above 46°. 

January is the coldest month, with a mean 
temperature approximately 27° below the 
yearly average, or with a range of from 25° 
in the southeast to 20° or slightly below in the 
north. In the very coldest days of winter the 
temperature falls to between 10° and 20° be- 
low zero, and on rare occasions to 30° below 
zero. In the northwest portion of the state 
40° or more below zero has been recorded 
twice in the past forty years, the coldest re- 
corded being 47° below zero in February, 
1899, at Camp Clarke. 

July is the warmest month, with a mean 
approximately 26° above the yearly mean, or 
with a range of from 78° in the southeast to 
72° in the northwest. In the hottest days of 
summer the temperature exceeds 100°. In 
1901, the hottest July recorded, the highest 
temperature was from 108° to 110°, while in 
1894, 114° was recorded at Creighton and 
Santee on July 26th. 

The last killing frost in spring in the south- 
east, in the last decade, occurs in April, but it 
appears gradually later to the northward and 
westward, occurring near May 1st in the great- 
er portion of the agricultural section of the 
state, while in the northwest, in the more ele- 
vated and principally grazing districts, the sea- 
son is about two weeks later. The first killing 
frost in the fall in the South Platte district, 
except the western portion, occurs as a 
rule during the first week in October, and 
from five to ten days earlier in the central 
and northwestern part of the state. The 
average number of days without killing 
frosts, that is, from the last frost in the 
spring to the first frost in the fall, is 155 
to 165 in the southeastern part of the state; 145 
western parts, and 130 to 135 in the northwest- 
ern portion. The ground usually thaws out 
and some plowing and seeding are done in 



VEGETATION 



15 



March, but the real growing' season does not 
begin until the higher temperatures of April 
are felt. 

The precipitation of Nebraska is almost en- 
tirely rain; the snowfall for a year averages 
about twenty inches, equal to about two inches 
of water, or less than one-tenth the annual 
precipitation. The moisture precipitated over 
Nebraska comes almost entirely from the Gulf 
of Mexico, brought by the prevailing south- 
erly winds of summer. The annual precipita- 
tion slightly exceeds thirty inches in the south- 
eastern part of the state, and decreases to the 
north and west somewhat irregularly, but at 
an average rate of one inch for thirty miles 
across the state from the southeast corner to 
the middle of the western border, where it is 
only fifteen inches. The decrease northward 
along the eastern border of the state is about 
one inch for forty miles, or to twenty-seven 
inches in the northeast corner. The decrease 
is one inch for fifty miles westward along the 
northern border, or to eighteen inches in the 
northwest corner. Very little rain or snow 
falls in the winter months, averaging less than 
an inch of water a month, from November to 
February inclusive. A slight increase is man- 
ifest in March, but the spring rains begin in 
April when from two to three inches is the 
normal fall for most parts of the state. In May 
the rainfall is about one inch more, while June 
and July follow with nearly the same amount. 
June is the month of heaviest rainfall, with an 
amount ranging from more than five inches 
in the southeast to slightly less than three in 
the extreme west. August brings a decided 
decrease, being only about the same as April, 
while September and October have still less. 
The rainy season in Nebraska coincides with 
the crop season or the warm growing months. 
Nearly seventy per cent of Nebraska's precip- 
itation occurrs in the five months, April to Au- 
gust, inclusive. 

The percentage of cloudiness is highest in 
March, April, May, and June, when there are 
slightly more clouds than clear sky. July, 
.■\ugust, and September are the months with 
the least clouds. 

The velocity of the wind i;^ high in all parts 



of the state except in the Missouri valley, and 
averages from nine to eleven miles per hour. 

Vegetation.'-' The natural vegetation of 
Nebraska is emphatically that of the Great 
Plains, and thus diflfers much from that of the 
forests to the eastward and the mountains ly- 
ing westward. To say that the eastern botanist 
notes the absence of many familiar plants sig- 
nifies nothing, since this must always be the 
case in comparing the flora of one region with 
that of another. The flora of the Plains dif- 
fers in many respects from that of New York 
and New England, but the eastern botanist 
must not unduly magnify the importance to 
be attached to the fact that he does not find 
here many of the plants he knew in his child- 
hood days. The Plains have their own plants, 
which will eventually be as dear to the men and 
women who gathered them in childhood, as are 
the old favorites to the New Englander trans- 
planted to the West. 

A study of the vegetation of Nebraska shows 
it to possess some remarkably interesting fea- 
tures. The wild plants of the state are very 
largely immigrants from surrounding regions. 
By far the greater number have come from the 
prairies and forests lying adjacent on the east 
and southeast by creeping up the rivers and 
streams, or in case of herbaceous plants, blow- 
ing overland without regard for the water- 
courses. Thus, of the one hundred and forty- 
one trees and shrubs which grow naturally 
within the state, all but about twenty-five have 
migrated from the East, in nearly all cases 
following the streams. Of these twenty-five, 
four or five may be considered strictly endemic, 
the remainder having come down from the 
mountains. 

A careful study of the plants of the eastern 
part of the state, shows that many species are 
confined to limited areas in Richardson and the 
adjoining counties, and that the number of 
species decreases with marked regularity as we 
ascend the Misssouri river. The same general 
law is seen as we ascend the three great rivers, 
the Republican, Platte, and Niobrara, which 

^This description of the vegetation of Nebraska is 
by Charles Edwin Bessey, Ph.D., LL.D., dean of the 
Industrial College and professor f){ botany in the 
University of Nebraska. — Ed. 



16 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



cross the state from west to east. On the other 
hand, as we ascend the streams we meet, here 
and there, a mountain plant which is wandering 
eastward down the slope from an elevation 
of a mile above sea level in the western coun- 
ties to less than a thousand feet along the Mis- 
souri river. Thus the buffalo berry, the gold- 
en currant, low sumach, the dwarf wild cherry, 
and yellow pine have traveled half-way or 
two-thirds across the Plains ; while the creep- 
ing barberry, black Cottonwood, Rydberg's 
Cottonwood, mountain inaple, mountain ma- 
hogany, and sage-brush barely enter the west- 
ern connties, not extending eastward of the 
Wyoming line more than a few miles. A few 
species of wild roses, the sand cherry, and 
perhaps the sand plum seem to belong strictly 
to the Plains. 

Wherever we go, we find upon the Plains 
a similar commingling of eastern and western 
species. Every mile one advances westward 
brings to view plants not hitherto seen, 
while at the same time there is left behind some 
familiar species. 

Nebraska affords one of the finest illustra- 
tions of the commingling of continguous flor- 
as to be found anywhere in America. Not a 
few of the species in the southern half of the 
state have come up from the plains of the 
Southwest, some even coming from Texas 
and New Mexico. Others, again, appear to 
have migrated from the great northern plains 
of the Dakotas, while here again there are en- 
demic species, as the buffalo grass, Redfield's 
grass, false buffalo grass, and many more. 

Through the untiring efforts of the members 
of the Botanical Seminar of the University of 
Nebraska there are now known fully three 
thousand three hundred species, representing 
every branch and nearly every class of the 
vegetable kingdbm. 

There are sixty-four species of native trees 
in the state. There is, however, no place in 
the state where all these species grow togeth- 
er. No county contains sixty-four kinds of na- 
tive trees. Thus there are nineteen species of 
trees in the northwestern quarter of the state, 
southwestern, and fifty in the southeastern. 

A close study of the distribution of r • 
twentv-seven in the northeastern, fifteen in the 



trees shows that nearly all have probably mi- 
grated to the Plains from the East. They 
have in some cases done no more than get a lit- 
tle foothold in the extreme southeastern coun- 
ties, to which they have come from the heavy 
forests of Missouri. A few have doubtless 
crossed the Missouri river from western Iowa, 
although this number is evidently very small. 
Nearly all have come up from the Missouri 
bottoms and spread from the southeastern cor- 
ner of the state west and northwest. Possibly 
a few may have come up the Blue river from 
Kansas, but these must eventually be traced to 
the Missouri river bottoms at the mouth of the 
Kansas river. 

The trees and shrubs which are found only 
in the western part of the state unquestionably 
came from the Rocky mountains and have 
spread eastward to their present limits. Only 
one of these, the buffalo berry, has spread it- 
self over the whole state. There is a probabil- 
ity that a further examination of the bluffs of 
the Niobrara, Platte, and Republican rivers 
will show several more of these Rocky moun- 
tain plants, which have come down with the 
river currents. It is singular that so few of the 
western trees and shrubs have come down the 
streams, especially as prevailing winds are al- 
so from the westerly parts toward the east. It 
would naturally be supposed that it would 
be much easier for the western trees to come 
down stream, and with the wind, than for the 
elms, ashes, plums, etc., to have gone up the 
streams against the prevailing winds. 

Some of the more important trees are : The 
yellow pine or bull pine, red cedar, black Cot- 
tonwood, Rydberg's cotton wood, cottonwood, 
basswood, white elm, red elm, hackberry, plane 
tree, mountain maple, butternut, black walnut, 
shellbark hickory, big hickory nut, bitter hick- 
ory, white oak, bur-oak, red oak, iron-wood, 
canoe birch, choke cherry, wild black cherr)', 
wild plum, Kentucky coffee tree, white ash, 
red ash. and green ash. 

The yellow pine, which occurs so abundant- 
ly in the Rocky mountains, is the only pine na- 
tive to Nebraska. It forms quite dense forests 
in the northwestern and northern portion of the 
state, extending from the Wyoming line along 



VEGETATION 



17 



the Pine Ridge and Niobrara river to the east- 
ern boundary of Rociv and Keya Paha coun- 
ties. It occurs also on the North Platte river 
as far east as Deuel county. 

The white elm is deservedly popular 
throughout the state as a shade tree ; it is the 
common elm of the state. It is known as "wa- 
ter elm." A specimen of the white elm in 
Tecumseh has a spreading dome-shaped top 
nearly one hundred feet in diameter. Along 
the Salt Creek in the vicinity of Lincoln are 
many trees of about the same size. It will 
adapt itself to almost any soil and condition 
and grows well over the entire state. 

The bur-oak is the most widely distributed 
oak within the state. In favorable situations 
it attains a great size even along the western 
border of the state. In Long Pine canyon 
there are trees from two to three feet in diam- 
eter, with large and well shaped tops. 

Grasses. Many plants are commonly called 
grasses which are not grasses at all. Many 
people speak of clover and alfalfa as grasses, 
because they are made into hay for stock, just 
as many of the real grasses are. So, too, many 
of our weeds are called grasses, as rib-grass, 
knot-grass, etc., when they are not at all relat- 
ed to the proper grasses. On the other hand, 
many true grasses are commonly kept separate 
from them, under the impression that they are 
very different plants. Thus many people do 
not think of common field corn as a grass, and 
yet it is in every way a true grass, although a 
very large one. So, too, wheat, oats, rye, bar- 
ley, etc., are real grasses, although we rarely 
hear them spoken of as such. 

A grass is a plant with narrow, elongated 
leaves which are in two ranks upon the jointed 
usually hollow stem. The leaves end below in 
open sheaths, which wrap around the stem for 
a greater or less distance. The flowers are 
chaffy and are never colored or conspicuous ; 
they are often in loose heads (panicles, as in 
blue grass and oats), or in spikes (as in tim- 
othy and wheat). Some live for but a single 
season (annuals), while others live for many 
years (perennials). 

In the world there are about 3,500 species of 
grasses, and of this vast number 154 have 



been recorded as growing wild or under com- 
mon cultivation in Nebraska. Probably there 
is no place in the state in which there are not 
from fifty to seventy-five kinds of grasses, 
and in some places doubtless there are more 
than one hundred. 

Wild Flowers. Contrary to the popular 
notion Nebraska has a rich flora, and its wild 
flowers include many species whose beauty has 
commended them to the florist and gardener. 
It is safe to say that there are at least three 
hundred species which are notable for their 
attractiveness. This large number is, howev- 
er, distributed over so great an area that no 
locality possesses many of them. 

The more important of the wild flowers are 
the following: 

Lilies. — Eight of these are attractive flow- 
ers. The most striking are the two sp>ecies 
of "Mariposa lilies" whose lavender flowers 
may be found abundantly in the northwestern 
part of the state. Much more common, but 
very pretty, are the two species of "spring 
lilies" (Erythronium), the one a lavender 
white, the other rarer one a light yellow. The 
Canada lily and the little white trillium are so 
pretty as to merit the high place given them 
among beautiful flowers. The sand lily (Leu- 
cocrinum) of the western half of the state 
sends up in early spring its delicate white, 
fragrant flowers, while in the same region in 
early summer the stately dagger weed (Yucca) 
rears its tall stem, crowned with its creamy 
tulip-like flowers. 

Orchids. — Nine or ten pretty orchids grow 
in different parts of the state, but these shy 
plants are nowhere abundant. 

Buttercups. — About a dozen species of 
buttercups are known within the state, and 
there are as many more near relatives, the 
columbines, larkspurs, anemones, and pretty 
climbing clematises, 

Water Lilies. — The prettiest of these is 
the white water lily so much prized by flower- 
lovers, and the giant water lily (Nelumbo) 
with its light .yellow flowers and gigantit 
leaves. 

Poppies. — Throughout the western half of 
the state the native prickly {xjppy is very com- 
mon, its large, white flowers being conspicu- 
ous everywhere upon the high plains. In com- 
mon with many of the preceding species, it is 
very generally cultivated in gardens in the old- 
er parts of the United States. 



18 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Capers. — This odd name is applied to a 
family represented in Nebraska by several very 
pretty plants : one of the prettiest is the Rocky 
mountain bee plant, whose pink flowers yield 
much nectar to the bees. 

Violets. — Every spring the hills are dotted 
over with beautiful prairie violets of several 
species. Some of these have heart-shaped 
leaves, while in others they are shaped like 
the leaves of the larkspur. All are worthy of 
cultivation in gardens. 

Mallows. — The eastern resident will see 
few more interesting plants upon the plains 
than the native mallows, from the tall grow- 
ing lavender or blue flowered species to those 
with bright red flowers. Some of the former 
have very deep growing, enlarged roots. 

Cactuses. • — • In eastern Nebraska, on the 
rocky hilltops, a species of prickly pear grows 
plentifully, as also in many counties westward 
to Wyoming. Another species much like it 
occurs in the western counties only, while a 
couple of species of melon cactus with spher- 
ical stems are common from the central 
counties westward. 

Mentzelias. — • Several species of Mentzel- 
ia with thin, straw-colored, star-shaped flow- 
ers, and adhesive leaves, are very abundant 
in the western counties. They are sometimes 
known as "star flowers," and have been culti- 
vated in the garden under the name of Bar- 
tonia. 

Evening Primroses. — These occur in 
great abundance throughout the state, and six 
of the species are very ornamental, having 
bright yellow flowers an inch or livo in diame- 
ter. Some of these are common in eastern 
gardens. 

The Roses. — No part of Nebraska is with- 
out one or more species of wild roses, and 
in some places tliese are so abundant that 
the landscape is made pink by the color of the 
beautiful flowers which are produced in great 
numbers. Nearly related to the roses are the 
cinque-foils of many species, and the well- 
known wild strawberries, of which we have 
two species. 

Lupines. — In the western counties several 
kinds of wild lupines are found, which are 
very attractive both in flowers and foliage. 
Related to these are the milk-vetches of many 
species, some of which are ornamental. 

Prairie Clovers. — Two species of these 
plants, the white flowered and the pink flow- 
ered, are common everywhere, while three or 
four more occur in the center of the state and 
westward. Some of these have long been cul- 



tivated in gardens in the east and in the Old 
World. 

Morning Glories. — • While some of these 
are troublesome weeds they are at the same 
time very pretty ornamental plants. One 
which does not climb and which is known as 
the bush morning glory produces fine, large 
purple flowers in great profusion. It is worthy 
of cultivation. It is curious on account of the 
very large root which it produces, this some- 
times reaching the enormous size of five feet 
in length and a foot in diameter and weighing 
from fifty to one hundred pounds. 

Gilias. — A few of the many species of Gilia 
are pecularly beautiful and have long been 
grown in gardens under the name Collomia. 
They occur mainly in the western part of the 
state. 

Pentstemons. ^ — Six ito eight species of 
these beautiful flowers grow in the state, some 
of them being common everywhere. The fin- 
est one is the large flowered species (Pcntste- 
vion grandiflorus) whose blue-purple flowers 
are two inches long. 

Verbenas. — Some of our species are coarse 
and lacking in beauty, but others are low with 
pretty leaves and flowers, suggesting that they 
may well be brought into gardens 

Sunflowers, 
all the sunflowers as weeds only, but even the 
coarsest are not devoid of beauty. The most 
common species (Hcliauthiis aiinuits) is the 
parent from which have been derived all the 
cultivated varieties so common in gardens the 
world over. The so-called Russian sunflower 
which is often cultivated for its oily seeds is 
nothing but a highly improved form of our 
common species. Other species of sunflowers 
are somewhat cultivated and are prized for 
their stateliness, but none are as well known as 
the common kind mentioned above. 

Asters. — Of this genus of plants we have 
many species in the state, several of consid- 
erable beauty. They always attract attention, 
and are deservedly popular with children and 
other lovers of flowers. 

GoLDENRODS. — Few genera of plants have 
received the attention bestowed upon that 
which includes our native goldenrods. Their 
tall wand-like stems, topped with their golden 
heads, make them striking objects upon the 
landscape of the Plains. We have many spe- 
cies, ranging from the stout and stocky "rigid 
goldenrod" to the slender "Canadian" species. 
One of the most graceful of the species, the 
"tall goldenrod" (Solidago serotina) , has 
recently been designated by law as the floral 
emblem of Nebraska. This really handsome 



We too commonly regard 



VEGETATION 



19 



species is a native of all quarters of the state. 
It attains a height of from three to four or 
five feet, and has smooth, lance-shaped, taper- 
pointed leaves. It bears a large, more or less 
pyramidal cluster of fiovi^rs, which lean over 
somewhat to one side. Nebraska could not 
have a better floral representative than this 
sturdy, yet graceful, goldenrod. 

Weeds. Upon the open countrj' of the 
Plains, where the winds are almost constantly 
blowing briskly, seeds of all kinds are much 
more readily distributed than they are in the 
wooded regions. This will account for the 
rapid spread of weeds when once they reach 
the open country beyond the Missouri river. 
Then again the whole of the Plains for ages 
was roamed over by immense droves of buf- 
faloes and antelopes, and later by domestic 
animals whose range was almost as far as that 
of their wild relatives. These herds in their 
rapid and headlong stamj>edes over the coun- 
try carried with them the seeds of many plants, 
thus aiding in their general distribution. 

The general fertility and the great uniform- 
ity of the soil has had also much to do with 
the readiness with which weedy plants ob- 
tained a foothold in new stations, and from 
them increased and spread to others. 

Naturally, in a region having the area and 
hypsometrical features of Nebraska, the num- 
ber of native plants which may become weedy 
is quite large. A region nearly ten times as 
large as Massachusetts, and ranging in alti- 
tude above the sea from about 900 to more 
than 5,000 feet, can not fail to have many 
native weedy plants. By actual count no less 
than 125 native plants are worthy of being 
ranked as weeds, and while many of these are 
among the worst pests of the farm, others sim- 
ply take possession of the open pasture lands 
of waste and uncultivated places. The more 
important kinds are the following: 

Squirrel-Tail Gr.\ss (Hordeum jubatum). 
— ■ This appears to have originally inhabited 
the sandy margins and islands of the streams 
of the state. It was common also upon the 
alkaline and salt flats, and from these it spread 
to the cultivated lands and roadsides almost 
everywhere. It is one of the most trouble- 
some weeds of the state. 

Couch Gr.\ss (Agropyrmn repens). — This 



pest of the eastern farmer is widely distrib- 
uted upon the Plains, but it has not as yet 
attracted much attention. It is cut for hay, 
of which it supplies a fair amount of good 
quality. 

Porcupine Gr.\ss {Stipa spartea). — ln 
the eastern part of the state this is a common 
weed upon the high prairies, where its sharp 
needle-hke fruits are very hurtful to sheep! 
In the western counties it is replaced by the 
suiiilar needle grass {S. coniata), which in 
every way is equally troublesome. 

Sand Bur {Cenchnis tribiiloides). — This 
grass loves the sandy soil of the large streams, 
from which it has doubtless spread to the 
higher lands. It is abundant in the eastern 
half of the state, and is probably our worst 
native weed. 

Smart Weeds (Polygonum acre and P 
hydroptper). — Common in the eastern coun- 
ties. 

Heartsease (Polygonum emersum, P. ter- 
rcstre, P. incarnatum, P. penns\lvani'cmn) . — 
All are troublesome weeds in lowlands. 

Tumble Weeds. — Two native plants bear 
this name, viz., Corispcnmim hvssopifoHum 
and Cycloloma platyphyllinn. They take pos- 
session of the recently plowed land'in the cen- 
tral portions of the state, and often completely 
cover the ground. In the autumn they begin 
their uneasy career of rolling and tumbling 
over the Plains, dropping their seeds every- 
where. 

Low Pigweed (Amaranthus blitoides).— 
As common throughout Nebraska as purslane 
(which it much resembles in manner of 
growth) is in the eastern states. 

Loco Weeds (Astragalus mollissmus) and 
Crazy Weeds (Oxytropis lambcrti). — These 
widely distributed plants are generally sup- 
posed to cause the disorder known as "loco" 
which attacks horses and cattle upon the plains. 
While it is possible that they are innocent of 
this charge, they are worthless weeds of the 
uplands and rich dry bottoms adjacent, and 
should be eradicated. 

Shoestring (Amorpha canesceiis). — For 
the farmer who undertakes to break up the 
upland prairie where it abounds, this is one 
of the most troublesome plants, its long, deep, 
tough roots offering a serious obstacle to the 
work. It abounds throughout the state. 

AIilkweeds (Asclepias syriaca, A. sp&ciosa, 
A. incarnata, and A. verticillata). — The first 
and second are pests in cultivated land, where 
their deep-lying roots enable them to success- 
fully resist all efforts to dislodge them. Both 
are widely distributed. The third species oc- 



20 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



curs along streams and in moist places in the 
eastern half of the state as a tall weed. The 
fourth species is a low weed in pastures and 
meadows throughout the state. 

Wild Morning Glory (Convolvulus sepi- 
um). — In the eastern half of the state it is too 
common in cultivated fields. It appears to be 
spreading. 

Horse Nettle (Solanum carolinense). — 
A prickly weed of the eastern counties. 

BuFF.^LO Bur {Solanum rostratmn). — This 
most vile weed is apparently an immigrant 
from the southwest. It occurs now abundant- 
ly in all parts of Nebraska and is rapidly ex- 
tending eastward. 

NiGHTSH.^DE {Solanum triflormn). — A 
low-growing weed spreading eastward from 
the central portions of the state. 

Wild Verbena {Verbena stricta, J', has- 
tata, V. urticaefolia, V. bracteosa, V. pinnati- 
ftda). — All are weedy plants. The first oc- 
curs in the eastern half of the state on prairies 
of all kinds ; the second and third are confined 
to the moist lands of the eastern counties ; 
the fourth is a low weed throughout the state, 
while the last is like it, but confined to the 
western half of the state. 

Prairie Pink { Lygodesmia juncea). — 
Throughout the state this is a persistent weed, 
about which farmers frequently make com- 
plaint. 

Thistles {Cnicus altissimus, C. undulatus, 
C. ochrocentrus).- — These native thistles oc- 
cur as weeds in pastures, and especially upon 
the rich, unbroken prairies. The first is in 
the eastern counties, while the second and 
third are in the central and western portions 
of the state. 

Spanish Needles {Bidens frondosa). — 
Becoming common in cornfields and by road- 
sides in eastern Nebraska. 

Sunflowers {Helianthus annuus and H. 
grossescrratus). — The first is very common 
throughout the state, being the most conspicu- 
ous weed of all vacant places and poorly culti- 
vated fields. The second is a common peren- 
nial species in waste places and roadsides in 
eastern Nebraska. Several other species are 
occasionally more or less weedy in their habits. 

CocklEbur ( Xanthimn canadense) . — Very 
common by roadsides and in confields in east- 
ern Nebraska. I doubt whether this is a na- 
tive plant of the state. 

Ragweeds (Ambrosia trifida. A. artemisiae- 
folia and A. psilostachya) . — These pests of 
the eastern half of the state appear like im- 
migrants from the East. They abound by 
roadsides in the rich moist soils along the 



water-courses, often attaining a height of from 
ten to sixteen feet. Two species of Iva (/. ci- 
liata and /. xanthiifolia) , which look so much 
like ragweeds that they are not easily distin- 
guished by the farmer, are common weeds 
growing with the preceding in low lands in 
eastern Nebraska. 

Horseweed (Erigeron canadensis). — A 
common weed of the prairies and fields in the 
eastern half of the state. Its little relative, E. 
divaricatus, occurs in similar stations and has 
about the same range. ■ 

Iron Weeds (Vernonia fasciculata) . — A 
troublesome weed in low pastures in the east- 
ern half of the state. 

The introduced weeds include some of our 
most troublesome pests upon the farm, and 
yet the eastern student will remark upon the 
entire absence of some of the worst weeds 
with which he is familiar. 

Shepherds Purse (Bursa bursa^pastoris) . 
— Found everywhere in the eastern half of 
the state. 

Russian Thistle (Salsola tragus). — Ap- 
parently now to be found throughout the state. 
The mature plant is more or less spherical in 
shape and consists of many elongated branch- 
ing twigs which grow outward and upward 
from the root. When not quite matured tlie 
whole plant has a reddiish color, but as its 
seeds ripen it bleaches out and eventually is 
almost white. Well-grown specimens are 
from two to three feet in diameter, but where 
crowded together they may be much less. 
Each twig and branch is covered on all sides 
by hard, stout prickles, which are very sharp 
and very irritating to the touch. These prickles 
are in threes, that is, there are three together 
in a place and pointing in difi^erent directions. 
At the upper side of the base of each three 
prickles there is a seed, and as there are about 
ten of these to each inch, it is easily seen that 
the seeds produced by every well-grown plant 
must reach a great many thousands. A cal- 
culation made with some care shows that a 
medium-sized plant contains between 10,000 
and 15,000 seeds. Late in the fall, and in the 
early part of winter, the root breaks oft', and 
the plant is free to roll away with its freight 
of seeds. 

Lambs Quarters (Chenopodium album and 
C. hybridum). — The first is found all over 
the state, while the second has not advanced 
beyond the eastern counties. 

Pig Weed (Amaranthus retroflexus). — 
Common in field and waste places in the east- 
ern half of the state. 



FAUNA 



21 



Tumble Weed (Amaranthiis albus). — One 
of the most common weeds of the recently 
broken prairie land, almost everywhere in the 
state. 

Purslane (Portulaca olcracea). — Now to 
be found everywhere in the state. It is not 
only a wayside weed, but a great pest in fields, 
pastures, and lawns. 

Plantain {Plantago major). — Now very 
widely distributed. The narrow leaved plan- 
tain {P. lanceolata) is appearing in the eastern 
counties. 

Dandelion (Taraxacum taraxacum). — In 
eastern counties and rapidly extending west- 
ward. 

Creeping Thistle {Cnicus arvensis). — 
This so-called "Canada thistle" has appeared 
in a few places in the eastern counties. 

Burdock {Arctium lappa). — Not common 
and mostly confined to the eastern counties. 

Ox-eye Daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthe- 
mum). — Appearing in the eastern counties, 
where it seems to thrive. 

Fauna. '° The little work that has thus 
far been done in Nebraska towards gaining a 
knowledge of its animal life, indicates that our 
fauna is comparatively rich in species and in 
many instances in individuals also. In fact, 
in this respect it seems to be ahead of most of 
the neighboring states. Several causes for 
this richness in forms of life may be cited. 
When we take into consideration the variation 
in altitude above sea level, the differences in 
surface configuration, climate, etc., that per- 
tain to the state, its location, and the relation 
which it bears to the country at large, perhaps 
the wonderment concerning this great richness 
will be less. Our southeastern corner is only 
about eight hundred feet, our western border 
almost six thousand feet above tide water. 
The state is divided into timbered, prairie, and 
plains regions. It lies nearly in the middle 
of the United States, with a high mountain 
chain to the west and a giant waterway along 
its eastern boundary. In fact, in Nebraska 
meet eastern, western, southern, and northern 
faunas, while we also have a fauna of our own, 
so to speak. We find forms belonging to low 
and high altitudes, to wet and dry climates, to 

i"This description of the animal life of Nebraska 
is by Lawrence Bruner, B.Sc, professor of ento- 
mology and ornithology in the University of Ne- 
braska. — Ed. 



timbered and prairie countries, as well as to 
semi-desert and alkali regions. The sandy in- 
terior also offers special features for a distinct 
fauna. 

• A casual comparison of past and present 
conditions shows that the native animals have 
materially changed since Nebraska was first 
settled. Many of the earlier forms have dis- 
appeared or become much restricted in their 
distribution. On the other hand, several forms 
have greatly increased in numbers and have 
extended their range as well. Less than fifty 
years ago our plains were covered by immense 
herds of the bison, or American buffalo, and 
elk in large bands roamed at liberty through- 
out the middle and western portions. Both 
species of deer, the white-tailed or Virginia, 
and the black-tailed or mule, in considerable 
numbers, were to be seen in our woodlands, 
among the fringes of brush and trees that 
marked the smaller water-courses, or else 
lurked in the tall grasses of the sand-hills and 
other rough portions of the country where 
they were able to hide during daytime from 
their lesser enemies. The antelop)e ranged the 
prairies at will, even to within a comparatively 
short distance of our eastern borders. Some 
mountain sheep, too, were at home in the 
rougher country in the northwest, while at 
times small bands of wild horses also galloped 
over the Plains. Coincident and in a measure 
dependent upon these for their food supply 
were foxes, wolves, panthers, lynxes, and even 
a few bears. But all this is now changed. 
Where the bison, elk, deer, and antelope once 
browsed our grasses, we now have instead 
herds of cattle and sheep. The larger and 
fiercer carnivora, along with the forms upon 
which they were dependent, have been killed 
or driven away. 

The numbers of our small mammals, too, 
have been greatly changed. The beaver, otter, 
wolverine, badger, and several others of the 
fur-bearing kinds are now very scarce where 
they were once common or even abundant. A 
few of the rodents, such as are favored by the 
cultivation of the soil and growing of grain, 
instead of diminishing, have increased. These 
are forms like the prairie dog, pocket gopher. 



02 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



and ground squirrels, together with some of 
the mice. Several forms have even come into 
the state from beyond our borders and are 
now much at liome in towns and cities as well 
as about our buildings on the farms. 

Bird life, too, has greatly changed in Ne- 
braska since the advent of civilized man. Many 
of our larger and most showy species have 
nearly or altogether disappeared ; while a num- 
ber of the smaller ones, which were formerly 
present in flocks of thousands, are now few 
and scattered. Of the larger species are the 
wild turkey, cranes, Canada goose, and swans, 
both the whistling and trumpeter ; and of the 
smaller, birds like the Eskimo curlew, Bar 
tram's sandpiper and golden plover. Then, 
too, the Lesser prairie hen, which was occa- 
sionally taken in the middle and upper por- 
tions of the Elkhorn valley, seems to have al- 
most or quite disappeared from the state. 

Notwithstanding the ravages that have been 
wrought by the thoughtless -upon the bird life 
as formerly found within our borders, we still 
lead our sister states in the number of distinct 
species which are regidar or incidental to our 
fauna. The partial, but rather careful study 
which has already been made has brought to 
light fully 415 or perhaps 420 recognized 
forms. Many of these are exceedingly valu- 
able, and most of the others notably beneficial 
as insect destroyers or eaters of the seeds of 
no.xious weeds, and only a few — less than 
half a dozen species — definitely harmful. 
<J\ving to the persistent efforts of our teach- 
ers, backed by the various members of the 
Nebraska Ornithologists' Union, a majority 
of our leading citizens, and the state press 
generally, a very strong sentiment in favor of 
bird protection is being established here. It 
is to be hoped that this sentiment will be a 
guaranty of the future protection and increase 
of our feathered friends. 

Our fishes, while not numerous in individ- 
uals in every case, are nevertheless quite plen- 
tiful in distinct kinds. Some new and valu- 
able forms have been added in the past and 
are annually being added to suitable waters. 
Just how many distinct forms occur in the 
waters of Nebraska is not even a matter of 



conjecture, since little or no effort has as yet 
been made towards a systematic collection of 
the forms found in any one stream, to say 
nothing of the numerous watercourses of the 
state. 

The batrachians, reptiles, and ophidians are 
also quite well represented when we take into 
consideration the conditions under which these 
various animals must exist. Only the latter, 
however, have received anything like a moder- 
ately careful study. In 1901, W. Edgar Tay- 
lor, at that time professor of natural history 
in the State Normal school at Peru, prepared 
a paper on this group which was published in 
connection with the report of the State Board 
of Agriculture for that year. In this treatise 
twenty-five varieties are described. Although 
incomplete, it answers fairly well as a good 
beginning towards a knowledge of our snakes. 

Such other animal forms as the mollusks, 
crustaceans, vermes, etc., along with the myr- 
iapods, arachnids, and insects, which form by 
far the larger percentage of the animal life 
of any region, are still much less known. Not- 
withstanding this comparative lack of knowl- 
edge on the part of the students of natural 
history concerning the life indigenous to the 
state, enough is known to warrant the state- 
ment that all of these are also well represented 
in every section of Nebraska. Of course the 
necessary investigations regarding the pres- 
ence and ravages of harmful insects, which 
have been carried on from time to time in 
various regions during diiTerent years, have 
supplied the data for some working knowledge 
of these creatures. Aside from this cursory 
work, however, no systematic attempt has 
been made towards learning just what forms 
are to be found here, or what part the different 
kinds take in the economy of nature. In the 
very few isolated groups that have been at all 
carefully studied the results show much larger 
lists than were expected. For example, the 
butterflies number about one hundred and forty 
distinct kinds ; the grasshoppers one hundred 
and eighty ; the tiger beetles approximately 
forty, the bees several hundred, etc. Taken 
together, perhaps, our complete list of insects 
when made out will be in the neighborhood of 



FAUNA 



23 



from twelve thousand to fifteen thousand 
species. Then to these must be added some- 
thing like five or six hundred spiders and 
other arachnids, seventy-five myriapods, and 
an indeterminate number of parasitic worms, 
Crustacea, and other minute forms w^hich live 
in the soil and water. 

Among the insects that are of especial in- 
terest, for one reason or another, such pests 
as the destructive grasshoppers, or locusts, the 
chinch bug, the army worm, codling moth, tent 
caterpillar, cut-worms, June beetles. Colorado 
potato beetle, squash bug, and, in fact, most 
of the other recognized pests of this class, 
figure conspicuously. Some of these are na- 



tive to the state, while others have been in- 
troduced from regions beyond our borders. 
Commendable interest is taken by both our 
horticulturists and agriculturalists towards 
their suppression, and a continual warfare is 
being waged against them. Aside from the 
large number of destructive species that are 
indigenous to the state, we are also favored 
with equally large numbers of predaceous and 
parasitic forms which are doing their share 
toward keeping in check the harmful ones 
above referred to. Thus it is that the natural 
balance is, in a measure, maintained among 
these numerous kinds of animals which' are at 
home in our state. 



CHAPTER II 

Aboriginal Occupants ^ — Spanish and French Explorers — American Expeditions - 
Fur Trade — First Settlements — Early Traders — Authentic Explorations. 



THE natural tendency of migration since 
history began has been westward ; and the 
movements of the Amerind are not an excep- 
tion to this general rule. As the streams 
which drain North America have a general 
trend from north to south, and as the rule 
for human activity is to proceed along the 
lines of least resistance, it might be supposed 
that the Amerind would follow up these 
streams and change the general order by mov- 
ing forward from south to north or from north 
to south. There was a stronger influence than 
the mere contour of the land which drew the 
tide of emigration, although this had its ef- 
fect to such an extent that the route of travel 
had a west-by-northwest trend. The food sup- 
ply became the main factor in determining the 
direction of migration. The buffalo, which, 
though indigenous to the whole central region 
of North America, were partial to the open 
country, enticed the Indian to the Nebraska 
plains, which they possessed in vast herds. 
This useful animal was the source of supply 
for every want: food from his flesh, raiment 
and shelter from his hide, implements from 
his bones, vessels for holding liquids from his 
intestines, and fuel from his dung. The buf- 
falo made it possible for great numbers of 
Indians to subsist in comparative ease on the 
treeless plains of Nebraska. How much of the 

1 This classification of Indian tribes and bands 
should be credited to Mr. E. E. Blackman, archsolo- 
gist of the Nebraska State Historical Society; and 
the particulars as to the numbers and location of cer- 
tain tribes, before the organization of Nebraska ter- 
ritory, to a paper by Clyde B. Aitchison. 

2 In the spelling of the names of Indian tribes it 
has been found more practicable to follow the Stand- 
ard dictionary than the diverse and contradictory 
usage of scientific writers in the reports of the Bu- 
reau of Ethnology. — Ed. 



food supply of the aborigines, before the ad- 
vent of the buffalo, may have been derived 
from agricultural pursuits is unknown ; but 
it is certain that as the tribes spread westward 
and the buffalo became more numerous, agri- 
culture decreased, until, when white settlers 
first came in contact with the tribes of Ne- 
braska, little attention was given to it. 

By far the greater number of Indian tribes, 
which have inhabited the territory that now 
comprises Nebraska, followed this general rule 
of migration from east to west. These tribes 
belonged to two linguistic families, the Al- 
gonkian - and Siouan. Both of these great 
families sprang from the region east of the 
Appalachian mountains and in turn occupied 
nearly the whole of the Mississippi valley. 

The first occupants of Nebraska did not fol- 
low this rule. The Caddoan linguistic family 
had its home in the south near the banks of the 
Red river, and migrated northward, occupy- 
ing the valleys of the Kansas river, and reach- 
ing northward to the valley of the Platte river 
and westward to the foothills of the mountains. 
Two other linguistic families, the Shoshonean 
and Kiowan, encroached on our territory from 
the west. They hunted along the headwaters 
of the Republican and Platte rivers, and 
claimed part of the territory of this state, al- 
though few, if any, ruins of their permanent 
homes are found within its present limits. 
Only these five linguistic families were found 
in Nebraska, and but two of them, the Caddo- 
an and Siouan, are of importance to our his- 
tory. Tribes of these two families had their 
permanent habitat within the state, and fought 
with one another and among themselves for su- 



ABORIGINAL OCCUPANTS 



25 




Types of Nebraska Indians 



26 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



premacy on our eastern border and along the 
Platte valley. 

The original home of the Caddoan linguistic 
family was on the Red river of the south. 
Prior to the year 1400, one band, known as the 
Skidi, branched off from the main stock and 
drifted to the Platte valley. The exact line of 
migration is difficult to determine, but a tra- 
dition says this tribe lived as allies of the 
Omahas near the mouth of the Ohio river. 
It is not impossible that they may have fol- 
lowed up the Missouri river in coming to the 
Platte valley, where, according to Dunbar, 




From a photograph otcned by Mr. A. E. Sheldon. 

M.MtPiYA LuTA (Red Cloud) 

Chief of the Ogallala Sioux, at the age of seventy 

years 



they were located in 1400. Prior to 1500, an- 
other band branched oft' from the main stock 
and drifted northward to a point near the 
present Kansas-Nebraska line. Here the 
Wichitas turned back and went south, while 
the Pawnees moved northward and occupied 
the Platte vallc}' and intervening country. In 
1541 Coronado found the Wichitas near the 
Kansas river and sent a summons to the "Lord 
of Harahey"' (the Pawnee) to visit him, which 



he did with two hundred naked warriors. This 
is the earliest authentic record of Indian oc- 
cupancy of Nebraska. This is the first time 
civilized man (if we can call Coronado's fol- 
lowers civilized) ever saw an Indian from 
what is now Nebraska. All history before 
this is legendary, and legendary history is so 
conflicting that we may only say that it is 
possibly true. 

How far Oiiate penetrated in his trip north- 
eastward from New Mexico, in 1599, is diffi- 
cult to determine. He says he visited the city 
of Ouivera, which was on the north bank of a 
wide and shallow river (very like the Platte). 
He says he fought with "Escanzaques" and 
killed "a thousand." This battle may have 
been in Nebraska. Penalosa also claims to 
have visited the same locality in 1662, to have 
met the "Escanzaques," and to have beaten 
them in a like encounter. 

When these brief glimpses into Spanish his- 
tory are substantiated by further research we 
may be able to add some early data bearing 
on Indian occupancy of Nebraska. 

The Pawnees (proper), consisting of three 
main tribes, the Choui (or Grand), the Pita- 
how-e-rat (or Tapage), and the Kit-ke-hak-i 
(or Republican) emigrated to the Platte val- 
ley prior to 1500. They held the country fifty 
miles west of the Missouri river, and eventual- 
ly conquered the Skidi band, which had come 
here a hundred years before, and adopted it 
into their own tribe. Before the Pawnees 
came, however, a band called Arikara had 
drifted away from the Skidi band and estab- 
lished itself on the Missouri river, but out of 
the bounds of Nebraska. The Arikaras came 
into Nebraska and lived with the Skidi tribe 
for three years, from 1832 to 1835, when they 
returned home. 

In the Huntsman's Echo of February 21, 
1861, the editor thus perspicuously describes 
the condition of the Pawnees on their reserve 
at Genoa, as he had ascertained it by a visit 
there a few days before : 

The Pawnees number at present about four 
thousand souls and a fraction over, and when 
"at home" live in a cluster of huts built with 
crotches and poles, covered, top and sides, 



ABORIGINAL OCCUPANTS 



with willows, then with grass and dirt, giving 
the appearance at a little distance of an im- 
mense collection of "potato hills," all of a cir- 
cular shape and oval. The entrance is through 
a passage walled with earth, the hole in the 
center at top serving both for window and 
chimney, the fire being built in the center. 
Along the sides little apartments are divided 
oft from the main room by partitions of wil- 
low, rush or flag, some of them being neatly 
and tidily constructed, and altogether these 
lodges are quite roomy and comfortable, and 
each is frequently the abode of two or more 
families. In these villages there is no reg- 
ularity of streets, walks, or alleys, but each 
builds in a rather promiscuous manner, having 
no other care than to taste and convenience. 
The tribe is divided into five bands, each be- 
ing under a special chief or leader, and the 
whole confederation being under one principal 
chief. Each band has its habitation separate 
and distinct from' the other, three bands living 
in villages adjoining and all composing one 
village, the other two villages, some little dis- 
tance. There is frequently some considerable 
rivalry between the several bands in fighting, 
hunting, and other sports, and not infre- 
quently one band commits thefts upon the ef- 
fects of another. 

At this time, we are told, the Pawnees had 
several thousand horses, but owing to the 
hard winter hundreds had died from sore- 
tongue and other diseases. The animals lived 
out all the winter upon the dry grass; but if 
the snow was too deep for them to reach it, 
Cottonwood trees were cut down and the 
horses would subsist upon the bark. These 
horses were above the luxuries of civilized 
life, and refused to eat corn when it was 
placed before them. They were valued at 
from thirty to sixty dollars each. 

The Pawnees at this time usually took two 
general hunts each year in which all the peo- 
ple, old and young, great and small, partici- 
pated, abandoning their villages to go to the 
buffalo range. From the spoils of the summer 
hunt they made jerked meat and lodge skins ; 
and from those of the fall hunt, in October and 
November, they made robes, furs, tanned 
skins, and dried meat. These Indians had a 
field of considerable extent near each village 
where the land was allotted to the various 
families, and goodly quantities of corn and 



beans were grown. With these and a little 
flour and sugar they managed to eke out a 
miserable existence, sometimes full-fed and 
sometimes starved. 

The females are the working bees of the 
hive; they dig up the soil, raise and gather 
the crops, cut timber and build the lodges, 
pack wood and water, cook, nurse the babies, 
carry all the burdens, tan the skins and make 
the robes and moccasins. The lords of the 
other sex recline by the fire or in the shade, 
kill the game and their enemies, do the steal- 
ing and most of the eating, wear the most 
ornaments, and play the dandy in their way 
to a scratch. They are of a tall, graceful, and 
athleti; figure, as straight as an arrow and 
as proud as a lord, whilst the squaws are 
short, thick, stooping, poorly clad, filthy, and 
squalid. Parentless children and the very 
aged are sometimes left behind, or by the 
wayside, to perish as useless. 

Pike visited the Republican Pawnees in 
1806; they dwelt near the south line of the 
state until about 1812, when they joined the 
rest of the band north of the Platte river. 
Dunbar ^ gives the location of the various 
tribes in 1834; the Choui band resided on the 
south bank of the Platte, twenty miles above 
the mouth of the Loup ; the Kit-ke-hak-i lived 
eighteen miles northwest, on the north side 
of the Loup ; the Pita-how-e-rat, eleven miles 
farther up the Loup, and the Skidi, five miles 
above these ; and he says they changed their 
villages every eight or ten years. In 1833 
the Pawnees ceded the territory south of the 
Platte to the L''nited States. In 1837 they 
ceded the territory north of the Platte, except 
their reservation in Nance county. The terri- 
tory ceded, according to Chas. C. Royce,* em- 
braced the central third of the entire state. 
The reservation above mentioned was ceded in 
1876, and the Pawnees were taken to Indian 
Territory, where they now have a reservation. 

The various branches of the Siouan linguis- 
tic stock have come to this state at five dif- 
ferent times. The first were the Mandans, 
whose coming is shrouded in antiquity. Cat- 
lin claims to have traced their earthworks and 
habitat down the Ohio river and up the Mis- 

3 Mag. Am. Hist., vols. 4 and 5. 

•> iSth Reft. Bureau of Ethnology, pt. 2. 



28 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 







^^ i c = c^ u-o >,-a g^ -J 
■•§ ni?o S - S «< o-- ^" n n 

-~ ^_ „ - . "■■*-. :2j= rt i; rt w . 

■t.= SS *^I S:y'^ I- »"^ g . 









5»S 
o c 



o 
w 

2 
g 

< 

t/i 

D 



a 



.j.^ - -«. to -:S " £ 3 
E-'-S.^^S'S n3X.e 

-- ■ ■ ■ "^ — OJ i> u r/j 



u 



^ '.- % i • c « p t: « 

" ^ Qj '^ 2 aj^j=0 
1^ ™ '-' ^, *"^ . H-l ^ 



- « c 5 S »t M 

4J^ I 






ABORIGINAL OCCUPANTS 



29 



souri.^ McGee says the Siouan family began 
to cross the Appalachian mountains one thou- 
sand years ago. The Mandans were among 
the first to break off from the parent stock, 
and the only excuse we have for including 
them in our history is the probability that they 
crossed our borders on their way up the Mis- 
souri river some time prior to the coming of 
the Skidi band in 1400. 

McGee says the Omaha tribe was near the 
mouth of the Ohio river in 1500, so its coming 
to Nebraska must have been after that date. 
It is traced quite accurately up the Missouri 
and Des Moines rivers to its present home in 
the northeast part of Nebraska. The Osage 
tribe branched off and remained at the Osage 
river. The Kansas tribe came on to the Kan- 
sas river, and there established its permanent 
habitat. The date of the arrival of the Kan- 
sas tribe is sufficiently early to allow the "Es- 
canzaques" of Ofiate to be regarded as Kan- 
sas Indians. The Omahas and Poncas re- 
mained together until about 1650, when the 
latter moved northward and occupied the 
country from the mouth of the Niobrara west 
to the Black Hills. By the treaty of March 
16, 1854, the Omahas ceded the northeast 
third of the present state to the United States, 
excepting that part north of a line drawn due 
west from the mouth of the Aoway river. 
That tongue of land which was added to Ne- 
braska in 1890, by authority of the act of 
Congress of March 28, 1882, and which lies 
between the Niobrara, Keya Paha, and Mis- 
souri rivers, was ceded by the Poncas in 1858, 
except a small reservation. In 1877 the Pon- 
cas were moved to Indian Territory. 

The Dakota City Herald,^ in noting that 
the Omahas had just received their annuity 
on their reservation from Captain Moore, In- 
dian agent, makes the following observation as 
to their condition : "They are being gathered 
to their fathers fast, very fast, as they now 
number only 964 savage souls. The amount 
of their payment was $23,000 and averaged 
about $24 a head. Since Uncle Sam supplied 
them with a few 'scads' they have paid fre- 

^ Catlin, North American Indians. 
» November 19, 1859. 



quent visits to our town, and laid something 
out for the purpose of laying something in." 
From the observant editor's remarks it ap- 
pears that the Indians did not confine their 
inebriety to alcoholic drinks. He relates that 
"five of these red sons of the forest, two red 
squaws in red blankets, and one pale red pa- 
poose put up at the Bates house on Sunday 
night for supper." They had a table by them- 
selves, by courtesy of the landlord, and, "in 
the language of the Arkansas bride, 'they sot 
and sot' until they stowed away everything 
eatable within reach or sight. Seventy-seven 
cups of coffee were drank at the sitting, and 
but one, a young squaw, gave out. After get- 
ting down seven cups she failed on coft'ee ; the 
others kept on until the kettle gave out. When 
the meal was over they paid the landlord two 
bits apiece and departed." 

The third detachment of the Siouan family 
to occupy Nebraska consisted of three tribes, 
the Otoe, Missouri, and the Iowa. The Otoes 
and lowas have always been closely related. 
They were first seen at the mouth of the Des 
Moines river by Marquette in 1673. They are 
said, by tradition, to have sprung from the 
Winnebago stock. It is stated that in 1699 
they went to live near the Omahas. The Mis- 
souris have had a very checkered career. They 
were first seen in 1670 at the mouth of the 
Missouri river. Soon after 1700 they were 
overcome by the Sac and Fox and other tribes. 
Most of them joined the Otoe tribe, but a few 
went with the Osage and some joined the Kan- 
sas tribe. They have never ceded land to the 
United States except in company with the 
Otoes, but they have been a party to every 
Otoe transaction. To all intents and purposes 
the Otoes and Missouris have been as one 
tribe during their occupancy of this state. 

The Otoes and Missouris ceded the south- 
east portion of the state to the United States 
in 1833 ; this cession embraced the land south 
and west of the Nemaha. The remaining por- 
tion of land which they claimed, lay between 
the Nemaha, Missouri, and Platte rivers, 
reaching as far west as Seward county. This 
last tract was ceded in 1854, when they re- 
turned to their reservation south of Beatrice. 



30 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



J 


■ 




..i| 


pi 


-^m 




>^J]H 


RP' 


^^^ 




ri^liirM^ 


f^ 


V 


'«^^^«^^^f-.^s 




■ ^HF 


■ y- -ai 


^icLl* • '• ■ ^^^^^IBX^' "■' 


^■■^^■i^mSI 


yJJ 


W" 


^- ■ "^ ^^^^i^^^-v 


L H 




W 


fttok»»> ^^^^Sw!H|b" 


^'1^9 




m-^ 


hbp- ■ -■ ■■ " %-' 


Tm^lH 




^ 




H^S I 






^"■■xvanpiig^' xiHr '^»*" 


^^^^^^^^^^ "t '^ ^ 




^ 


^^""^j^M 




#^ 


1 »- , 


mm^:-- -'<^^ 




%T^ 




w«S ^^.^ > 


-^■1 




^ 


^*^: ..;^ / 


^^^^^■|k 




m 


jjramr Hui 'tt'^jupii ■ 


^^^^^n ^ 




4 ''^ 


^^r^^^WW^ 




/"^trti^^d 


r 


"— ' ' 'HtLma,^. 


If^K- 1 


C^ 


^ 

L 








^ 


P^^^^^^ 




fjL_1^g 


^irftf^^^ ^1 


* 


,-\\^f'^^%^ 




^.^ 


^M 


- ^Ul 




" ^ 


1 ^^ 


wSTlmg jr- • 




^^%I^HF. 


«*.. 


f^T^ 


1 ; 


mfjfjt^ 


^^ 


^^Sp^^^ 


1^. 


•> 


1 J .ij' 


^ 


t^ 


Jg '^^"^J^ J 


i^ffi 




Tl 


iraBMMf ^ ii^i^^ 


'"^^A^^ <^ 


v^ S- 


-:4^*l 


n*l . IJtjr ^K^^^^K 


S^kL^^ <r-. 


. •'^ C. 


W^ Jo. 


. \^ ? - ^^r^^^^B^ 


■^Bj,> amTsH 




,.«j*^ . 


'-^^fl^Ev ^Kr ' ^hIh*' 


HIHP' ill Sfll 




■ #^' *^ 


lliili^ . \jdiW:1iHBa 


^^' ■ liP 


^S 


^ 


~-~~^^^'iir 


r^ 


:rr';;;;';"^ 


==~ 


S"" 


1 ^ 






ABORIGINAL OCCUPANTS 



31 



This they relinquished in 1881, and they now 
live in Oklahoma. Most of the lovvas re- 
mained east of our border until 1836, when 
they were given a tract of land along the south 
bank of the Nemaha. This they retained in 
part in individual allotment, but they remained 
under the Great Nemaha agency. This tribe 
was always closely associated with the Otoe, 
but was never under the same tribal organiza- 
tion as was the Missouri tribe. All three 
tribes belonged to the same branch of the 
Siouan family as the Winnebago. 

These cessions gave the United States title 
to the east two-thirds of the state. The earli- 
est treaty by which they acquired title to land 
in this state was made with the Kansas in 
1825 ; by this treaty the Kansas ceded a semi- 
circular tract along the south line, reaching 
from Falls City to Red Willow county and 
nearly as far north as Lincoln. So it seems 
that the Kansas laid claim to at least part of 
our territory. 

The next detachment of the great Siouan 
family to invade Nebraska was from the north- 
ern branch of this tribe which dwelt along the 
Great Lakes. The Assiniboins had separated 
from this branch as early ar 1650, and, accord- 
ing to McGee, were near the Lake of the 
Woods in 1766, so they had not long wandered 
over our soil when written history began. 

The Pawnees and Omahas joined in repel- 
ling the advance of these northern tribes and 
held them well back from the waterways for 
many years, but they hunted on the head- 
waters of the Platte and Republican and even 
as far south as the head-waters of the Smoky 
Hill and Solomon rivers. 

The Crows were doubtless the first to en- 
croach on the Platte valley; they drifted to 
the Black Hills in an early day and hunted on 
the Platte from the northwest. The Black- 
feet, a branch of the Saskatchewan tribe, came 
later. The Yankton, Santee, Brule, Sisseton, 
Ogallala, Teton, Minnetaree, and parts of oth- 
er tribes from time to time hunted or fought 
on the head-waters of the Platte. They joined 
in ceding the northwest part of the state to 
the United States in 1868, reserving for them- 
selves a common hunting right, which they 



relinquished in 1875. They are now on the 
various reservations in Dakota and Indian 
Territory. 

The Winnebagoes were the last of the great 
Siouan family to come ; they were moved from 
Minnesota to a part of the Omaha reservation 
in 1862, where they still reside. S.;hoolcraft 
says this tribe once lived on a branch of the 
Crow Wing river in Minnesota. Some of the 
Santee Sioux were moved to Nebraska at the 
same time, but many of both tribes came across 
the country before. 




Photograph owned by the Nebraska State Historicaf 
Society. 

Senteg.-u,eska (Spotted Tail) 
Hereditary Chief of the Sioux 

To the Algonkian family belong the Chey- 
enne, Arapaho, and Atsina, who wandered 
over the western part of Nebraska, as did the 
Sac and Fox tribe, which had a reservation in 
the extreme southeast part of the state from 
1836 to 1885. The Algonkian family once oc- 
cupied the greater part of the Mississippi val- 
ley. At a very early date the Cheyennes drift- 
ed westward through the Dakotas and gave 
their name to one of the important streams. 
Later they drifted southward. Lewis and 
Clark mentioned this tribe as occupying a 



32 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



position on the Cheyenne river in 1804, while 
Long in his expedition of 1819 found a small 
band which had seceded from the main stock 
on the Cheyenne river, and had roamed with 
the Arapaho along the Platte river. There is 
a record, by Fremont, of tliis tribe being on 
the Platte above Grand Island in 1843. They 
ceded the southwestern portion of Nebraska 
in 1861. 

The Arapahos, like the Cheyennes, occupied 
Nebraska as a roaming tribe. The impres- 
sion left by the very limited number of writers 
who have spoken of them, seems to be that 
they came from the north. They were pressed 
by the Sioux from the east and by the Shos- 
honeans from the west. The date of their 
coming to Nebraska is obscure. The time of 
their separation from the eastern parent stock 
is shrouded in antiquity, and as early travelers 
found them a wild race, and not easy to study, 
little of their early history is recorded. They 
joined the Cheyenne and Arkansas Indians in 
ceding to the United States government the 
extreme southwest portion of Nebraska. So 
far as can be learned the Arkansas never oc- 
cupied any part of Nebraska. The Atsinas 
were closely allied to the Black feet (Siouan) 
and, since whites have known them, have af- 
filiated with that tribe. They are distinctly 
Algonkian, however, and have a legend tell- 
ing how they came to separate from the Ara- 
pahos. 

As stated above, the Algonkian stock occu- 
pied most of the Mississippi valley at one 
time. The United States purchased all of 
Missouri north of the river, most of Iowa, 
and a part of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minne- 
sota from the Sacs and Foxes. They seem to 
have been the original owners of the Mississip- 
pi and Missouri front, and the Siouan tribes 
as they drifted westward doubtless had them 
to deal with. This may account for the move- 
ment westward of the Otoe and the Kansas 
tribes across the river. The Sacs and Foxes 
relinquished their possessions and retired to a 
southern reservation, excepting a band which 
took a reserve on the Great Nemaha river. 



7 7th Ann. Rept. Bureau of EthnoL, p. 109. 

8 14th Ann. Rept. Bureau of Ethnol., pt. 2, p. 1044. 



partly in Nebraska and partly in Kansas, and 
which remains in the Great Nemaha agency. 

Powell ^ does not believe that the Shosho- 
nean family occupied a part of Nebraska, and 
it is doubtful whether any part of this family 
had more than a transient home witliin the 
state. It is certain that the Comanches roam- 
ed over our territory, and doubtless the "Pa- 
doucas" once had a more or less permanent 
home here ; at least the north fork of the 
Platte river was known in the early days as 
the Padouca fork. Mooney ^ says: "In 1719 
the Comanche were mentioned under their 
Siouan name of Padouca as living in what is 
now western Kansas. It must be remembered 
that five hundred to eight hundred miles was 
an ordinary range for a Plains tribe, and the 
Comanches were equally at home on the Platte 
or in Chihuahua (Mexico)."/ The great Shos- 
honean family occupied the mountain country 
from the south line of Oregon to the north 
line of Arizona, and extended from the Pacific 
coast at the southwest corner of California, 
nearly to the west line of what is now Nebras- 
ka. It was a powerful and numerous people. 
Later the Siouan bands drove the Comanches 
south and the other branches of the Shosho- 
nean family west and north. Lewis and Clark 
in 1805, mention the Padoucas as extinct ex- 
cept in name. Bourgmont visited the Padou- 
cas on the head-waters of the Kansas in 1724. 
The Comanches and the Kansas were closely 
associated for one hundred and fifty years, 
says Mooney. There is no record that the Co- 
manches ever ceded any part of this state to 
the United States. 

About 1700 a tribe of the Kiowan family 
migrated from the far northwest and took up 
a residence in the vicinity of the Black Hills. 
From there it was driven by the Siouan tribes, 
and Lewis and Clark mention it as residing on 
the north fork of the Platte in 1805, and num- 
bering seventy tepees. It slowly drifted south- 
ward until it occupied the country south of 
the Arkansas river. As this tribe never lived 
far from the mountains, its occupancy of Ne- 
braska was but transient. Powell shows this 
linguistic family as occupying the extreme 
southwest part of Nebraska, but there is no 



ABORIGINAL OCCUPANTS 



33 



record that it ever ceded any part of the state. 
There was a "half-breed" tract situated be- 
tween the Nemaha and ^Missouri rivers set 
apart in 1830, intended for the home of civil- 
ized Indians belonging to the Omaha, Iowa, 
Otoe, Yankton, and Santee Sioux half-breeds. 
The Pine Ridge and Rosebud agencies are 
located just north of the north line of Nebras- 
ka, in South Dakota, and the Indian title to a 




From a pliotograf'h on-ucd by Mrs. Harriet S, Mac- 
Murphy, Omaha. 

Henry FontenellE 
United States interpreter to the Omaha Indians 

narrow strip adjoining in this state is not yet 
extinguished. There are titles in the old Sac 
and Fox and Iowa reservation, in Richardson 
county, still vested in Indians, and a few live 
there. The Santee agency, near Niobrara, 
still maintains an agent who reports to the 
commissioner of Indian affairs for this tribe 
and also for the Ponca subagency, situated 
twenty miles west between the Niobrara and 
Missouri rivers. The Indians at these agen- 
cies, together with the Omahas and Winne- 
bagoes, in Thurston county, are the only In- 
dian wards of the government in Nebraska at 
the present time. According to the census of 
1900 there were 3,322 Indians in the state, 



against 2,685 in 1890. An Indian school is 
maintained by the federal government in this 
state, on the Santee, the Winnebago, and the 
Omaha reservations, while a boarding school 
for Indians is situated at Genoa, in Nance 
county. 

All tribal lands, except a small part of the 
Omaha reservation, have been allotted in sev- 
eralty, and all Indians are taxed as citizens of 
the state. The Omahas now number twelve 
hundred and the Winnebagos eleven hundred. 
The Omahas are of a higher grade of develop- 
ment and civilization and are slowly increasing 
in numbers. In their married relations they 
observe the principle of monogamy with cred- 
itable faithfulness, and they are inclined to 
hold on to and to cultivate their lands. The 
Winnebagos, on the other hand, live much 
more loosely in this respect ; comparatively 
few of them are lawfully married, and they 
have but little regard for the marriage bond. 
They are much less persistent than the Oma- 
has in holding on to their lands, and less reg- 
ular and industrious in their habits. All the 
lands of the reservation, except a few hun- 
dred acres of a very poor quality, have now 
been allotted. Under the law, lands which 
have been allotted can not be alienated by the 
original grantees nor by their inheritors as 
long as there are minor heirs. Thus far this 
class of lands amounts to about ten per cent 
of the total allotment, or about fifteen hundred 
acres. As late as 1846 there were only a very 
few white settlers, scattered here and there, in 
that part of southwestern Iowa bordering on 
the Missouri river. By the treaty of Septem- 
ber 26, 1833, five million acres of land in 
southwestern Iowa, extending north to the 
mouth of Boyer river, south to the mouth of 
the Nodaway river, and east to the west line 
of the Sac and Fox lands, were granted to the 
Pottawatomie tribe of Indians, numbering 
about twenty-two hundred and fifty. Some 
Ottawas and Chippeways living with the Pot- 
tawatomies were participants in this grant. 
All of these Indians had been removed from 
the vicinity of Chicago. A subagency and 
trading post was established at Traders Point 
(or at St. Francis), Iowa. By a treaty with 



34 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 





^^y^e^ ^. _-^^^^i^ 



^^^^^^^/ /W^'^^ 



Note — John S. Minick was one of the incorporators of the Nemalia County Agricultural Societv, in- 
corporated by act of the territorial legislature, February 9, 1857, and was elected president of the board 
September 12, 1857. He was for a number of years a merchant at Nemaha City and at Aspinwall and 
was m busuiess at the former place as late as 1885. He was an active worker in the Good Templar or- 
ganization. According to the Brownville Advertiser, Mr. Minick had his entire claim of 160 acres fenced 
and under culti\ation in June, 1857, fourteen months after he had located upon it. 



ABORIGINAL OCCUPANTS 



the United States, made "at the agency near 
Council Blufifs," June 5, 1846, the Pottawa- 
tomies relinquished these Iowa lands. The 
agency at Bellevue, on the opposite side of the 
Missouri river, had jurisdiction over the Oma- 
has, Otoes, Poncas, and Pawnees. The Coun- 
cil Bluffs subagency on the Iowa side of the 
river was subject to the agency at Bellevue. 
As has already been indicated. Council Bluffs 
was as shifting as the great river whose shores 
its various sites adorned. It was first applied 
to the Lewis and Clark encampment, eighteen 
miles north of Omaha; then, by reflection and 
by a sort of evolutionary southward move- 
ment, to Bellevue; still later, to the subagency 
on the Iowa border opposite Bellevue. In 
1853 — January 19th — Council Bluffs was 
substituted for Kanesville, which was the origi- 
nal name (after a brother of Kane, the arctic 
explorer) of the hamlet on the site of the pres- 
ent city of Council Bluffs. Thereafter the place 
was known by its present name by designation 
of the postofifice department ; and it was form- 
ally incorporated by act of the Iowa assembly, 
February 24, 1853. According to the Frontier 
Guardian of September 18, 1850, a census tak- 
en at that time yielded a population of 1,103 
for Kanesville and 125 for Trading Point or 
Council Bluffs ; .so that as late as that date the 
migratory name of Council Bluffs had not 
reached the northern settlement of Kanesville, 
but by local usage was confined to Traders, or 
Trading Point. 

The domain of the Omahas lay to the north 
of the Platte river, and that of the Otoes 
about its mouth — both, along the Missouri 
river. A strip of land intervening was a 
source of chronic dispute between these tribes. 
At the time of the Louisiana Purchase the 
Otoes numbered about two hundred warriors, 
including twenty-five or thirty Missouris. A 
band of this tribe had been living with the 
Otoes for about twenty-five years. In 1799 
the Omahas numbered five hundred warriors ; 
but as the Mormons found them in 1846 this 
tribe, and the Otoes as well, had been reduced 
by the scourge of smallpox to a mere remnant 
of their former numbers. These Indians are 
described by their white neighbors of that 



time as being almost destitute of martial spirit 
and not viciously inclined, but naturally ready 
to rob and steal when prompted by hunger, 
which, unfortunately for their white neigh- 
bors, was their nearly chronic condition. Or- 
son Hyde, editor of the Frontier Guardian, in 
its issue of March 21, 1849, inspired by the 




From a photograph in the CoKn collection, in the Miisenin of 
the Nebraska State Historical Society, 

PiT-A-LE-SHAR-u (Man Chief) 
Head chief of the Pawnees 



wisdom of Solomon, advised the use of the 
rod, and a real hickory at that, on the thieving 
Omahas and others. It is said that the Oma- 
has were exceptionally miserable. "Unpro- 
tected from their old foes, the Siou.x, yet for- 
bidden to enter into a defensive alliance with 
them, they were reduced to a pitiable handful 
of scarcely more than a hundred families, the 



36 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



prey of disease, poverty-stricken, too cowardly 
to venture from tiie shadow of their tepees to 
gather their scanty crops, unlucky in the hunt, 
slow in the chase, and too dispirited to be dar- 
ing or successful thieves." 

In the region between the Niobrara and 
Missouri rivers were the Poncas, some five 
hundred or six hundred in number, and but 
little better than the Omahas and Otoes in 
condition and circumstances. According to 
Lewis and Clark, the Grand Pawnee and Re- 
publican Pawnee, numbering respectively five 
hundred and two hundred and fifty men, dwelt 
in 1804, on the south side of the Platte op- 
posite the mouth of the Loup; the Pawnee 
Loup or Wolf Pawnee, comprising two hun- 
dred and eighty men, on the Loup fork of the 
Platte about ninety miles above the principal 
Pawaiee ; and a fourth band of four hundred 
men on the Red river. Clayton's Emigrant's 
Guide, in 1848, finds the old Pawnee Mission 
station at Plum Creek, latitude 41° 22' 37"; 
nine and a quarter miles east of the Loup Fork 
ford (latitude 41° 22' 37" ; longitude 98° 11') ; 
and the old Pawnee village, formerly occupied 
by the Grand Pawnee and Tappa, half 
a mile west of the Loup Fork. This 
village was burned by the Sioux in the 
fall of 1846. In the spring of 1847 the Paw- 
nee were found on the Loup Fork, about thir- 
ty miles east of the old village, according to 
the same authority. 

Celebrated Chieftains. Among the Indians 
distinction was won through heroism upon the 
battlefield ; consequently, their great men are 
warriors. No doubt many of the great In- 
dian chieftains would rank among their own 
people with the great generals of the civilized 
nations. Indeed none could be more brave nor 
exercise greater fearlessness and courage upon 
the battlefield. They had no use for a coward, 
and deeds of bravery were greatly prized. A 
history of the Plains country would be incom- 
plete without mention of a number of distin- 
guished chieftains : 

Marpiya Luta (Red Cloud), chief of the 
Ogalalla Sioux, was one of the great generals 
in various wars against the United States. 
He was born in 1821 in Deuel county, Ne- 



braska. Red Cloud earned distinction and the 
name he bore at the age of sixteen, and for 
twenty years was a successful leader against 
other Indian tribes. He planned the fight 
against Fort Phil Kearney in 1866 in which 
nearly one hundred soldiers were slain. He 
abandoned the war path in 1869. He was 
prominent in all the councils and treaties of 
his tribe after that date. In a tribal feud, 
Red Cloud slew Bull Bear, a prominent Sioux 
chief. His home for many years was in a 
small frame house near Pine Ridge agency. 
He visited Washington sixteen times. He 
spent his last years in total blindness. 

Sentegaleska (Spotted Tail), a Brule Sioux, 
came up from the ranks and became one of the 
most distinguished of the red men. He gained 
prominence when only eighteen years old 
through deadly combat with a subchief, and 
rose rapidly in the councils of his people until 
he was chosen hereditary chief of the entire 
Sioux nation. He went to Washington as a 
delegate in 1872, and was crowned "King of 
the Sioux" in 1876 by General Crook. 

Spotted Tail was not only a warrior of cour- 
age, but was unusually trustworthy and was 
respected by the white men with whom he 
was always friendly. He was killed in 1881 
by Crow Dog, one of his subchiefs whom he 
sought to discipline. The tragedy occurred 
at Rosebud agency as Spotted Tail was pre- 
paring to visit Washington. 

Pit-a-le-shar-u (Man Chief) approaches 
more nearly a type of Indian statesman than 
a warrior. He was of commanding presence, 
over six feet tall and had an expressive face. 
He obtained the chieftainship of the Pawnees 
in 1852, and lived in the vicinity of Fremont 
and Genoa. Man Chief delighted in dress 
and wore a showy head-dress of eagle's feath- 
ers of which he was extremely proud. He 
was in every way worthy of his high office. 
He was a great orator and ruled his people 
wisely through persuasion rather than by 
force. He was a delegate to Washington 
when the treaty of 1858 was ratified. In 1874 
a pistol wound in the thigh proved fatal ; the 
shot, though reported to be accidental, was 
probably fired intentionally by someone who 



SPANISH AND FRENCH EXPLORERS 



37 



differed from him on the removal of the Paw- 
nees to Indian Territory. 

Logan Fontenelle (Shon-ga-ska), chief of 
the Omahas, was born near Fort Calhoun in 
1825. His father was a Frenchman of nobil- 
ity and his mother an Indian woman of the 
Omaha tribe. He was educated in St. Louis, 
but, upon the death of his father in 1840, he 
returned to Nebraska and became an interpre- 
ter. He was elected a chief of the Omahas 
in 1853 and retained the position until his 
death in 1855. He was respected and hon- 
ored by the whites and had absolute control 
over his tribe. He was killed in battle with 
the Sioux. 

Ta-ta-nka-I-yo-ta-nke (Sitting Bull) was 
born in the spring of 1834 on the banks of 
Grand river near the mouth of Stonewall 
creek in South Dakota. This continued to be 
his habitat during the greater part of his life. 
At the age of fourteen he achieved distinction 
on the war-path, and his father bestowed upon 
him his own name, Sitting Bull. He was a 
priest, or "medicine man," rather than a chief, 
but was a natural leader and gained much 
piower and influence among his people by or- 
ganizing and leading war parties. He came 
into special prominence by his participation in 
the battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana, 
June 25, 1876, in which Custer's entire com- 
mand was slaughtered. Sitting Bull then 
made his escape into Canada, where he re- 
mained five years, and finally surrendered to 
the United States on promise of pardon. He 
wtas held a prisoner of war until 1883, when 
he again went to reside on Grand river. He 
continued, however, to lead the opposition to 
the government, and for seven years steadily 
opposed the treaty which was finally execut- 
ed in 1889. He continued to be the center of 
Indian hostility until December, 1890, when he 
was killed during an attempt to place him un- 
der arrest. 

Expedition of Coronado. Spain was pre- 
eminently the seat of chivalry at the time of 
the discovery of America and during the fol- 
lowing centuries, while the country now com- 
prising the United States was being discov- 
ered and colonized in detail — until it was 



laughed out of her by Cervantes and knocked 
out of her by the practical and prosy peoples 
of the more northern countries and of the Teu- 
tonic race. But the spirit of chivalry was 
prolific of adventurous discoverers, through 
whose valorous enterprise, Spain had come to 
possess, at the time the little strip along the 
Atlantic comprising the Americain colonies 
was ready for political separation from Great 
Britain, the whole territory west of the Mis- 
sissippi river now comprised in Mexico and 
the United States, except that portion within 
the limits of the states of Washington and 
Oregon. That part of these Spanish domains 
north of the present boundary line of Mexico, 
comprised more than two-thirds of the present 
area of the United States. At this time Spain 
also dominated Central and South America. 
Though Spain was the first discoverer of 
America, and established the first permanent 
colony within the territory of the United 
States, she no longer owns a foot of the con- 
tinent ; and she became so weak that she lost 
all her holdings through force. It was of the 
spirit of Spanish chivalry to seek success by 
the royal road. Her explorers and discover- 
ers were either animated by the search for 
gold — like De Soto and Coronado — or for 
more illusive treasure, such as Ponce de Leon's 
elixir of life. But the ultimate race was not 
to the swift nor the final battle to the strong. 
The continent came to the men who knew how 
to wait. 

While it is still an unsettled and perhaps not 
very important question whether the Spanish 
Coronado was the first white man to set foot 
in Nebraska, there is no doubt that he was the 
first white discoverer of whom there is any 
account of the great Plains tributary to the 
Missouri river, and that he came ver\' near to 
the southern border of the state. 

In 1539 a Franciscan friar, Marcos de Niza, 
whom Don Antonio de Mendoza, viceroy of 
Mexico, had sent to investigate reports of 
populous settlements in the region now com- 
prized in Arizona and New Mexico, brought 
stories of vast wealth in the Seven Cities of 
Cibola. An army of about three hundred 
Spanish soldiers and one thousand Indians and 



38 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



servants was raised and equipped for the con- 
quest of the new country, and Francisco Vas- 
quez de Coronado, governor of New Galicia, 
a western border province of Mexico, was 
placed in command of the expedition. Cor- 
onado appears to have been a bold and ven- 
turesome cavalier — a fit lieutenant of the am- 
bitious viceroy. The expedition started from 
Compostela — the capital of Coronado's prov- 
ince, about three hundred and seventy-five 
miles northwest from the city of Mexico — 
February 23, 1540. On the 7th of July Co- 
ronado, with an advanced detachment of the 
main army, captured one of the seven small 
Zuiii villages, which, situated near the present 
western border of New Mexico, in about the 
latitude of 35°, and within a radius of five leag- 
ues, constituted the Seven Cities of Cibola. 
These villages were composed of small store- 
houses, three or four stories high, but 
the disappointed Spaniards found in them 
poverty instead of the fabled riches. On 
an expedition from this point, Coronado 
was partly compensated for his disappoint- 
ment, though doubtless in a way which he did 
not fully appreciate, by discovering the Grand 
Canyon of the Colorado. 

It was found that the riches lay far beyond, 
in the land of Quivera ; and probably, through 
a strategem to get rid of their cruel and op- 
pressive visitors, the story of the New Eldo- 
rado was told by a native of Quivera who was 
met with as a captive of the natives of Cicuye, 
a fortified village east of Cibola on the Pecos 
river. The "Turk," as the Spaniards called 
the slave, on account of his appearance, told 
more stories of large towns with hoards of 
gold and silver and vast herds of buiTalo in 
his country to the east. The greedy credulity 
of the Spaniards again listened to these fab- 
ulous tales, and in April or May, 1541, the 
army took up its eastward march with the 
Turk for its guide. The slave intentionally 
led them by a wandering course far to the 
south, and, provisions becoming scarce in the 
neighborhood of the head-waters of the Colo- 
rado river of Texas, Coronado sent back all 
of the army excepting from twenty-six to 
thirty-six soldiers, with whom he pushed 



northward on his journey of forty-two days 
to Quivera, now under the guidance of a good 
Indian, Ysopete, also a native of the Plains, 
the perfidious Turk having been taken into 
custody. The party crossed the Arkansas in 
the neighborhood of its southern bend, not 
far from the present site of Dodge City. Thus 
the first white man's crossing of the Arkansas 
was at a place which, two hundred and sixty 
years later, was to become an angle in the 
division between the Louisiana Purchase ced- 
ed to the United States, and the residue of 
territory still held by Spain. At this point the 
boundary line changed from its northern 
course to the west along the Arkansas river. 
About eightv miles to the northwest, at the site 
of the present town of Great Bend, Coronado 
found the first Quivera village. He first met 
Indians of that name beyond the crossing not 
far from Kinsley and Larned. Here immi- 
nence of his exposure seems to have moved the 
Turk to confession that his people were stran- 
gers to the precious metals as well as to other 
riches, and he was straightway strangled by the 
enraged Spaniards. There was now nothing left 
for them to fall back upon, but appreciation of 
the richness of the soil ; for Jarmillo, one of 
their chroniclers, says: "Some satisfaction 
was experienced on seeing the good appear- 
ance of the earth ;" and Coronado himself 
writes that the soil of Quivera was "fat and 
black," and "the best I have ever seen for pro- 
ducing all the products of Spain." The buffalo 
is described by these travelers in a very naive 
and realistic manner. Like the reindeer to the 
Laplander, this beast was food and raiment 
for the Indian natives, and it is curious to note 
that bufifalo "chips" were used for fuel then, 
as they were until recent days by our own pi- 
oneers. "One evening there came up a terrible 
storm of wind and hail, which left in the camp 
hailstones as large as porringers, and even 
larger. They fell thick as raindrops, and in 
some spots the ground was covered with them 
to the depth of eight or ten inches. The storm 
caused many tears, weakness, and vows." 
Making a moderate allowance for the quick- 
ened imagination of the belated Spaniards, 
these stories of what they saw, indicate that 



SPANISH AND FRENCH EXPLORERS 



39 



they journeyed not far from Nebraska. The 
substantial agreement of the conclusions drawn 
by Mr. Hodge of the ethnological bureau, of 
the accounts of their journey by the Spanish 
travelers themselves, with the actual field work 
of Mr. J. V. Brower, leaves little room for 
doubt that these adventurers reached the 
neighborhood of Junction City, or perhaps 
Manhattan, Kansas. Mr. Hodge, writing as 
late as 1899, observes that the common error 
in determining latitude in the sixteenth cen- 
tury was about two degrees ; therefore when 
Coronado said that Quivera, "where I have 
reached it, is in the 40th degree," that moans 
that it was in fact in the 38th degree; and Mr. 
Hodge adds: "Nothing is found in the nar- 
ratives to show positively that either Coronado 
or any member of his force went beyond the 
present boundaries of Kansas during their stay 
of twenty-five days in the province of Qui- 
vera." Mr. E. E. Blackman of the Nebraska 
State Historical Society, thinks that the state- 
ments accredited to the Indians by Jaramillo, 
that there was nothing beyond the point reach- 
ed by the Spaniards but Harahey — ^ the Paw- 
nee country — ■ coupled with his own demon- 
strations that the Quivera village extended in- 
to Nebraska, show that the Spaniards crossed 
our border; and Simpson's studies led him to 
the conclusion that it is "exceedingly probable 
that he (Coronado) reached the 40th degree 
of latitude (now the boundary between the 
states of Kansas and Nebraska) well on to- 
wards the Missouri river." Bandelier, George 
Winship Parker, Hodge, and Brower all sub- 
stantially agree with H. H. Bancroft's earlier 
statement (1899) that, "there is nothing in 
the Spaniards' descriptions of the region or of 
the journey to shake Simpson's conclusion that 
Quivera was in modern Kansas." 

The writings of the Spaniards referred to 
are, in the main, Coronado's letters and formal 
accounts of the journey by Jaramillo, a cap- 
tain in the expedition, and of Castaiieda who 
went back with the main body of the army, 
but industriously collected his material from 
hearsay. The latest and perhaps the most 
thorough manuscript work has been done by 
Parker in The Coronado Expedition, and 



Hodge in Coronado's March, and the results 
of their researches substantially accord with 
the field work of Brower and Blackman, which 
is still under prosecution, and may yet show 
that Coronado was the discoverer of Nebraska 
proper. 

While this expedition appears to have been 
barren as to practical results, yet it has been 
said of it that "for extent in distance traveled, 
duration in time, extending from the spring 




Prom photograph owned hy E. li. Blackman, vice pie^tdenl 
Quivera Historical Society. 

QuivEKA Monument 
Near Junction City, Kansas 

of 1540 to the summer of 1542, and the multi- 
plicity of its cooperating branch explorations, 
it equaled, if it did not exceed, any land ex- 
pedition that has been undertaken in modern 
times." Another writer observes that "a bare 
subsistence and threatened starvation were 
the only rewards in store for the volunteers 
upon this most famous of all the Spanish ex- 
plorations, excepting those of Cortez. They 
discovered a land rich in mineral resources, 
but others were to reap the benefits of the 
wealth of the mountain. Thev discovered a 



40 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



land ricli in material for the archaeologist, but 
nothing to satisfy their thirst for glory or 
wealth." But this erudite author, like his 
Spaniards, has missed the main point. For 
they discovered the future granary of the 
world ; and the fact they were oblivious or 
disdainful of their main discovery, pointed 
the moral of future Spanish history. The 
Spaniards took nothing and they gave little 
— two friars left as missionaries at Cibola 
who soon wore the crown of martvrdom. 




Jacob V. Brower 

Archaeologist and explorer — rediscoverer of 

Quivera and Harahey 

To Spain, from the first, nothing in her new- 
world conquests was gold that did not glitter ; 
and for this she disdained to dig — it was eas- 
ier and more chivalrous to rob. She of course 
made pretense of having substituted for this 
mere material good, the priceless but easy gift, 
religion. A shrewder if not a juster race came 
after who were able to discern the true and in- 
exhaustible body of gold hidden in the dull- 
hued soil ; and they tilled and patiently waited 
nature's reward. And lo, to them is the king- 
dom. And Spain has her due reward. Driv- 
en from all her vast outlying domains by the 
relentless force of the modern industrial spirit, 



which she could neither assimilate nor enter- 
tain, into a little corner of Europe, there she 
lies, oblivious to progress, surviving chiefly 
as an echo, and consec[uential merely as a rem- 
iniscence of the dead past. 

Expedition of the Mallet Brothers. The 
earliest authenticated exploration by white 
men on Nebraska soil was that of two brothers, 
Pierre and Paul Mallet, and six other French- 
men in June, 1739. The Mallet brothers had 
probably come up from New Orleans the year 
before, and had wintered near the mouth of the 
Niobrara river. An account of their journey 
from that neighborhood to Sante Fe forms 
a part of the Margry papers, which consist 
of reports of early French explorers of the 
Trans-Mississippi country to the French au- 
thorities at New Orleans and which have been 
printed by Margry in Paris. 

Lezt'is and Clark Expedition. In 1804, fol- 
lowing the purchase of Louisiana, the Lewis- 
Clark expedition was sent out by President 
JefTerson for the purpose of gaining knowl- 
edge of the new and almost unknown territory. 

Following is a description of the company 
and outfit taken from the journal of Lewis and 
Clark: 

The party consisted of nine young men from 
Kentucky, fourteen soldiers of the United 
States army, who volunteered their services, 
two French watermen, an interpreter and 
hunter, and a black servant belonging to Capt. 
Clark — all of these, except the last, were en- 
listed to serve as privates during the expedi- 
tion, and three sergeants appointed from 
amongst them by the captains. In addition to 
these were engaged a corporal and six soldiers, 
and nine watermen to accompany the expedi- 
tion as far as the Mandan nation, in order to 
assist in carrying the stores, or repelling an at- 
tack, which was most to be apprehended be- 
tween Wood River and that tribe. The neces- 
sary stores were subdivided into seven bales 
and one box, containing a small portion of 
each article in case of accident. They con- 
sisted of a great variety of clothing, working 
utensils, locks, flints, powder, ball, and arti- 
cles of the greatest use. To these were added 
fourteen bales and one box of Indian presents, 
distributed in the same manner, and composed 
of richly laced coats and other articles of dress, 
medals, flags, knives, and tomahawks for the 
chiefs — ornaments of dift'erent kinds, partic- 



AMERICAN EXPEDITIONS 



41 



ularly beads, looking glasses, handkerchiefs, 
paints, and generally such articles as were 
deemed best calculated for the taste of the In- 
dians. 

The party was to embark on board of three 
boats; the first was a keel boat fifty-five feet 
long, drawing three feet of water, one large 
square sail and twenty-two oars, a deck of ten 
feet in the bow and stern formed a forecastle 
and cabin, while the middle was covered by 
lockers, which might be raised so as to form 
a breast work in case of attack. This was ac- 
companied by two perioques or open boats, one 
of six and the other of seven oars. Two horses 
were at the same time to be led along the banks 
of the river for the purpose of bringing home 
game, or hunting in case of scarcity. . . All 



where it first touched the present state at the 
southeast corner to the point at the northeast 
corner, where the Missouri river reaches its 
borders, the distance is 277 miles as the bird 
flies. According to the government survey, 
the distance between these two points is 441 
miles, following the meanderings of the river. 
The Lewis-Clark expedition recorded 556 miles 
of river front for the state in 1804. On the 
8th of September the explorers left the pres- 
ent limits of Nebraska and continued their voy- 
age up the Missouri, then crossed the dividing 
mountain chains, and launched their boats on 
the swift Columbia, following it to its mouth. 




K.yltMAyfy>^^~e/¥tcA. o^Le/t^i.>^^K^* 



the preparations being completed, we left our 
encampment on Monday, May 14, 1804. This 
spot is at the mouth of Wood river, a small 
streamwhich empties itself into the Mississippi, 
opposite to the entrance to the Missouri. 

The expedition, following up the Missouri 
river, came in sight of the present Nebraska 
on the afternoon of July 11, 1804. It camped 
on the Missouri side, immediately opposite the 
mouth of the Big Nemaha, and the next day 
some members of the company explored the 
lower valley of that river. 

This expedition is of particular importance 
as it gives the first historical glimpse of the 
eastern border of Nebraska. From the point 



Two years later they returned over the same 
route and gave a graphic description of the 
vast country they had traversed. 

The explorers first camped on Nebraska soil 
July 15th, near the mouth of the Little Nemaha. 
The camp of July 18th was not far from the 
present site of Nebraska City. According to 
Floyd's journal, the camp of July 20th was on 
the Nebraska side, and under a high bluflf, 
three miles north of Weeping Water creek. 
On the 21st of July the party passed the mouth 
of the Platte river and encamped on the Ne- 
braska side (probably not far from the south- 
east corner of section 31, township 13. range 
14 E). They passed on up the river for a dis- 



42 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



tance of ten miles the next morning and then 
camped on the eastern shore. Here they re- 
mained for five days. They explored the coun- 
try in all directions and sent for the surround- 
ing Indians to meet them in a council at a point 
farther up the river. While they were here 
dispatches and maps were prepared to be sent 
to the president. July 27th they swam their 
horses to the Nebraska side and continued the 
journey northward. 

The camp of July 30th was at Council Bluff, 
This is the most important camp-ground of the 
Lewis-Clark expedition within the state. Sub- 
sequently (1819) it became the site of the first 
military post established in Nebraska. There 
is no doubt that the recommendation of this 
site by the captains, Lewis and Clark, deter- 
mined the location of what was afterward 
known as Camp Missouri, Fort Atkinson, and 
finally Fort Calhoun. The importance of this 
camp warrants a quotation from that part of the 
journal describing Council Bluff: 

. . . The land here consists of a plain, 
above the high water level, the soil of which is 
fertile, and covered with a grass from five to 
eight feet high, interspersed with copses of 
large plums and a currant like those of the 
United States. . . Back of this plain is a 
woody fidge, about seventy feet above it. at 
the end of which we formed our camp. This 
ridge separates the lower from a higher prai- 
rie, of a good quality, with grass, of ten or 
twelve inches in height and extending back 
about a mile to another elevation of eighty or 
ninety feet, beyond which is one continued 
plain. Near our camp we enjoy from the 
bluffs a most beautiful view of the river, and 
the adjoining country. At a distance varying 
from four to ten miles, and of a height between 
seventy and three hundred feet, two parallel 
ranges of high land afford a passage to the 
Missouri which enriches the low grounds be- 
tween them. In its winding course, it nour- 
ishes the willow islands, the scattered cotton- 
wood, elm. sycamore, lynn and ash, and the 
groves are interspersed with hickory, walnut, 
coffeenut and oak. The meridian altitude of 
this dav Hulv 31) made the latitude of our 
camp 41° "18'' 1.4" . . . We waited with 
much anxiety the return of our messenger to 
the Ottoes. . . Our apprehensions were at 
length relieved by the arrival of a party of 
about fourteen Ottoe and Missouri Indians, 
who came at sunset, on the 2nd of August, ac- 



companied by a Frenchman who resided 
among them and interpreted for us. Captain 
Lewis and Clark went out to meet them, and 
told them that we would hold a council in the 
morning. . . [Flere follows an account of 
the council in detail.] The incidents just relat- 
ed, induced us to give this place the name of 
the Council-bluft' ; the situation of it is exceed- 
ingly favorable for a fort and trading factory. 

There were fourteen Indians present at this 
council, six of whom were chiefs. They were 
all Otoes and Missouris who formed one tri- 
bal organization at a later date, and presum- 
ably at that time. 

After concluding the council they moved up 
the river five miles and encamped August 3d. 
On the 4th of August they continued the voy- 
age and came to "a trading house on the south, 
(Nebraska side) where one of our party pass- 
ed two years trading with the Mahas." This 
too brief paragraph is important in disclosing 
that there were white traders in Nebraska pri- 
or to 1804. The camp of August 4th was also 
on Nebraska soil, but the exact point is not de- 
termined. 

The next sojourn in Nebraska was on the 
11th of August, when they paused to examine 
"Blackbird's grave." The description given 
is worthy of repetition here: 

. . We halted on the south side, for the 
purpose of examining a spot where one of the 
great chiefs of the Mahas, named Blackbird, 
who died about four years ago of the small 
pox, was buried. A hill of yellow soft sand- 
stone rises from the river in bluffs of various 
heights till it ends in a knoll about three hun- 
dred feet above the water ; on the top of this 
a mound of twelve feet diameter at the base, 
and six feet high, is raised over the body of 
the deceased king; a pole of about eight feet 
high is fixed in the center ; on which we olaced 
a white flag, bordered with red, blue and 
white. 

Augiist 13th they reached a spot on the Ne- 
braska side where "a Mr. Mackay" had a trad- 
ing house in 1795 and 1796 which he called 
Fort Charles. This same day men were sent 
out to the old ^laha village 

with a flag and a present, in order to induce 
them to come and hold a council with us. 
They returned at twelve o'clock next day, 
August 14. After crossing a prairie cover- 
ed with high grass, they reached - the Maha 



AMERICAN EXPEDITIONS 



43 




In upper right-hand corner appears the monu- 
ment erected by order of the legislature of Ten- 
nessee, over the grave of Captain Lewis, Lewis 
county, Tennessee. Reproduced from The Trail 
of Lewis and Clark, by courtesy of Olin D. 
Wheeler, editor. In the center and upper left- 
hand corner are three views of the monument of 
Captain Clark in Belle Fontaine cemetery, St. 
Louis. The two lower cuts represent the bowlder 
at Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, commemorating the 
first council with the Indians on Nebraska soil. 



Lewis and Clark Monuments 



14 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



creek, along which they proceeded to its three 
forks, which join near the village; they crossed 
the north branch and went along the south; 
the walk was very fatiguing, as they were 
forced to break their way through grass, sun- 
flowers, and thistles, all above ten feet high, 
and interspersed with wild pea. Five miles 
from our camp they reached the position of the 
ancient Maha village ; it had once consisted of 
three hundred cabins, but was burnt about 
four years ago, soon after the small-pox had 
destroyed four hundred men, and a propor- 
tion of women and children. On a hill in the 
rear of the village, are the graves of the na- 
tion ; to the south of which runs the fork of the 
Maha creek; this they crossed where it was 
about ten yards wide, and followed its course 
to the Missouri, passing along a ridge of hill 
for one and a half miles, and a long pond be- 
tween that and the Missouri ; they then 
recrossed the Maha creek, and arrived at the 
camp, having seen no tracks of Indians or any 
sign of recent cultivation. 

Probably the first large Nebraska "fish 
story" originated on August 16th, when a seine 
was improvised with which over four hundred 
fish were taken from the Omaha creek. Au- 
gust 13th they made a camp near the old Oma- 
ha village and remained until August 20th. 
At this point another council was held with 
the Otoes and Missouris, who were then at war 
with the Omahas and very much afraid of a 
war with the Pawnees. After concluding this 
council they continued their journey, and the 
next day (August 20th) Sergeant Floyd died 
and was buried on the Iowa side near the 
Floyd river. 

On August 21st the camp was made on the 
Nebraska side ; also on the 23d. On the 24th 
of August they came to the Nebraska volcano, 
a bluff of blue clay where they say the soil was 
so warm they could not keep their hands in 
it. These volcanic phenomena were probably 
due to the action of water, at times of inunda- 
tion, on iron pyrite, setting free sulphuric acid, 
which in turn attacked limestone, producing 
heat and steam. Similar phenomena have 
been observed in the same locality in very re- 
cent years. This night camp was made in Ne- 
braska, and mosquitoes were numerous. On 
August 25th camp was made very near the 
Cedar-Dixon county line. August 28th a camp 



was made in Nebraska, a little way below 
where Yankton now stands. The Yankton- 
Sioux had been called here for a council, and 
on August 31st the council was concluded. 
While the expedition was in camp here a num- 
ber of Sioux chiefs arranged to accompany 
Mr. Durion to Washington. 

On the 1st of September they again set sail; 
on the 2d they stopped to examine an ancieni 
fortification which must have been on section 
3, 10, or 11, in the bend of the river and quite 
near the bank. September 3d they camped 
again on Nebraska soil, and the next day they 
reached a point just north of the Niobrara riv- 
er. September 7th the last camp in Nebraska 
was pitched six miles south of the north line. 

On the return trip down the Missouri river, 
the expedition reached the northeastern corner 
of the present Nebraska on Sunday, August 
31, 1806, and left the southeast corner on the 
11th of September, having made the unevent- 
ful journey in twelve days. The up-stream 
passage of this part of the route had required 
fifty-seven days. 

Pike's Explorations. On the 15th of Julv, 
1806, Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike's party, 
consisting of two lieutenants, one surgeon, one 
sergeant, two corporals, sixteen privates, and 
an interpreter, sailed from Belle Fontaine, four 
miles above the mouth of the ]\Iissouri river, 
on the famous expedition which resulted in the 
discovery of Pike's Peak. The object of this 
expedition, which was sent out by General 
James Wilkinson, then commander-in-chief of 
the army of the United States, and also gov- 
ernor of the territory of Louisiana, was os- 
tensibly, and in fact partially, to establish 
friendly relations with the Indians of the in- 
terior, but it is supposed also to gain informa- 
tion about the Spaniards, who, since our ac- 
quisition of Louisiana, out of which they felt 
they had been cheated by Napoleon, had been 
in a menacing attitude towards the Americans. 

The route of Pike's expedition was up the 
Missouri river to the mouth of the Osage riv- 
er, then up this stream to the Osage villages 
at a point near its source. Here the party 
abandoned their bateau and took a northwest- 
erly course across the country, reaching the 



AIMERICAN EXPEDITIONS 



45 



; THIS SHAFT 

i MARKS THt BUKIAL PLACE 1)1 ' 

SERGEANT ClI MILES FLOYl) • 

AMEMBtR OF THE 

.KWIS AXR CLAIIK EXPEDITION 

(I DIED IN HIS (OUMTiVS SERVICE 
AND WAS BllRlEn'MliAli I HIS SPOT 

.A UGUST 20 180 4 . 
■ HWES OF SUCH mf> ARE TILCRIM Slllil\rS 
-.URINES rO NO .LASS OR CRLED CONFINFI) 



ERtCTEl) AD 1900 
BY THE 

FLOYD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION 

AIDED BY THE UNITED STATES 
AND THI-. SI'VfF 01- IOWA 




OF THE 

LOUISIANA PURCHASE 

MADE DURING THE 

XDKINISTRATION OF IHOMAS JEFFLRSO'' 

IHIRD PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STAII- 

APRIL 30 1H03 



OF ITS SUCCESSFUL EXPLORATION 
BY THE HEROIC MEMBERS OF THE 

LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION 

OF IHE 
VALOR OF THE AMERICAN SOLDIER 

AND OF THE ENTERPRISE 
COURAGE AND FORTITI DE OF IHI 

AMERICAN PIONEER 
10 WHOM THESE GREAT STXTFS 

WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RI\ I J 

OVVI THEIR SECURE FOUNDAT-i*- 




From photographs copyrighted by P. C. Waltermire, Sioux City. 

Floyd Monument near Sioux City, Iowa, showing Bronze Tablets attached to the East and .West 

Faces of the Shaft 
Sergeant Charles Floyd, the first soldier of the United States to die west of the Mississippi river, was 
a son of Chas. Floyd, Sr., a grandson of Wm. Floyd, and was born in Jefferson county, Kentucky, 
between 1780 and 1785. He was one of the "nine young men from Kentucky" who joined Lewis and 
Clark at Louisville in the fall of 1803, was formally enlisted April 1, 1804, and appointed one of the 
three sergeants of the expedition. Sergeant Floyd was taken ill August 19, 1804. died the following day, 
and was buried on "Floyd's Bluff," on the Iowa side of the Missouri river near the place of his death. 
His grave was marked by a cedar post properly inscribed. In 1857, when Floyd's grave was endangered 
by the river, his remains were removed 600 feet farther east. In 1895 the Floyd Memorial association 
was organized, and a monument erected at a cost of about $15,000, which was dedicated May 30. 1901. 
The shaft occupies a commanding position, three miles southeast of Sioux City, on the top of Floyd's 
Bluff — the highest of the range of hills — about 600 feet from the Missouri river, and 115 feet above 
low-water mark. The monument is of the style of an Egyptian obelisk; the underground foundation 
is a monolith of concrete 22 feet square at the base, 13 feet 6 inches at the top, and 11 feet deep. This 
is surmounted by a base course of solid stone 2 feet high, and 10.92 feet square. The shaft is 100 feet 
21/. inches in height, 9.42 feet square at the bottom, and 6.28 feet square at the top. It is a masonry shell 
of Kettle river sandstone, the core of solid concrete. 



46 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Republican fiver at a point which has not been 
determined even approximately; and that in- 
teresting question is now the subject of inves- 
tigation by specialists. The party camped on 
an eminence on the north side of the river, op- 
posite the Pawnee village, and circumstances 
favor the conclusion that they were within the 
present bounds of Nebraska, notwithstanding 
that in 1901, a monument to mark the northern 
limit of Pike's route, was erected within the 
Kansas line about four miles south of Hardy, 
Nebraska. Pike's visit to the Republican Paw- 
nees had been preceded a short time before by 
the expedition of the Spanish Lieutenant May- 
gares, who had traveled from Santa Fe with 
about six hundred soldiers and over two thou- 
sand horses and mules ; but Pike says that about 
two hundred and forty men and the horses that 
were unfit for service were left at the crossing 
of the Arkansas river. The beaten down grass 
plainly disclosed to Pike their line of march in 
the Pawnee neighborhood. This Spanish ex- 
pedition had been sent to intercept Pike and 
also to establish friendly relations with the 
Indians, and the American party found a Span- 
ish flag flying over the council lodge of the 
Pawnees. These incidents, together with the 
fact that Pike was detained in New Mexico, 
virtually a prisoner, illustrates the indefinite- 
ness of the boundary of the Louisiana Purchase 
at the time and the insolence of Spain, not yet 
conscious of her decaying condition, toward 
the young republic. The contrast between 
Pike's little party and the considerable Spanish 
army which had just passed, inspired insolent 
behavior on the part of the Pawnees, which 
led the intrepid American explorer to give 
vent to his feelings in his journal: "All the 
evil I wished the Pawnees was that I might 
be the instrument in the hands of our govern- 
ment to open their eyes and ears, and with a 
strong hand convince them of our power." It 
would no doubt have given the indomitable 
but persecuted Pike much satisfaction to know 
that within a very few years the insolent Span- 
iard, then invading American territory, would 
be pushed off the continent finally by American 
aggression. Pike himself was killed in battle 
in our war of 1812, but his services had been 



recognized and rewarded by promotion in 
1795. 

Explorations of Crooks and McLcllan. In 
1807 Ramsey Crooks and Robert McLellan, 
two of the most famous and intrepid explorers 
of the Northwest, formed a partnership, and 
in the fall of the year started up the Missouri 
river with an expedition comprising eighty men 
fitted out on shares by Sylvester and Auguste 
Chouteau. On the return of Lewis and Clark 
in 1806, they brought with them to St. Louis, 
Shahaka, the chief of the Mandans, on the 
way to Washington for consultation with 
President Jefferson and under promise of safe 
escort back to his home. The next summer 
Ensign Nathaniel Pryor, who had been a ser- 
geant in the Lewis and Clark party, undertook 
to escort the chief up the river. The command 
consisted of fourteen soldiers in all, but it was 
united with a party of thirty-two men led by 
Pierre Chouteau. When they attempted to 
pass the lower Arikara village, the Indians at- 
tacked them and drove them back, and on their 
return they met Crooks and McLellan, who 
then turned back and established a camp prob- 
ably near Bellevue, where they remained until 
the spring of 1810. Lisa had safely passed the 
Arikaras before these parties arrived, and, 
whether true or not, the charge that he inspir- 
ed the Arikara attack is a concession to his 
ability and influence as well as an illustration 
of his reputation for intrigue. 

Astorian Expedition. Commerce led to the 
first exploration and civilized occupation 
in the Northwest, including Nebraska. The 
French had led in exploration and fur trade 
until the British wrested Canada from them 
in 1762, and Frenchmen continued to carry on 
active commercial traffic in this region, with 
St. Louis, then a French town, as their princi- 
pal base. But about the beginning of the 
nineteenth century there was a state of actual 
hostility between English and American trad- 
ers. The discovery of. the mouth of the Col- 
umbia river in 1792 by Captain Gray of the 
American trading ship Columbia, was an im- 
portant factor in the long dispute over the Ore- 
gon boundary. In 1810, John Jacob Astor, of 
New York, organized the Pacific Fur Compa- 



FUR TRADE 



47 



ny, a partnership including himself, Alexander 
McKay, Duncan McDougal, Donald McKen- 
zie, David Stuart, Robert Stuart, and Wilson 
Price Hunt, for the purpose of colonization 
and trade at the mouth of the Columbia river. 
Astor was encouraged in his enterprise by the 
federal government. The partners named,, 
with the exception of Hunt, sailed in the ship 
Tonquin in September. 1810, and founded As- 
toria at the mouth of the Columbia river in 
the spring of the following year. In October 
of 1810 Mr. Hunt .started up the Missouri 
river with a party in three boats to reach As- 
toria by the overland route. The expedition 
came to the mouth of the Nodaway river in 
November, and went into winter quarters, 
though Hunt returned to St. Louis, where 
he spent the winter. He reached the win- 
ter camp again on the 17th of the fol- 
lowing April, and a few days later the 
party set sail. It consisted of about sixty 
men, five of them partners in the enterprise, 
and they embarked in four boats. On the 28th 
of April they breakfasted on an island at the 
mouth of the Platte river, and they halted for 
two days on the bank of the Missouri, a little 
above the m<5uth of Papillion creek, and 
therefore on or near the site of Bellevue. In 
Irv'ing's account of this journey no mention 
is made of any settlement at this point ; but he 
set the example of writing enthusiastically of 
the beauty of the landscape, which has been 
assiduously practiced by travelers and settlers 
ever since. On the 10th of May the party ar- 
rived at the Omaha Indian village, situated. 
by their measurement, about two hundred and 
thirty miles above their P>ellevue encampment. 
On the 12th of June they arrived at the village 
of the Arikara Indians, about ten miles above 
the mouth of the Grand river, now in northern 
South Dakota. From this point they proceed- 
ed by land to the Columbia river, which they 
reached some distance below the junction of 
the Lewis and Clark river. They followed 
down the Columbia in canoes, and reached 
Astoria on the 15th of February. 

Lisa, who represented the Missouri Ftur 
Company, jealously watched the operations of 
the new Pacific Fur Company, and his suc- 



cessful attempt to overtake Hunt resulted in 
a famous keel boat race. Lisa explains that 
this desperate exertion was caused by a desire 
to pass through the dangerous Sioux country 
in Hunt's company for greater safety ; but it 
seems likely that his primary object was to 
prevent Hunt from establishing advantageous 
trade relations with any of the Indians on the 
upper river. Lisa traveled with great rapidity, 
at an average rate of eighteen miles a day, 
and overtook Hunt's party. 

There were twenty-six men on Lisa's boat 
and it was armed with a swivel mounted at 
the bow. Twenty men were at the oars. 




Pierre Chouteau. Jr. 
A master mind in the early fur trade 

Brackenridge, who, according to Irving, was 
"a young, enterprising man, tempted by mo- 
tives of curiosity to accompany Mr. Lisa," 
gives an account of the starting of the party : 

We sat off from the village of St. Charles 
on Tuesday, the 28th of April, 1811. Our 
barge was the best that ever ascended this 
river, and manned with stout oarsmen. Mr 
Lisa, who had been a sea captain, took much 
pains in rigging his boat with a good mast 
and main top sail, these being great helps 
in the navigation of this river. . . We are 
in all twenty-five men. and completely pre- 



48 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



pared for defense. There is besides, a swivel 
on the bow of the boat, which in case of 
attack would malce a formidable appearance ; 
we have also two brass blunderbusses. . 
These precautions are absolutely necessary 
from the hostility of the Sioux bands. 
It is exceedingly difficult to make a start on 
these voyages, from the reluctance of the men 
to terminate the frolic with their friends which 
usually precedes their departure. . . The 
river Platte is regarded by the navigators of 
the Missouri as a point of as much importance 
as the equinoctial line amongst mariners. All 
those who had not passed it before were re- 
quired to be shaved unless they would com- 
promise the matter by a treat. 

On the 28th of June, 1812, Robert Stuart 
started from Astoria with five of Hunt's origi- 
nal party on a return overland trip. At Fort 
Henry on the north fork of Snake river, now 
in southeastern Idaho, he was joined by four 
of the five men who had been detached by Hunt 
on the 10th of the previous October. After a 
journey of terrible hardships they established 
winter quarters on the North Platte river not 
far east of the place where it issues from the 
mountains. At the end of six weeks 
they were driven out by the Indians 
and proceeded three hundred and thirty 
miles down the Platte ; and then, despairing 
of being able to pass safely over the 
desert plain covered with deep snow, 
which confronted them, they went back over 
seventy-seven miles of their course until they 
found a suitable winter camp in what is now 
Scotts Bluff county, where they went into win- 
ter quarters on the 30th of December, 1812. 
On the 8th of March they tried to navigate the 
stream in canoes, but found it impracticable, 
and proceeded on foot to a point about forty- 
five miles from the mouth of the Platte, where 
they embarked, April 16th, in a large canoe 
made for their purpose by the Indians. 

The Yelloivstone Expedition. Such im- 
portance in Nebraska annals as may be attri- 
buted to what is known as Long's expedition 
in 1819 is due to the fact that it was the occas- 
ion of the passage of the first steamboat up 
the Missouri river, and the establishment of 
the first military post within the limits of the 
territory. This post, at first called Camp IMis- 



souri, was developed into a fort of the regular 
quadrangular form and named Fort Atkinson 
after its founder, General Atkinson, the com- 
mander of the Yellowstone expedition. It was 
occupied until 1827 in the main by the Sixth 
regiment of infantry, and was abandoned, June 
27, 1827, when Fort Leavenworth was estab- 
lished and to which the furnishings of Fort 
Atkinson were transferred. A reason assign- 
ed for the abandonment of Fort Atkinson, 
namely, that the site was unhealthy, does not 
seem plausible. A better, and probably the 
real reason is that, owing to the insignificance 
or failure of the up-river fur trading enter- 
prise, this fort was nowhere and protected 
nothing, while the new site chosen by Colonel 
Leavenworth was virtually at the beginning 
of the Sante Fe and Oregon trails, where traf- 
fic vi^as of considerable and growing impor- 
tance. 

The failure of Astor's attempt to effect sta- 
ble American lodgment on the Columbia, and 
of the Missouri Fur Company and other pri- 
vate enterprises to overcome or successfully 
compete with British influence and trade ag- 
gression in this new northwest, stimulated 
the federal government to send, out what was 
intended to be a formidable military and sci- 
entific expedition for the purpose of estab- 
lishing a strong post at the mouth of the Yel- 
lowstone river, to ascertain the natural fea- 
tures and resources of the country, and, if 
practicable, the important line between the 
United States and the British possessions. 
There were dreams, if not practical intentions, 
of establishing a trade with the Orient by way 
of the Columbia river, across the mountains 
to the Missouri, and down that stream to the 
Mississippi, but which were to be realized 
through the steam railroad across Nebraska 
instead of the steamboat up the Missouri. 

Five steamboats were provided for the trans- 
portation of the military arm of the expedition, 
comprising about a thousand men under the 
command of Colonel Henry Atkinson. Mis- 
management and miscalculation chiefly distin- 
guished this pretentious enterprise from first 
to last. The waste of time and monev — ex- 
cept as tlie latter provided a substantial lining 



FUR TRADE 



49 



for the pocket of the contractor — in attempt- 
ing to navigate the Missouri with vessels not 
specially adapted to its very peculiar demands, 
the lack of proper provisions for the troops at 
their winter quarters at Council Blufifs, result- 
ing in appalling sickness and death, the entire 
abandonment of the original and important de- 
sign of the enterprise — to obtain a sure foot- 
ing or control in the upper Missouri — and the 
failure of Major Long to reach the Red river 
at all seem to justify the criticism which the 
expedition has received. Two of the five boats 
were not able to enter the Missouri at all ; and 
"the Jefferson gave out and abandoned the trip 
thirty miles below Franklin. The Expedition 
and the Johnson wintered at Cow Island, a 
little above the mouth of the Kansas, and re- 
turned to St. Louis in the following spring."' 
The troops did not reach Council Bluff, where 
they established Camp Missouri, till the 26th 
of September, 1819. Their condition in the 
spring, March 8th, is shown in the journal of 
Long's expedition : 

Camp Missouri has been sickly, from the 
commencement of the winter ; but its situation 
is at this time truly deplorable. More than 
three hundred are, or have been sick, and 
nearly one hundred have died. This fatality 
is occasioned by the scurvy (scorbutus). In- 
dividuals who are seized rarely recover, as they 
can not be furnished with the proper aliments ; 
they have no vegetables, fresh meat, nor anti- 
scorbutics, so that the patients grow daily 
worse, and entering the hospital is considered 
by them a certain passport to the grave. ^^ 

The scientific and exploring division of the 
party, under Major Long, left St. Louis on the 
9th of June, 1819, on the steamboat Western 
Engineer, which is said to have been the first 
stern-wheel steamboat ever built. This vessel 
appears to have been well adapted to its pur- 
pose and, proceeding by easy stages, reached 
the mouth of the Platte river on the 15th of 
September, Fort Lisa on the 17th, and on the 
19th anchored at the winter camp, half a mile 
above Fort Lisa and five miles below Council 
Bluff, and which they called Engineer Canton- 
ment. According to one writer, the vessels 
which attempted to transfer Atkinson's sol- 

' History of American Fur Trade, vol. ii, p. 569. 
^o Long's First Expedition, vol. i, p. 195. 



diers in the early winter of 1818 were the first 
steamboats to enter the Missouri river; but 
the statement that two of them went as far as 
Cow Island, above the mouth of the Kansas, is 
contrary to an account of the arrival of the In- 
dependence at Franklin, contained in the 
Franklin Intelligencer of May 28, 1819: 

With no ordinary sensation of pride and 
pleasure we announce the arrival this morning 
of the elegant steamboat. Independence, Capt. 
Nelson, in seven sailing days (but thirteen 
from the time of her departure) from St. Louis 
with passengers and a cargo of flour, whiskey, 




Benjamin Louis Eulai,ia Bonneville 

iron castings, etc., being the first steamboat 
that ever attempted ascending the Missouri. 
The grand desideratum, the important fact is 
now acknowledged that steamboats can suc- 
cessfully navigate the Missouri. 

Major Long started to Washington after a 
sojourn of two weeks at Engineer Cantonment 
and returned in the spring by land from St. 
Louis. On account of mismanagement of the 
expedition and the scandals arising from it the 
necessary appropriations were stopped and 
Major Long vi^as authorized to lead an explor- 
ing party "to the source of the river Platte and 
thence by way of the Arkansas and Red rivers 
to the Mississippi." The party consisted of S. 
H. Long, major United States topographical 
engineers, six regular soldiers, and eleven oth- 



50 



HISTORY ()F NEBRASKA 



er men, most of them such specialists as were 
needed in a scientific exploration. They started 
from Engineer Cantonment on the 6th of June, 
following the Pawnee path southwesterly to 
the Platte valley, then, proceeding along the 
north side of the river, crossed the forks a 
short distance above their junction, and fol- 
lowed the south bank of the South Platte. By 
the end of June they came in sight of the moun- 
tains and discovered the great peak which they 
named after Major Long. 

In May, 1832, Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth, 
with a party of eighteen, intent on Astor's or- 
iginal plan of establishing trade on the Colum- 
bia river, passed through Nebraska on the Ore- 
gon trail. He traveled in company with Wil- 
liam L. Sublette's expedition to the mountains. 
On his return by way of the Missouri river he 
passed Council Bluff on the 21st of September. 
1833. In 1834, Wyeth, with a party of seven- 
ty men, traveled over the same route again — 
from Independence to the Columbia. 

Captain Bonneville was a diligent wanderer 
rather than an explorer, and he owes his fame 
largely to the fact that the fascinating Irving 
was his historian. He took a party of about 
one hundred men over the Oregon trail in the 
spring of 1832, and traveled over the whole 
northwest mountain region, including the Co- 
lumbia river country, until the spring of 1835. 
In the year last named Colonel Henr>' Dodge, 
who afterwards became the first governor of 
Wisconsin, and after whom Nebraska's bril- 
liant son, Henry Dodge Estabrook, was nam- 
ed, led an expedition from Fort Leavenworth 
up the Platte and along its south fork to the 
mountains, thence south to the Sante Fe trail, 
returning by that route. 

Fremont's Expedition. The federal gov- 
ernment had indirectly encouraged the expe- 
ditions set on foot by Astor and others and had 
directly sent the Long expedition, but the most 
important explorations of the Northwest, un- 
der the auspices of the government, were those 
of Fremont. The first party passed through 
Nebraska by the Oregon trail in the summer 
of 1842. This expedition, composed of twenty- 
seven men, mostly Creole Canadian frontiers- 
men, included the famous Kit Carson as its 



guide and a son of Thomas H. Benton, a boy 
of twelve years, whose sister Lieutenant Fre- 
mont, the leader of the expedition, had recently 
married. This expedition started from Cyp- 
rian Chouteau's trading post on the Missouri 
river, a little over twelve miles above the mouth 
of the Kansas, on the 10th of June, 1842. Fre- 
mont's orders were, "to explore and report up- 
on the country between the frontiers of Mis- 
souri and the south pass in the Rocky moun- 
tains and on the line of the Kansas and Great 
Platte rivers." This was accomplished by the 
middle of August, and the party returned by 
the same route, reaching the junction of the 
north and south forks on the 12th of Septem- 
ber. Here Fremont also was tempted to un- 
dertake the navigation of the river. His own 
account of the remainder of the journey 
through Nebraska is a pertinent and interest- 
ing story : 

At this place I had determined to make an- 
other attempt to descend the Platte by water, 
and accordingly spent two days in the construc- 
tion of a bull boat. Men were sent out on the 
evening of our arrival, the necessary number 
of bulls killed, and their skins brought to 
camp. Four of the best of them were strongly 
sewed together with buffalo sinew, and stretch- 
ed over a basket frame of willow. The seams 
were then covered with ashes and tallow and 
the boat left exposed to the sun the greater 
part of one day, which was sufficient to dry and 
contract the skin and make the whole work 
solid and strong. It had a rounded bow, was 
eight feet long and five broad, and drew with 
four men about four inches of water. On the 
morning of the 15th we embarked in our hide 
boat, Mr. Preuss and myself with two men. 
We dragged her over the sands for three or 
four miles, and then left her on the bar, and 
abandoned entirely all further attempts to navi- 
gate this river. The names given by the Indi- 
ans are always remarkably appropriate ; and 
certainly none was ever more so than that 
which they had given to this stream — "the Ne- 
liraska, or Shallow River." Walking steadily 
the remainder of the day, a little before dark 
we overtook our people at their evening camp, 
about twenty-one miles below the junction. 
The next morning we crossed the Platte, and 
continued our way down the river bottom on 
the left bank, where we found an excellent 
plainly beaten road. 

On the 18th we reached Grand Island, which 



FUR TRADE 



51 



is fifty-two miles long, with an average breadth 
of one mile and three quarters. It has on it 
some small eminences and is sufficiently ele- 
vated to be secure from the annual floods ot 
the river. As has already been remarked, it is 
well timbered, with an excellent soil, and rec- 
ommends itself to notice as the best point for 
a military position on the Lower Platte. 

On the 22nd we arrived at the village of the 
Grand Pawnees, on the right bank of 
the river, about thirty miles above the mouth 
of the Loup fork. They were gathering in 
their corn, and we obtained from them a very 
welcome supply of vegetables. 

The morning of the 24th we reached the 
Loup fork of the Platte. At the place where 
we forded it, this stream was four hundred and 
thirty yards broad, with a swift current of 
clear water; in this respect differing from the 
Platte, which has a muddy yellow color, de- 
rived from the limestone and marl formation 
of which we have previously spoken. The ford 
was difiicult, as the water was so deep that it 
came into the body of the carts, and we reach- 
ed the opposite bank after repeated attempts, 
ascending and descending the bed of the river 
in order to avail ourselves of the bars. We 
camped on the left bank of the fork, in the 
point of land at its junction with the Platte. 
During the two days that we remained here 
for astronomical observations, the bad weath- 
er permitted us to obtain but one good observ- 
ation for the latitude — a meridian altitude 
of the sun, which gave for the latitude of the 
mouth of the Loup" fork 41° 22' 11". 

Five or six days previously, I had sent for- 
ward C. Lambert, with two men, to Bellevue, 
with directions to ask from Mr. P. Sarpy, 
the gentleman in charge of the American 
Company's establishment at that place, the 
aid of his carpenters in constructing a boat, in 
which I proposed to descend the Missouri. On 
the afternoon of the 27th we met one of the 
men who had been dispatched by Mr. Sarpy 
with a welcome supply of provisions and a very 
kind note which gave the very gratifying in- 
telligence that our boat was in rapid prog- 
ress. On the evening of the 30th we encamped 
in an almost impenetrable undergrowth on the 
left bank of the Platte, in the point of land 
at its confluence with the Missouri — three 
hundred and fifty miles, according to our 
reckoning, from the junction of the forks, and 
five hundred and twenty miles from Fort Lar- 
amie. 

From the junction we had found the bed 
of the Platte occupied with numerous islands, 



many of them very large, and well timbered ; 
possessing, as well as the bottom lands of the 
river, a very excellent soil. With the excep- 
tion of some scattered groves on the banks, the 
bottoms are generallly without timber. A por- 
tion of these consist of low grounds, covered 
with a profusion of fine grasses, and are prob- 
ably inundated in the spring; the remaining 
part is high river prairie, entirely beyond the 
influence of the floods. The breadth of the 
river is usually three quarters of a mile, ex- 
cept where it is enlarged by islands. That por- 
tion of its course which is occupied by Grand 
Island has an average breadth from shore to 
shore of two and a half miles. The breadth 




John C. Fremont 

of the valley, with the various accidents of 
ground — springs, timber, and whatever I 
have thought interesting to travelers and set- 
tlers — you will find indicated on the larger 
map which accompanies this report. 

October 1. — I arose this morning long be- 
fore daylight, and heard with a feeling of 
pleasure the tinkling of cow bells at the settle- 
ments on the opposite side of the Missouri. 
Early in the day we reached Mr. Sarpy's resi- 
dence, and in the security and comfort of his 
hospitable mansion felt the pleasure of again 
being within the pale of civilization. We 



52 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



found our boat on the stocks ; a few days 
sufficed to complete her ; and in the afternoon 
of the 4th we embarked on the Missouri. All 
our equipage — horses, carts, and the materiel 
of the camp • — had been sold at public auction 
at Bellevue. The strength of my party enabled 
me to man the boat with ten oars, relieved 
every hour; and we descended rapidly. 

On his second expedition the following year, 
Fremont passed up the Kansas river to the 
mouth of the Republican. He then proceeded 





iJ^. Jl 




northwestwardly, leaving the Republican val- 
ley on his right or to the north. Soon after 
crossing and naming the Prairie Dog river 
he again entered the Republican valley. He 
crossed the present Nebraska line not far from 
the western boundary of Hitchcock county, 
and, crossing Dundy county diagonally to the 
northwest, entered the valley of the South 
Platte, which he followed to the mountains. 
Fremont complains on this trip of the difficulty 
of traveling on account of heavy rains, which 



is another indication of the fallacy of the popu- 
lar notion that rainfall has increased in this por- 
tion of the plains since its occupation and cul- 
tivation by white men. 

John C. Fremont. John C. Fremont was 
born January 21, 1813, in Savannah, Georgia, 
and died July 13, 1890. He was the son of a 
French immigrant who married into one of the 
most prominent families of Virginia. John C. 
Fremont distinguished himself as statesman, 
soldier, and explorer. After completing his 
work in Charleston College, he taught mathe- 
matics for a time, and later became a civil en- 
gineer. He married the daughter of 
Colonel Thomas H. Benton. Fremont 
gained the recognition of the United 
States government, which supported his 
ambitions in explorations extending across- 
the continent to the Pacific coast. As a 
recognition of his services he was rewarded 
with a brevet captaincy. In California, he pro- 
tected the settlers from the Mexicans, and in 
1846 was appointed governor of California. 
He received the commission of lieutenant-col- 
onel. Fremont organized an expedition to find 
a southern route to California and, while the 
attempt was somewhat disastrous, he succeeded 
in reaching California by that route in 1849. 
He was elected United States senator from 
that state and took his seat when the state was 
admitted in 1850. His term expired in 1851,. 
and the following year was spent in Europe. 
In 1856 he was the republican nominee for^ 
president of the United States, but was defeat- 
ed by James Buchanan, the democratic nomi- 
nee. Fremont was appointed major-general in 
the Federal army, and later was made com- 
mander of the mountain district of Virginia 
and Kentucky. He resigned when Major- 
General Pope was assigned to the command of 
the Army of Virginia. The failure of his pro- 
ject to build the El Paso and Pacific railroad 
reduced him to poverty. He was appoint- 
ed governor of Arizona territory and served 
four years. 

Manuel de Lisa. It is probable that there 
was a trading post called Fort Charles, about 
six miles below Omadi, kept by one McKay- 
as early as 1795. In 1802, Cruzatte's post,. 



FIRST SETTLEMENTS 



53 



also a trading establishment, was situated two 
miles above old Council Bluff. In 1807, Crooks 
and McLellan established a post not far above 
the mouth of the Papillion ; but they abandoned 
it in 1810 when they formed the Pacific Fur 
Company. This was probably the first settle- 
ment on the site, or in the immediate neigh- 
borhood, of Bellevue. The tradition that Man- 
uel Lisa made a settlement at Bellevue in 1805 
is probably groundless. He established his 
post, known as Fort Lisa, at a point between 
five and six miles below the original Council 
Bluff — ■ where Lewis and Clark had a council 
with the Missouri and Otoe Indians, August 
3, 1804, and now the site of the town of Fort 
Calhoun — as early as 1812. Manuel Lisa was 
doubtless the most remarkable man among the 
early explorers and traders of the Missouri 
river. "In boldness of enterprise, persistency 
of purpose and in restless energy, he was a fair 
representative of the Spaniard of the days of 
Cortez. He was a man of great ability, a mas- 
terly judge of men, thoroughly experienced in 
the Indian trade and native customs, intensely 
active in his work, yet withal a perfect enigma 
of character which his contemporaries were 
never able to solve. "'^ He was selected to 
command in the field, nearly every expedition 
sent out by the St. Louis companies of which 
he was a member. Lisa was born of Spanish 
parents, in Cuba, in 1772. The return of Lewis 
and Clark excited his ambition to establish 
trade on the upper Missouri, and in 1807 he 
led an expedition as far as the Bighorn where 
he established a post called Fort Lisa. The 
Missouri Fur Company of St. Louis, in which 
he was a partner, was organized in 1808-1809. 
In the spring of 1809 he went up to the Big- 
horn post with a party of one hundred and 
fifty men, but returned to St. Louis for the 
winter. Every year, from 1807 to 1819, in- 
clusive, possibly with one exception, he made 
the upper Missouri trip — twice to the Bighorn, 
a distance of two thousand miles, several times 
to Fort Mandan, fifteen hundred miles, the rest 
of the journeys being to Fort Lisa at Council 
Bluff, six hundred and seventv miles. After 



the establishment of this post he spent most, 
probably all of the winters there, returning 
to St. Louis in the spring each year. His last 
sojourn in his Nebraska home was in 1819, and 
this time his wife, whom he had recently mar- 
ried in St. Louis, was with him. He had kept 
at least one woman of the Omahas as wife or 
mistress, and there is a tragic story of his 
final separation from her before his last trip 
back to St. Louis, and of her giving up their 
two children to him because she thought it 
would be best for them. As is often the case 




113. 



^1 Chittenden, History of American Fur Trade, 



Mary M..\nuel Lisa 
First white woman to live in Nebraska 

with original and adventurous spirits, in a com- 
mercial sense Lisa sowed that others might 
reap, and he died at St. Louis, in August, 1820, 
leaving little of the material gain for which he 
had striven with wonderful energy and at such 
great risks. While McKay and Cruzatte, and 
perhaps others of the white race may have had 
lodgment in Nebraska before Lisa, yet it 
seems fair to call him the first real white 
settler. Thomas Biddle, the journalist of the 
Yellowstone expedition, in a report to Atkin- 
son, commandant at Camp Missouri, dated 
October 29, 1819, says that Lisa's party went 



54 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



to the mouth of the Bighorn in 1809 and that 
they wintered there that year, and on the wa- 
ters of the Columbia in lSlO-1811; but Lisa, 
himself, returned to St. Louis in the fall of 
1809. By Biddle's showing the Missouri river 
fur trade was on the whole unprofitable, and 
the various companies or partnerships were 
short-lived, and according to his statement, the 
Missouri Fur Company expired in 1814 or 
1815 ; by other accounts it dissolved between 
1828-1830, Joshua Pilcher remaining its presi- 
dent after Lisa's death. Biddle tells us also 




Engra^nng from a photograph owned by John Q. 
Goss, Belleznte, Nebraska. 

Logan Fontenelle (Shon-g.\-sk.\) 

Elected principal chief of the Omahas, 

September, 1853 



that after the dissolution of the Missouri com- 
pany, Lisa, Pilcher, and others bought a new 
company for $10,000, and they added goods to 
the amount of $7,000. As Lisa died in 1820, 
he could not have joined Pilcher in his last 
enterprise after the expiration of the Missouri 
company, if it had lived until 1828 or 1830. 
The confusion must be accounted for by the 
fact that another company of the same name 
was organized after the dissolution of the 
first, and it is to that doubtless that some writ- 



ers refer. Long notes that Major Pilcher and 
Lucien Fontenelle were in the employ of the 
Missouri Fur Company at the beginning of the 
year 1820. Not long after Lisa's death, the 
company, now in charge of Pilcher, moved its 
post from Fort Lisa down to fhe site of Belle- 
vue. Chittenden states that Lucien Fontenelle 
and Andrew Drips bought the post soon after 
this time and retained it many years, though 
in another place this author says that they 
built a post at Bellevue. It is probable that 
this Fontenelle was connected with one of the 
numerous French royal families, and it is stated 
that he committed suicide at Fort Laramie ; but 
reliable local accounts say .that he left his 
mountain trading post in 1839 and came to 
Bellevue where he lived with his family until 
he died, from intemperate habits, in 1840. He 
married a woman of the Omaha tribe and they 
had five children. 

Logan Fontenelle. Logan Fontenelle be- 
came a chief of the Omahas and a man of much 
note among the Indians and the earliest white 
settlers. Henry Fontenelle, a brother of this 
Omaha chief, has given the following account 
of his death: 

In June, 1855, Logan went with the tribe 
as usual on their summer buffalo hunt, and as 
usual their enemies, the Sioux, laid in wait for 
the Omahas in vicinities of large herds of buf- 
falo. The first surround they made on the 
buffalo the Sioux made a descent upon them 
in overwhelming numbers and turned the chase 
into battle. Four Omahas were killed and 
several wounded. In every attempt at getting 
buffalo the Sioux charged upon them. The 
Omahas concluded it was useless to try to get 
any buffalo, and retreated toward home. They 
traveled three days, and, thinking they were 
out of danger, Logan, one morning, in com- 
pany with Louis Saunsoci and another Indian, 
started on ahead of the moving village and 
were about three miles away when they es- 
pied a herd of elk in the distance. Logan pro- 
posed chase, they started, that was the last 
seen of him alive. The same moment the vil- 
lage was surrounded by the Sioux. About ten 
o'clock in the morning a battle ensued and 
lasted until three o'clock, when they found 
out Logan was killed. His body was found 
and brought into Bellevue and buried by the 
side of his father. He had the advantage of 
a limited education and saw the advantasfe of 



FIRST SETTLEMENTS 



55 



it. He made it a study to promote the welfare 
of his people and to bring them out of their 
wretchedness, poverty and ignorance. His 
first step to that end was to organize a parole 
of picked men and punish all that came home 
intoxicated with bad whiskey. His effort to 
stop whiskey drinking was successful. It was 
his intention as soon as the Oinahas were 
settled in their new home to ask the govern- 
ment to establish ample schools among them, 
to educate the children of the tribe by force if 
they would not send the children by reasonable 
persuasion. His calculations for the benefit of 
the tribe were many, but, like many other hu- 
man calculations, his life suddenly ended in the 
prime, and just as he was ready to benefit his 
people and sacrifice a life's labor for help- 
less humanity. After Logan was killed the 
Omahas went back to Bellevue instead of 
coming back to the reservation whence they 
started, and wintered along the Missouri river 
between Calhoun and the reservation, some 
of them at Bellevue. In the spring of 1856 
they again went back to their reservation, 
where they have been since. 

Between the years 1822 and 1826, J. P. Ca- 
banne established a post for the American Fur 
Company at a point nine or ten miles above 
the later site of the Union Pacific bridge at 
Omaha. It is probable that Joshua Pilcher 
succeeded Cabanne in the management of the 
post in 1833, and between that year and 1840 
it was moved down to Bellevue and placed 
under the management of Peter A. Sarpy. 
Pilcher succeeded General Clark, of the Lewis 
and Clark expedition, as superintendent of 
Indian affairs at St. Louis in 1838. The Rev. 
Samuel Allis, a missionary to the Pawnee In- 
dians and who was frequently at. Bellevue as 
early as 1834 and thereafter, states that in the 
year named, his party camped at the fur com- 
pany's fort and that Major Pilcher was in 
charge of the post ; also that soon after Peter 
A. Sarpy came into that part of the country 
he was clerk for Cabanne. Chittenden says 
that "Fontenelle and Drips apparentlv bought 
Pilcher's post and established it in their own 
name which it retained for many years." 
Thus both the Missouri Fur Company's post 
and the American Fur Company's post ap- 
pear to have been transferred to Bellevue, the 
one from Fort Lisa and the other from Caban- 
ne's. The Rev. Moses Merrill, a Baptist mis- 



sionary to the Otoe Indians, who came to Belle- 
vue on his mission in the fall of 1833, speaks 
in his diary of visiting Cabanne's post as late 
as April 1, 1839, so that it could not have been 
removed to Bellevue before that time; and Mr. 
Merrill, whose diary comes down to August 18, 
1839, makes no mention of the removal. In 
this diary Mr. Merrill frequently speaks of rid- 
ing from Bellevue to "the trading post," eigh- 
teen miles, which was in charge of Major Pil- 
cher, and evidently the old Cabanne post. On 
the 7th of March, 1834, Merrill makes the fol- 
lowing entry in his diary: "Sublette and 
Campbell have established a trading post here 
in opposition to the American Company." On 
the 10th of May, 1834, he records that he set 
out from the trading post eighteen miles above 
Bellevue, which must have been Cabanne's, to 
the Otoe village which he says was twenty- 
five miles distant. After Mr. Merrill had estab- 
lished himself at the Otoe mission house on 
the south side of the Platte, he records, May 
30, 1836, that he rode to Cabanne's post, thirty 
miles. Mr. Merrill repeatedly states that he and 
the women who assisted him in his mission 
work, went backwards and forwards daily 
between the mission house and the Otoe village, 
so that they could have been only a short 
distance apart. The permanent Otoe villages 
were on the west side of the Platte river forty 
miles from its mouth, not far from the present 
village of Yutan. The Merrill mission estab- 
lishment was about eight miles above the 
mouth of the Platte where a chimney still marks 
its site. Merrill's diary tells us in a vague way 
that the Otoe villages were moved down the 
Platte from the site in question during the 
summer of 1835. Merrill gives the distance 
from the trading post to the villages and to 
the mission as the same, showing that they 
were very near together ; and his diary gives 
other ample evidence of that fact. Allis says 
that Merrill's establishment was on the Platte, 
six miles from Bellevue. 

In a paper by the Rev. S. P. Merrill, the mis- 
sionary's son, the following statement is made: 
"A few miles from Bellevue, just below Boy- 
er's creek, was the trading post of Cabanne. 
This post was sold about this time to a fur 



56 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




FIRST SETTLEMENTS 



57 



company, and in 1834 was occupied by Major 
Pilcher." This agrees with another statement 
that Pilcher succeeded Cabanne as manager 
of the post in 1833. Mr. Merrill states that at 
Bellevue was a government agency for the 
Otoes, Pawnees, Omahas, and Missouris. 
"Bellevue," he says, "was at first a trading 
post of the Missouri Fur Company. They had 
sold out to Fontenelle, and he had disposed of 
a part of his holdings to the government. Here 
Major John Dougherty was government ageijt 
and Major Beauchamp was assistant. There 
were here now but few men. During the sum- 
mer before, the cholera had carried off seven 
out of ten in twenty-four hours. On the bank 
of the river were the poorer huts, while high- 
er up were the agency buildings. A quarter 
of a mile below were the buildings of Fonte- 
nelle. Mr. Merrill says that under Major 
Dougherty were "his brother, Hannibal, as- 
sistant, a teacher, an assistant teacher, two 
blacksmiths to care for the farming tools, and 
one or two farmers to teach the Indians how- 
to make their crops." The missionary, the 
Rev. Moses Merrill, unfortunately for the 
cause of accurate history, was an almost mor- 
bid religious devotee, and his diary is so large- 
ly given up to recording his devotions and vary- 
ing religious moods as to leave too little room 
for intelligible historical data. 

Peter A. Sarpy. P. A. Sarpy, born 1804, 
was a son of Gregoire Berald and Pelagic 
(Labadie) Sarpy. His father is said to have 
been the first man to attempt the navigation 
of the Missouri river in a keel boat. But little 
is known of his early life except that he was of 
French extraction and was educated in St. 
Louis where his relatives, the Chouteaus and 
others, occupied high social position. His 
elder brother, John B. Sarpy, was an impor- 
tant factor in the fur trade and the general 
commercial life of St. Louis. He was born in 
that city January 12, 1798, and was first em- 
ployed as a clerk for Berthold and Chouteau, 
with whom he was associated in business for 
the balance of his life. His first wife was the 
eldest daughter of John P. Cabanne. About 
1823 Peter A. Sarpy came to Nebraska as a 
clerk for the American Fur Company under 



John P. Cabanne, and in 1824 succeeded him 
as manager of the post at Bellevue. Shortly 
after, he established a post on the Iowa side of 
the Missouri river which he called Traders 
Point ; this was used for the accommodation of 
the whites, while Bellevue catered chiefly to the 
Indian trade. On account of the encroach- 
ments of the river. Traders Point was aban- 
doned in 1853 and a new location established 
at St. Mary, four miles down the river. In 
1S53 Colonel Sarpy established flat-boat ferries 
across the Elkhorn river near where Elkhorn 




From an old daguerreotype taken in 1855 at Council 
Bluffs, Iowa, and given to the Nebraska State His- 
torical Society by J. Sterling Morton. 

Petes A. Sarpy 



City was afterwards located, and on the Loup 
Fork near the present site of Columbus. He 
was a man of peculiar temperament, kind at 
heart, but in the pursuit of his business enter- 
prises he spared no one. He was small and wiry 
in build, possessing great physical endurance. 
He loved the freedom of the West and was in- 
timately associated with the Indians, beings 
honored with the title of "white chief" by the 
Omahas. He married, according to Indian cus- 
tom, Ni-co-mi, a woman of the lowas, to whom 
he was greatly attached, and whom he as 
greatly feared. Ni-co-mi had been the wife 
of Dr. John Gale, who had deserted her and 
their child. In 1854 Mr. Sarpy was a member 



58 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




F.ARLv AfissouRi River StEambtats 

The lower view represents a steamboat wreck on the Missouri river, copied from Early Steamboat 
Navigation on the Missouri River, Chittenden. The others are from photographs owned by the Nebraslca 
State Historical Sc.c'etv. 



F.ARLY TRADERS 



59 



of the Old Town company which laid out the 
town of Bellevue, and in company with Ste- 
phen Decatur and others laid out the town of 
Decatur, where he had maintained a trading 
post. In 1862, he rrnoved to Plattsmouth, 
where he died January 4, 1865. Sarpy county 
was named in his honor. The St. Louis rela- 
tives of Colonel Sarpy deny that he left any 
considerable estate. He provided, however, 
for the payment of an annuity of $200 to Ni- 
co-mi, his Indian wife, which amount was paid 
regularly until her death. 

Eari.y Traders. A number of the hardy 
traders of the early days in the Plains country 
deserve special attention and, briefly sketched, 
their lives throw a ray of light into those early 
days and present an understanding of the 
loneliness of the lives they led. as nothing else 
can. 

Manuel dc Lisa. Manuel de Lisa, Spanish 
fur trader of Nebraska, was born in Cuba, 
September 8, 1772. He came to this country 
about the time the Spanish took possession of 
Louisiana. His father was in the service of 
the Spanish government during most of his 
life time. Manuel de Lisa went to St. Louis 
about the year 1790, when he became inter- 
ested in the fur business. In 1800, he secured 
from the Spanish government the exclusive 
right to trade with the Osage Indians. In 
1807, he came up the Missouri river and estab- 
lished a post and began the fur trade at the 
mouth of the Bighorn and also at Fort Lisa, 
near the present site of Fort Calhoun. He re- 
turned to St. Louis and organized the St. Louis 
Fur Company. Lisa was made subagent for 
all of the Indian tribes along the Missouri 
north of Kansas. He was beyond question 
the most active and successful man who ever 
entered the Indian countr}' in the early days, 
and rendered great service to the government. 
He was a prominent citizen of St. Louis and 
was one of the incorporators of the Bank of 
St. Louis in 1813. 

Manuel Lisa was married twice among his 
own people, and also had a wife from the Oma- 
ha tribe. It is said this marriage was for the 
purpose of ingratiating himself into the Indian 



favor and to hold a commercial advantage over 
his rivals in the fur trade. 

Two children were born of this union and 
were recognized in his will as his "natural 
children." Lisa provided for the education 
of these children before his death. Little is 
known of his first wife who favored him with 
three children. The second wife of his own 
people was Mary Hampstead Keeny, of St. 
Louis, whom he married August 5, 1818. Mrs. 
Lisa spent the winter of 1819-1820 with her 
husband at his post in Nebraska and was prob- 
ably the first white woman to ascend the Mis- 
souri river. 

Major Joshua Pitcher . Major Joshua 
Pilcher, pioneer Indian trader, was born in 
Virginia, March 15, 1790. He entered busi- 
ness pursuits in St. Louis in 1812, and in 1820 
entered the fur trade as a member of the reor- 
ganized Missouri Fur Company, of which he 
became president in 1821, upon the death of 
Manuel Lisa. He remained at the head of this 
company until its dissolution about 1830. For 
a time he transferred his services to the Amer- 
ican Fur Company and had charge of their 
post at Council Blufif. In 1838, he was ap- 
pointed by President Van Buren as superin- 
tendent of Indian affairs at St. Louis, which 
was made vacant by the death of General 
William Clark, the associate of Meriwether 
Lewis. As did a large number of these early 
pioneers, he married an Indian woman. He 
is represented as a man of great ability, of 
strict integrity, and high standing in business 
and social circles. 

Lucicn Fontenclle. Lucien Franqois Fon- 
tenelle, pioneer Indian fur trader, was a 
direct descendant of a powerful family of the 
French nobility. Lucien was born near New 
Orleans about 1800. He entered the employ 
of the American Fur Company at St. Louis in 
1816 and made his headquarters at Fort Lara- 
mie. He later entered business for himself and 
for a time was associated with Andrew Drips. 
He established a storehouse at Bellevue where 
he made his home. He was intimately associ- 
ated with the Omaha Indians and married a 
woman of the tribe. It is said the marriage 



60 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



was performed by Father De Smet, an influen- 
tial Catholic missionary. 

Fontenelle had five children : Logan, Henry, 
Albert, Tecumseh, and Susan. He gave all 
of his children a good education and they were 
baptised in the Catholic faith. In 1838, he 
abandoned his mountain home and lived with 
his family in Bellevue. He died in 1840 
and was buried at Bellevue. His distin- 
guished son, Logan, was later buried by his 
side. 

Andrczi.' Drips. Andrew Drips, fur trader, 
was born in 1789 in Westmoreland county, 
Pennsylvania. But little is known of his early 
history. Like his contemporaries, he went to 
St. Louis which at the time was attracting at- 
tention. In 1820 he became a member of the 
reorganized Alissouri Fur Company and ac- 
companied many expeditions in its interest, 
gaining a reputation as mountaineer. In 1842, 
he was appointed Indian agent by President 
Tyler for the Indians of the upper Missouri 
tribes. After four years in this service he en- 
tered the employ of the American Fur Company 
and for some years lived in the vicinity of 
Bellevue. For a time he was associated with 
Lucien Fontenelle and Joshua Pilcher. In 
early life he married an Indian woman of the 
Otoe tribe. Major Drips died in 1880 at Kan- 
sas City. 

Jolm Pierre Cabannc. John Pierre Ca- 
banne, Indian trader, and prominent citizen of 
St. Louis, was born about 1773. The first 
brick residence of St. Louis was built by Mr. 
Cabanne and was known as the Cabanne man- 
sion, on the King's Highway, near the present 
site of Forest Park. He was engaged in mer- 
cantile business in that city for many years. 
He was one of the commissioners for the bank 
of Missouri in 1816. A year or two earlier he 
became identified with the American Fur 
Company. After 1820 he devoted his atten- 
tion almost exclusively to the fur trade and 
made many trips up the Missouri river in its 
interest. Between 1822 and 1826, he estab- 
lished a post known as Cabanne's Post, about 
ten miles above the present site of Omaha. He 
was in charge of this post until 1833. Major 



Pilcher succeeded him in charge of the post 
which was afterward removed to Bellevue. 
Mr. Cabanne died in St. Louis in 1841. 

Moses Merrill. Aloses Merrill, pioneer 
Indian missionary, was born in Sedgwick 
county, Maine, in 1803. His father was a sol- 
dier in the Revolutionary war and afterward 
became a minister of the Baptist faith. Moses 
was given the best education common in his 
day and for a time taught school in his native 
state. After being licensed to preach, he of- 
fered his services as a missionary to the Indi- 
ans, but the New York Baptist convention 
to which the off^er was made, did not accept it. 
For a time he lived in Michigan where he en- 
gaged in teaching and in the study of theolo- 
gy. Mr. Merrill married Eliza Wilcox in 1830, 
and in 1832 was appointed missionary to Sault 
Ste. Marie. The following spring they were 
transferred to Missouri, and later went to 
Bellevue where a mission school was at once 
opened. Mr. Merrill and his wife labored 
faithfully among the Indians, teaching and 
preaching until his life was laid down in 1840. 
Authentic Explorations. The most im- 
portant of the early explorations was that of 
Lewis and Clark. Their expedition had of- 
ficial significance and gave definite information 
concerning a vast region and lent an impetus 
towards its further exploration. This event 
marks the beginning of definite history of the 
territory from which was to be carved a num- 
ber of populous and prosperous states. 

William Clark. Williain Clark was born 
August 1, 1770, in Kentucky, not far from his 
later associate, Meriwether Lewis. At four- 
teen years of age he removed with his parents 
to Louisville where, amidst the most humble 
surroundings, he grew up. He chose a mili- 
tary career and was appointed ensign in the 
regular army at the age of eighteen ; two years 
later he was made captain of militia. In 1791 
he was commissioned lieutenant of infantry, 
and later served as adjutant and quartermaster. 
In 1796 he resigned from the army on account 
of ill health and returned to his farm in Ken- 
tucky. 

In 1807 Lieutenant Clark was commissioned 
by President Jeft'erson as brigadier-general 



AUTHENTIC EXPLORATIONS 



61 



and Indian agent of Louisiana territory. In 
this office he became widely known and great- 
ly trusted by both whites and Indians. In 1812 
the name of the territory was changed to Mis- 
souri, and in 1813 General Clark was appoint- 
ed by President Madison as governor of the 
territory, which embraced all of the present 
state of Nebraska. He was reappointed by 
Madison in 1816 and 1817, and by Monroe in 
1820. He held the office continuously until 
Missouri was admitted as a state into the 
Union. In 1822, President Monroe named 
him as superintendent of Indian affairs, which 
position he held until his death in St. Louis in 
1838. 

Meriwether Lewis. Meriwether Lewis 
was born in 1774 near Charlottesville, Virgin- 
ia. He came of an illustrious family which 



had achieved military distinction during the 
Revolutionary war. His early life was spent 
on a farm, but at the age of twenty he answer- 
ed the call of George Washington for volun- 
teers to put down the "whisky rebellion." He 
later entered the regular service as a lieuten- 
ant ; still later he was appointed to a captaincy, 
and finally became paymaster of his regiment. 
He had served for two years as private secre- 
tary to President Jefferson before his appoint- 
ment to command the expedition through 
which he became famous. At his suggestion, 
the president appointed Lieutenant Clark as 
his associate in the command of the exploring 
party. In 1807, Captain Lewis was appointed 
governor of Louisiana with headquarters at 
St. Louis. He held this office until his death 
bv suicide in 1809. 



CHAPTER III 



Early Travel and Transportation — The Overland Stage — The Pony Express ■ 
Navigation • — First Railroad and Telegraph 



River 



TRAVEL and transportation, whose im- 
petus is the desire for the exchange of 
ideas, personal impressions, and material goods, 
have always been the prime factors of civiliza- 
tion ; and where travel and trade have been 
freest, civilization has reached its highest plane. 
There is as yet but scant knowledge of Indian 
or prehistoric routes of travel in Nebraska, 
and the subject is in the main a future field 
for students. One class of investigators insist 
that, on their longer journeys, Indians travel- 
ed by a sort of instinct and irregularity, and 
not by fixed or definite routes. Mr. Ed- 
ward A. Killian in a discussion of the subject^ 
quotes T. S. Hufifaker, of Council Grove, Kan- 
sas, "who came to the frontier in 1846, as a 
missionary and teacher," as follows: 

When I first came among the Indians, now 
more than half a century ago, there were at 
that time no well-defined trails between the lo- 
cations of the different tribes, but between the 
several bands of the same tribe, there were 
plain, beaten trails. Each band had a village 
of its own, and they continually visited 
each other. The dififerent tribes would change 
their location perpetually, and never remain 
in one location long enough to mark any well- 
defined trails, in going from tribe to tribe. 

Mr. Killian argues that the conclusions to 
be drawn from the above statements are: 

That there were no permanent trails over 
the Plains in prehistoric times, as shown by the 
facts and conditions set forth herein, and there 
is neither evidence nor tradition for such an 
assumption. There probably were prehi§toric 
routes, sometimes several miles in width, but 
no trails, roads or paths as understood by the 
use of these words at the present day. In a 

' The Conservative, August 8, 1901, J. Sterling 
Morton, editor. 

2 September 5, 1901. 



timbered or mountainous country, the case was 
different, and prehistoric trails existed. 

In a discussion of this subject in the same 
journal - Mr. A. T. Richardson quotes General 
G. M. Dodge, who became very familiar with 
the Plains country during the construction of 
the Union Pacific railroad : 

All over our continent there were perma- 
nent Indian trails ; especially was this the case 
west of the Missouri river. There were regu- 
lar trails from village to village, to well-known 
crossings of streams, up the valleys of great 
streams, over the lowest and most practicable 
divides, passing through the country where 
water could be obtained, and in the mountains 
the Indian trails were always well-defined 
through all the practicable passes. I traveled a 
great deal with the Indians myself at one time, 
and when they started for any given point they 
always took a well-established trail, unless they 
divided off for hunting, fishing, or something 
of that kind ; and in my own reconnaissances in 
the West, and in my engineering parties, when 
we found Indian trails that led in the right 
direction for our surveys, we always followed 
them up and examined them, and always found 
that they took us to the best fords of streams, 
to the most practical crossings of divides, to 
the lowest passes in the mountains ; and they 
were of great benefit to us, especially where 
we had no maps of the country, because we 
could lay them down and work from them as 
well-defined features of the country. 

Mr. Richardson also quotes the observation 
of Parkman, the historian, Rufus Sage, and 
John C. Fremont as to the existence of dis- 
tinct Pawnee trails on the Nebraska plains. 
The notations of the first surveyors of Ne- 
braska show fragmentary Indian trails and 
roads of pioneer white men, because some of 
them marked their routes with regularity, 
while others did not. It will require the labo- 



EARLY TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION 



63 



rious.work of special students to trace these 
Indian routes of travel, which undoubtedly 
existed well-defined and of various lengths, 
from the local trails radiating from the more 
or less permanent villages to those of an ex- 
tent of several hundred miles, such as the 
well-known Pawnee routes from the habitat 
of that tribe along and north of the Platte val- 
ley to the hunting grounds of the Republican 
river country and even to the rivers farther 
south. When Major Long arrived at the 
Pawnee villages on the Loup river, he noted 
that the trail on which he had traveled from 
the Missouri had the appearance of being 
more frequented as he approached the Pawnee 
towns, and here, instead of a single pathway, 
it consisted of more than twenty parallel paths, 
of similar size and appearance.^ Again he 
observes that the path leading to the Pawnee 
villages runs in a direction a little south of 
west from the cantonment (Long's winter 
quarters) , and leads across a tract of high and 
barren prairie for the first ten miles. At this 
distance it crosses the Papillion. or Butterfly 
creek. ^ 

Charles Augustus Murray, in his account of 
his residence with the Pawnee Indians in 1835, 
describes the Indian mode of travel in masses : 

Thev move in three parallel bodies ; the 
left wing consisting of part of the Grand Paw- 
nees and the Tapages ; the center of the re- 
maining Grand Pawnees ; and the right, of 
the Republicans. . . All these bodies move 
in "Indian file," though of course, in the min- 
gled mass of men, women, children, and pack- 
horses, it is not very regularly observed ; never- 
theless, on arriving at the halting-place, the 
party to which I belonged invariably camped 
at the eastern extremity of the village, the 
great chief in the center and the Republicans 
(Tapages) on the western side; and this ar- 
rangement was so well kept that after I had 
been a few days with them I could generally 
find our lodge in a new encampment with very 
little trouble, although the village consisted 
of about 600 of them, all nearly similar in 
appearance.^ 

Murray recounts a remarkable feat of trav- 
eling by an individual Indian. His party 

' Long's First Expedition, vol. i. p. 435. 

* Ibid., p. 427. 

^ Travels in North America, vol. i, pp. 282-283. 

«Ibid., pp. 273-274; vol. ii, p. 32. 



started from Fort Leavenworth to the Pawnee 
villages with a party of Pawnees who had 
gone on ahead: 

A runner had been sent forward to request 
the chiefs to make a short halt in order to 
give our party time to come up. This Indian 
had walked at the head of the party as guide 
during the whole day's journey, which occu- 
pied nearly 24 hours. When we halted, Sa- 
ni-tsa-rish went up to him and spoke a few 
words, upon which, without rest or food, he 
tightened the belt around his middle and set 
oft' at a run, which he must have maintained 
upwards of 20 miles. He had to traverse the 
same ground coming back, and thus he must 
have gone over 100 miles of ground without 
food or rest in 24 hours. . . We found the 
Indian regulations for traveling very fatiguing, 
namely, starting at four A. M., with nothing to 
eat, and tarveling till one, when we halted for 
breakfast and dinner at one time . . . and 
on the 20th (July, 1835) we traveled from half 
past three in the morning till half past eight 
in the evening. . . A war party leaves only 
the trail of the horses, or, of course, if it be 
a foot party, the still lighter tracks of their 
own feet ; but when they are on their summer 
hunt or migrating from one region to another, 
they take their squaws and children with them, 
and this trail can always be distinguished 
from the former by two parallel tracks about 
three and a half feet apart not unlike those 
of a light pair of wheels ; these are made by 
the points of the long curved poles on which 
their lodges are stretched, the thickest or butt 
ends of which are fastened to each side of the 
pack-saddle, while the points trail behind the 
horse; in crossing rough or boggy places 
this is often found the most inconvenient part 
of an Indian camp equipage." 

Mr. Murray makes an interesting observa- 
tion as to the quantity of game on the prairies 
of northeastern Kansas over which he was 
traveling: 

No game had been seen or killed (since 
starting from Fort Leavenworth), and every 
hour's experience tended to convince me of 
the exaggerated statements with which many 
western travelers have misled the civilized 
world in regard to the game of these prairies. 
I had now been traveling five days through 
them, and with the exception of a few grouse 
and the fawn I shot, had not seen anything 
eatable, either bird or quadruped. 

The Santa Fe Trail. Whether or not the 
famous Santa Fe trail was established or used 



64 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



by Indians in the general sense indicated by the 
name, before it was surveyed under authority 
of the federal government, not long after 1820, 
is a mooted question. The first wagon train 
over this trail started from Westport, Mis- 
souri, its initial point, in 1828. This road 
was established for communication between 
the Missouri river and the settlements of New 
Mexico. 

The Oregon Trail. The Oregon trail was 
the most notable route of its kind in the coun- 
try. It may be called fairly a social institu- 
tion, for like other social institutions it was not 
made but grew, and its growth was simply 
the result of human movement along the lines 
of least resistance. By 1843, it had become 
a well-defined route for trade and other traf- 
fic between a great base, St. Louis, and a 
great objective point, the mouth of the Colum- 
bia river. The general line of this trail had 
been used by the Indians, though in a piece- 
meal fashion, from time immemorial. It was 
left to true emigrants and travelers, the whites, 
to develop it into a continuous route. While 
St. Louis was the real southern terminus of 
the route, the overland trail began at Franklin, 
Missouri, two hundred and five miles above 
the mouth of the Missouri river. In the course 
of ten years Independence, situated near the 
mouth of the Kansas, had superseded Frank- 
lin as the initial point of the land route, and 
in a few years the river had carried away the 
Independence landing, so that Westport, now 
within the boundary of Kansas City, became 
the starting point. It is true that the first 
traffic by way of Franklin and Independence 
which began about 1820, was with Santa Fe, 
and it is not possible to say when travel over the 
eastern end of the Oregon trail began. In 
July, 1819, Long's party noted that Franklin, 
"at present increasing more rapidly than any 
other town on the Missouri, had been com- 
menced but two years and a half before the 
time of our journey." This indicates a con- 
siderable trade with Santa Fe and Missouri 
posts, and also its recent growth. Long's 
journalist uttered a prophecy as to the fate of 
Franklin which was to be verified in a very re- 
alistic manner, for the town was swept away 



not many years after. The chronicler ■ said : 
"The bed of the river near the shore has been 
heretofore obstructed by sandbars which pre- 
vented large boats from approaching the town ; 
whether this evil will increase or diminish it is 
not possible to determine, such is the want of 
stability in everything belonging to the chan- 
nel of the Missouri. It is even doubtful wheth- 
er the site of Franklin will not at some future 
day be occupied by the river which at this 
time seems to be encroaching on its banks." 

Hunt's Astorian expedition (1811), as we 
have seen, did not follow the eastern line of the 
trail, but ascended the Missouri river to the 
Arikara villages. But it did follow the 
trail from the junction of Port Neuf river 
with the Snake. There appears to be no au- 
thentic account of the passage of this route 
by white men before Hunt, and to his party 
belongs the credit of having discovered and 
established it. Certain writers incline to be- 
little Hunt's ability and achievement, but he 
should have the credit of reaching the Colum- 
bia from the point where he struck the Wind 
River or Bighorn mountains, near the present 
Jackson's Hole, by original investigation and 
experimental exploration of a very difficult 
character. There was absolutely no pathway 
to the Columbia river, and the Indians at the 
head-waters of the Snake river were ignorant 
of any way to reach it. On their return Stu- 
art and Crooks followed the general course of 
the Oregon trail to Grand Island, Nebraska, 
with the exception of a detour in southeastern 
Idaho. Bonneville certainly, and Wyeth prob- 
ably, passed over the cut-oflf from Independ- 
ence to Grand island in 1832, and, as far as is 
known, Bonneville's was the first wagon train 
over this end of the trail. These appear to be 
the first authenticated journeys by the cut- 
off. A fairly accurate itinerary of the trail 
has been made from notes of Fremont and 
other travelers as follows: From Independ- 
ence for the distance of 41 miles it is identical 
with the Santa Fe trail ; to the Kansas river, 81 
miles ; to the Big Blue river, 174 miles ; to the 
Little Blue, 242 miles ; head of the Little Blue, 
296 miles; Platte river, 316 miles; lower ford 
of South Platte river, 433 miles ; upper ford of 



EARLY TRA\EL AND TRANSPORTATION 



65 



South Platte, 493 miles; Chimney Rock, 571 
miles; Scotts Bluff, 616 miles. Adding the 
distance from the northwest boundary of Ne- 
braska to Fort Vancouver, the terminus, yields 
a total of 2,020 miles. The trail crossed the 
present Nebraska line at or very near the 
point of the intersection of the 97th meridian 
and about four miles west of the southeast 
corner of Jefferson county. It left the Little 
Blue at a bend beyond this point, but reached it 
again just beyond Hebron. It left the stream 
finally at a point near Leroy, and reached the 
Platte river about twenty miles below the west- 
ern or upper end of Grand island. Proceeding 
along the south bank of the Platte, it crossed 
the south fork about sixty miles from the junc- 
tion, and touched the north fork at Ash creek, 
twenty miles beyond the south fork crossing. 
In 1820 Major S. H. Long crossed the 
Platte from the north side. There was evi- 
dently no fixed or well-known ford at that 
time, for this noted explorer informs us that 
he was led to the fording place of the north 
fork through animal instinct : 

We had halted here, (at the confluence of 
the forks) and were making preparations to 
examine the north fork with a view of cross- 
ing it, when we saw two elk plunge into the 
river a little above us on the same side. Per- 
ceiving it was their design to cross the river 
we watched them until they arrived on the 
other side which they did without swimming. 
We accordingly chose the same place they 
had taken, and putting a part of our baggage 
in a skin canoe, waded across, leading our 
horses, and arrived safely on the other side. 

Major Long crossed the neck between the 
two forks diagonally and forded the south 
fork at or near the place of the subsequent 
lower ford.' 

Travel by emigrants across the Plains by 
the great trail to Caiforrtia and Oregon, 
chiefly to the latter, set in appreciably in 1844. 

Francis Parkman, who left St. Louis in 
the spring of 1846, on a tour of curiosity and 
amusement to the Rocky mountains, found 
"the old legitimate trail of the Oregon emi- 

'■ Long's First E-rpedition. vol. i, p. 463. 
* What I Saii' in California, p. 94. 
^Adventures of Captain Bonneville, p. 53. 
''"Journal of Travel Over t'e Rocky Mountains 
to the Mouth of the Columbia River, p. 22. 



grants" at the junction of the St. Joseph trail, 
and in that year both Parkman and Bryant 
found a heavy travel of emigrants to Oregon 
and California over the trail. The latter re- 
ports that his party met five men between the 
lower and upper ford of the Platte, going east- 
ward, who had counted 470 west-bound emi- 
grant wagons in coming from Fort Laramie; 
and they were "about equally divided between 
California and Oregon." * 

Before the high tide of traiffc to the Cali- 
fornia gold fields set in, in 1849, there were 
two principal places where the large general 
travel to Oregon and California crossed the 
Platte known as the lower ford and the 
upper ford. Irving, in his Adventures of 
Captain Bonneville, pays more attention to 
literary form than to exact narrative and 
statement of the facts, much to the present his- 
torian's regret. We learn from him only that 
Bonneville traveled two days from the junc- 
tion to his crossing of the south fork, and 
nine miles from that crossing to the north 
fork. No mention is made of a lower ford, 
and his crossing place was probably some dis- 
tance east of the later common upper ford. 
We are told that when he arrived at the forks, 
"finding it impossible from quicksands and 
other dangerous impediments to cross the 
river in this neighborhood, he kept up along 
the south fork for two days merely seeking 
a safe fording place. "^ 

Fremont on his outward trip, in 1842, made 
this record : "I halted about forty miles from 
the junction. . . Our encampment was with- 
in a few miles of the place where the road 
crossed to the north fork." 

Joel Palmer of Indiana, who started with 
a party from Independence, Missouri, May 6, 
1845, returning in 1846, makes the following 
explicit statement : 

The lower crossing of the Platte river is 
five or six miles above the forks and where 
the high ground commences between the two 
streams. . . There is a trail which turns 
over the bluff to the left ; we, however, took 
the right and crossed the river. The south 
fork is at this place about one-fourth mile 
wide and from one to three feet deep, with a 
sandy bottom which made the fording so 
heavy that we vv-ere compelled to double 
teams." 



66 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Nineteen miles from the fortes, "the road 
between the two forks strikes across the ridge 
toward the north fork. Directly across, the 
distance does not exceed four miles ; but the 
road runs obliquely and reaches the north fork 
nine miles from our last camp" — the place of 
leaving the south fork. "At Ash Hollow the 
trail which follows the east side of the south 
fork of the Platte from where we crossed it 
connects with this trail." Palmer's itinerary 
has this record : "From lower to upper cross- 
ing of south fork, forty-five miles." 

Edwin Bryant, who traveled by the Oregon 
trail from Independence to the Pacific coast 
in 1846, crossed the south fork thirty-five 
miles west of the junction, according to his 
measurement, but he states that "the distance 
from the south to the north fork of the Platte 
by the emigrant trail is about twenty-two 
miles, without water," ^^ which would place 
the upper ford approximately where Palmer 
and Stansbury found it. 

Howard Stansbury, a captain of United 
States topographical engineers, was ordered, 
April 11, 1849, to lead an expedition to Great 
Salt Lake for the purpose of surveying the 
lake and exploring the valley. His description 
and measurements of the route are made with 
a clearness and precision characteristic of the 
trained engineer. He started from Fort 
Leavenworth on the 31st of May. He notes 
that a "Boston company's train," which trav- 
eled in advance of his party, crossed the South 
Platte twenty miles above the forks : but he 
"preferred to follow still further the main 
road," crossing sixty-six miles above the lower 
ford, or seventy-two miles above the forks. 
He says specifically: "This is the upper ford 
and easily crossed in low stages of the river, 
width, 700 yards." ^^ By his measurement it 
was eighteen and a half miles from the cross- 
ing to the north fork at Ash TIollow. On his 
return trip in October, 1850, he notes that at 
Ash Hollow "the road leaves for the south 
fork, and the ridge is crossed bv several 



" What I Sazt! in California, p. 97. 
^' Stansbnrv's Expedition, p. 272. 
13 Ibid., p. 289. 

''* Across the Rocky Mountains, p. 106. 
1^ Stansbury's E.vf>edition, p. 272. 



tracks ; one leads to the junction of the two 
forks, ours to the upper crossing of the south 
fork." ^^ He finds the distance the same as 
in the outgoing trip, so that this part of the 
trail seems to have been well-defined and per- 
manent at that time. 

William Kelly, an English traveler, who 
passed up the trail in 1849, crossed the Platte 
at the upper ford. He describes the route 
between the two forks of the river as follows : 

About half way between the forks we got 
upon the summit of the hills that divide, where 
driving became rather a nerve-testing opera- 
tion; the only practicable path being along a 
ridge with a declivity amounting to a preci- 
pice on each side, and so narrow that it did 
not admit of a man's walking alongside to lay 
hold of the leaders in case of need ; but this 
very circumstance, I believe, contributed to 
our safety, as the sagacity of the mule con- 
vinced him that there was no alternative but 
to go on cautiously. Not a voice was heard 
for a couple of miles, every mind being occu- 
pied with a sensation of impending danger, 
for in some places the trail was so edge-like 
that even some of the horsemen alit, under 
the influence of giddiness." 

The descent into Ash Hollow was precip- 
itous. In undertaking it all but the wheel- 
span of mules were taken off, the wheels were 
locked, and the men undertook to steady the 
progress of the wagon by holding it back with 
a rope. The rope broke, and the wagon slid 
or fell upon the mules, killing one and injur- 
ing the other. 

Stansbury found the distance from Fort 
Leavenworth to the meeting of the St. Joseph 
and Independence road about forty-six miles. 
He seems to have left the Little Blue at the 
usual point, near the present Leroy, Adams 
county, where the trail cut across to Thirty- 
two Mile creek, seven and a half miles ; thence 
to the Platte river, twelve miles ; and to Fort 
Kearney, seventeen miles. He tells us that 
he struck the Platte in a broad valley and that, 
"this road has since (June 18, 1849) been 
abandoned for one on the left, more direct to 
Fort Kearney." ^^ 

Joel Palmer in his itinerary gives the fol- 
lowing distances on the Oregon trail : 

The distance from St. Joseph, Missouri, to 



EARLY TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION 



67 



the Indejjendence trail, striking it ten miles 
west of Blue river, is about 100 miles ; from 
the forks of these roads to the Big Sandy, 
striking it near its junction with the Repub- 
lican river, 42 miles ; from the Big Sandy to 
the Republican fork of Blue river,'*' 18 miles ; 
up the Republican river, 53 miles ; from the 
Republican to the Platte, 20 miles; up the 
Platte to the crossing of the south fork, 120 
miles; from the lower to the upper crossing 
of the south fork, 45 miles. 

Mr. Palmer here observes that there is a 
road on each side of the river and but little 
choice in them. From the south to the north 
fork at Ash Hollow, 20 miles; thence to a 
point opposite Solitary Tower, on Little creek, 
42 miles; thence to a point opposite Chimney 
Rock, 16 miles; thence to a point where the 
road crosses the river, 15 miles ; thence to 
Scotts BlufT, 10 miles ; thence to Horse creek, 
12 miles; thence to Fort Laramie, 24 miles. 

Palmer followed the Little Blue, which he 
evidently miscalled the Republican fork of the 
Blue, and then went over to the Big Platte, 
the usual twenty miles, and thence to the cross- 
ing of the south fork, one hundred and twenty 
miles. 

While all of these travelers followed sub- 
stantially the same route through Nebraska, 
yet, either through their own carelessness or 
because the names of the streams, in the ear- 
lier part of the course especially, were not 
certain or fixed, they greatly confused them. 
The schedule distance between the Vermillion 
and the Big Blue was about fourteen miles, 
and yet Kelly traveled several days and 
crossed two other streams, each of which he 
felt certain was the important one in question, 
before he came to the fine river which he 
definitely decided was worthy of the name of 
Big Blue. The length of the route up the 
Little Blue valley in all was about seventy 
miles, though it left the stream where impor- 
tant bends or easier going required. If Bry- 
ant is accurate in his statement, he traveled 
twenty-seven miles from the Little Blue to 
the Platte river, which he reached about 
twelve miles b elow the head of Grand island. 

1" The Renublican river is not a fork of the Blue 
but of the Kansas; moreover, he mistook the Little 
Blue for the Republican. 



Palmer, Kelly, and Stansbury reached the 
Platte only a few miles below the head of the 
island ; but Captain Bonneville reached it 
twenty-five miles below. 

The old California crossing, which was sub- 
stantially identical with the "upper ford," was 
twenty-seven miles east of the upper Cali- 
fornia crossing at old Julesburg, opposite the 
mouth of Lodge Pole creek. In the year 1859, 
a Frenchman from St. Louis, called Beauvais, 
established a trading post at the old Cali- 
fornia crossing, which on that account came 
to be called Beauvais' ranch. There was very 
little travel by the upper California route until 
the daily mail was established in 1861, 
which crossed at old Julesburg. After cross- 
ing the Platte, this route followed Lodge Pole 
creek as far as Thirty-mile ridge which ran 
toward the north fork. It continued along 
this ridge by way of Mud Springs, reaching 
the North Platte near Court House Rock. 
The earlier and great crossing was on the 
main Oregon trail, and was commonly known 
as the Ash Hollow route. The Mormon trail, 
which was estalilished by the Mormon exodus, 
followed tlie north side of the Platte all the 
way from Florence to the crossing beyond 
Fort Laramie. 

At least before Fort Kearney was estab- 
lished. Ash Hollow was the most important 
and interesting point on the trail, this side of 
Fort Laramie, after it struck the Platte river. 
Owing to Irving's vagueness we can not be 
sure that he was describing that delectable 
place in recording Captain Bonneville's prog- 
ress : "They reached a small but beautiful 
grove from which issued the confused notes 
of singing birds, the first they had heard since 
crossing the boundary of Missouri" ; but cir- 
cumstances almost warrant that conclusion. 
Palmer relates that "the road then turns down 
Ash Hollow to the river; a quarter of a mile 
from the latter is a fine spring, and around it 
wood and grass in abundance." 

Stansbury, seeing with the scientific eye and 
writing with the trained hand, has left us an 
invaluable description of the crossing between 
the two forks and of Ash Hollow itself : 

Today we crossed the ridge between the 



68 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



North and South forks of the Platte, a dis- 
tance of eighteen and a half miles. As we 
expected to find no water for the whole of 
this distance, the India-rubber bags were 
filled with a small supply. The road struck 
directly up the bluff, rising quite rapidly at 
first, then very gradually for twelve miles, 
when we reached the summit, and a most 
magnificent view saluted the eye. Before and 
below us was the North Fork of the Nebraska, 
winding its way through broken hills and 
green meadows; behind us the undulating 
prairie rising gently from the South Fork, 
over which we had, just passed; on our right, 
the gradual convergence of the two valleys 
was distinctly perceptible ; while immediately 
at our feet were the heads of Ash Creek, 
which fell off suddenly into deep precipitous 
chasms on either side, leaving only a high 
narrow ridge or back bone, which gradually 
descended, until, toward its western termina- 
tion, it fell off precipitately into the bottom 
of the creek. Here we were obliged, from 
the steepness of the road, to let the wagons 
down by ropes, but the labor of a dozen men 
for a few days would make the descent easy 
and safe. The bottom of Ash Creek is tol- 
erably well wooded, principally with ash and 
some dwarf cedars. The bed of the stream 
was entirely dry, but toward the mouth sev- 
eral springs of delightfully cold and refresh- 
ing water were found, altogether the best that 
has been met \\ith since leaving the Missouri. 
We encamped at the mouth of the valley, here 
called Ash Hollow. The traces of the great 
tide of emigration that had preceded us were 
plainly visible in remains of camp-fires, in 
blazed trees covered with innumerable names 
carved and written on them ; but. more than 
all, in the total absence of all herbage. 
On the slope towards the South Fork the 
valleys are wide and long with gracefully 
curved lines, gentle slopes, and broad hollows. 
. . . Almost immediately after crossing 
the point of "divide," we strike upon the head- 
waters of Ash Creek, whence the descent is 
abrupt and precitous. Immediately at your 
feet is the principal ravine, with sides four 
or five hundred feet in depth, clothed with 
cedar. Into this numerous other ravines run, 
meeting it at different angles, and so com- 
pletely cutting up the earth, that scarcely a 
foot of level ground could be seen. The whole 
surface consisted of merely narrow ridges di- 
viding the ravines from each other, and run- 

1' Stansburv's Expedition to the Great Salt Lake, 
pp. 40-41. 

IS Ibid., p. 289. 

^° Across the Rocl?y Mountains, p. 107. 



ning up to so sharp a crest that it would be 
difficult for anything but a mountain-goat to 
traverse their summits with impunity. Never 
before had I seen the wonderful effects of the 
action of water on a grand scale more strik- 
ingly exemplified.^' 

In his return itinerary this traveler observes 
that, "Ash Hollow has abundance of ash and 
poplar wood, a small stream in the bottom" ; 
there were "cedars in the hills for camping- 
purposes."'* 

Kelly, who wrote with more literary spirit 
than any of the others of these travelers, was 
yet possessed of a degree of English surliness 
which, however, the charms of the Hollow 
overcame entirely for the nonce, and he 
dropped deep into poetry : 

Two more moderate descents brought us 
into a lovely wooded dell, so watered and 
sheltered that vegetation of every description 
appeared as if stimulated by a hot house com- 
pared with that on the open prairie. The 
modest wild rose, foregetting its coyness in 
the leafy arbours, opened out its velvet bosom, 
adding its fragrant bouquet to that of the 
various scented flowers and shrubs that formed 
the underwood of the majestic ash-trees, 
which confer a name upon the spot, producing 
a perfectly aromatic atmosphere. Cool streams, 
filtered through the adjoining hills, prattled 
about, until they merged their murmurs in a 
translucent pond, reposing in the center of a 
verdant meadow, a perfect parterre, the be- 
spangled carpet of which looked the conge- 
nial area for the games and gambols for the 
light-tripping beings of fairy-land.'" 

But three years before Bryant saw only 
these prosy commonplaces : "We descended 
into the valley of the North fork of the Platte, 
through a pass known as 'Ash Hollow.' This 
name is derived from a few scattering ash- 
trees in the dry ravine, through which we 
wind our way to the river bottom. There is 
but one steep or difficult place for wagons in 
the pass. I saw wild currants and goose- 
berries near the mouth of Ash Hollow. There 
is here also a spring of pure cold water." 
Bryant found a small log cabin, near the mouth 
of the Hollow, which had been erected during 
the last winter by some trappers on their way 
to the East. This cabin had been turned by the 



EARLY TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION 



69 



emigrants into a sort of voluntary general post- 
office. Many advertisements in manuscript 
were posted on the walls outside. These in- 
cluded descriptions of lost horses, cattle, etc. ; 
and inside, in a recess, there were a large num- 
ber of letters addressed to persons in every 
part of the world, with requests that those who 
passed would convey them to the nearest post- 
office in the states. "The place had something 
of an air of a cross roads settlement, and we 
lingered around it some time, reading the ad- 
vertisements and looking over the letters."-" 

The reader will be inclined to credit Bry- 
ant's description with orthodoxy in the knowl- 
edge that the susceptible Englishman was also 
thrown into a fit of esthetic hysteria at the 
sight of a party of Sioux squaws whom he had 
seen a few days before : 

The women were extremely beautiful, with 
finely-chiselled features, dark lustrous eyes, 
raven locks and pearly teeth, which they dis- 
closed in gracious smiles that lit up their 
lovely faces with a most bewitching radiance. 
They wore no head dress ; their luxurianr 
tresses, divided with the most scrupulous ac- 
curacy flowing in unconfined freedom over 
their shoulders. Their attire consisted of a 
tanned buckskin bodice, not over tight, 
. . . to which was appended a short full 
skirt of the same material which did not reach 
the knees. The legs were concealed by close 
leathern hose which revealed the most exqui- 
site symmetry, embroidered on the sides with 
beads, meeting above the taper ankles a laced 
moccasin, worked up the instep in the same 
manner; and over all was thrown with a most 
graceful negligence, a blanket of snowy white- 
ness, so arranged as to form a hood in an 
instant. They also wore large ear drops and 
had the fingers up to the joints covered with 
rings. . . There was one dear girl amongst 
the group that I was fairly smitten with, to 
whom I presented a small looking-glass, taking 
leave to kiss the tips of her delicate fingers as 
she graciously accepted it, at which she smiled, 
as if understanding this silent but express- 
ive mode of admiration ; and taking ofT a ring 
caught hold of my hand to put it on ; an opera- 
tion I playfully protracted by cramping my 

2» What I Saw in California, pp. 97-98. 

21 Across the Rocky Mountains, pp. 97-98. 

-2 Stansbury's Expedition, p. 48. 

23 ]Vhat I Saw in California, p. 100. 

^* Journal of an Exploring Tour, p. 63. 



fingers, that I might prolong the pleasure of 
contact with so charming a creature.-^ 

Court House Rock. The next notable 
landmark on the trail was Court House Rock, 
which Stansbury describes as "two bald eleva- 
tions — ■ to which the voyageurs, most of whom 
are originally from St. Louis, had given this 
name, from a fancied resemblance to a well 
known structure in their own city." It was 
some distance south of the road and the riv- 
er.°- 

When Samuel Parker, the missionary, pass- 
ed Court House Rock in 1835, traveling on the 
opposite, or north side of the river, it was ev- 
idently without a name that was at all familiar, 
for he spoke of it as "a great natural curios- 
ity, which, for the sake of a name, I shall call the 
old castle." Its situation was on a plain some 
miles distant from any elevated land, and by 
his estimate covered more than an acre of 
ground and was more than fifty feet high. It 
is tolerably certain from his description that 
this curiosity was what Bryant, in 1846, knew 
and described as Court House Rock. This 
traveler went a distance, which he estimated 
at seven miles from the trail, toward the rock 
without reaching it, and it appeared to him to 
be from three hundred to five hundred feet in 
height and about a mile in circumference.^^ 

Parker describes the remarkable formations 
in this neighborhood in general : 

We passed many uncommonly interesting 
blufifs composed of indurated clay; many of 
them very high, with perpendicular sides, and 
of almost every imaginable form. Some ap- 
peared like strong fortifications with high cit- 
adels, some like stately edifices with lofty 
towers. I had never before seen anything 
like them of clay formation. And what adds 
to their beauty is that the clay of which they 
are composed is nearly white. Such is the 
smoothness and whiteness of the perpendicu- 
lar sides and oiifset, and such the regularity 
of their straight and curved lines, that one 
can hardly believe that they are not the work 
of art.^* 

At the time of Palmer's trip in 1845, how- 
ever, the rock was called Solitary Tower, and 
that traveler tells us that it was "a stupen- 
dous pile of sand and clay, so cemented as 
to resemble stone but which crumbles away 
at the slightest touch." According to this 



70 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



author it was situated about seven miles from 
the river, and was six hundred to eight hun- 
dred feet above the level of the stream. A 
stream of water ran along; the northeast side 
some twenty rods from the rock. 

Kelly, we may surmise, was still too much 
possessed with the charms of the Sioux squaws 
to have any eye for this inanimate object; and 
he dismisses the tradition that the rock was 
named "from its supposed resemblance to a 
large public building of that description," with 
the remark that "there was nothing about it of 



and white sandstone, and may be seen at a 
distance upwards of 30 miles." According 
to this authority the total height of this form- 
ation was then one hundred and seventy- 
five yards. -'' Fremont records that, "It consists 
of marl and earthy limestone and the weather 
is rapidly diminishing its height, which is now 
not more than 200 feet above the river. Trav- 
elers who visited it some years since placed 
its height at upwards of five hundred feet."^' 
It looked to him from a distance of about 
thirty miles like the long chimney of a steam 




Engraznng from f^hvlv^mph by Joint Wright. Staff Arttst. 

Court House Rock and J.ml Showing Gullies Leading to Base 



that striking character to seduce me from my 
path so far aside to visit it." Its location, ac- 
.cording to this traveler, was six miles from the 
river.^^ 

Captain Bonneville describes the next won- 
der of this mountain region of Nebraska thus : 
"It is called the Chimney. The lower part 
is a conical mound, rising out of the naked 
plain ; from the summit shoots up a shaft or 
column, about 120 feet in height, from which 
it derives its name. . . It is a compound 
of indurated clay, with alternate layers of red 

"^Across the Rocky Moxtntains, pp. 108-109. 
20 Adventures of Caf'tain Bonneville, p. 55. 
-' First and Second Expeditions, p. 38. 
^^ Stanshury's Expedition, p. 51. 



factory establishment or a shot tower in Balti- 
more. 

Palmer describes it as "a sharp-pointed rock 
of much the same material of the solitary 
tower standing at the base of the bluff and 
four or five miles from the road." As Stans- 
bury saw it, this Nebraska wonder "consists 
of a conical elevation of about 100 feet high, 
its sides forming an angle of about 45 degrees 
with the horizon ; from the apex rises a nearly 
circular and perpendicular shaft of clay, now 
from thirty-five to forty feet in height." ^' 
This author here remarks that young pines 
were taking the place of red cedars, the latter 
dying oft'. This is in accordance with the 




Bngrm-ing from photograph by John Wright, Staff Artist. 

Chimney Rock 

In November, 1904, members of the editorial staff of this History made an examination of the pictur- 
esque part of the Oregon trail in Nebraska — between Ash Hollow and Scotts Bluff — and took the photo- 
graph here reproduced. Chimney Rock, a land-mark easily seen thirty miles distant, is two and one-half 
miles south of Bayard. The area of its dome-like base is upwards of forty acres. Drawings by the 
early travelers, including Fremont, represent the Chimney as cylindrical. It is in fact rectangular, like 
the chimney of a modern house. Court House Rock — engraving on opposite page — is about five miles 
south of Bridgeport. Pumpkin Seed creek, a clear and rapidly flowing stream, about two yards wide, 
runs close to the southern and western base, which rises abruptly from the level valley, then doubles back 
about sixty yards, thus enclosing a section of an ellipse. The Jail, so-called from its association with the 
Court House, is about forty yards east of the latter, and its eastern front is a remarkably symmetrical 
circular tower. Labyrinthine water courses have been cut through the base of these rocks which cover 
upwards of eighty acres. Toward the creek they are from twenty to thirty feet in depth, and the rush- 
ing waters have smoothed their walls almost to a polish. These remarkable elevations were formed by 
the action of water cutting away the less durable contiguous rock. The material of which they are com- 
posed is somewhat harder, and lighter in color than the clay-banks along the Missouri river. Letters 
cut in them fifty years ago remain unimpaired, and it does not appear that they have been much dimin- 
ished in height during that time. Buffalo grass grows up to the beginning of the steep sides. 



72 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



present tendency of the pine growth to extend 
from that part of the state eastward, as ob- 
served by our botanists. Parker observes 
that. "It has been called the Chimney; but I 
should say it ought to be called Beacon Hill, 
from its resemblance to what was Beacon 
Hill in Boston." He found the base of the 
rock three miles from the river. "This Beacon 
Hill has a conical formed base of about half 
a mile in circumference, and one hundred and 
fifty feet in height, and above this is a perpen- 
dicular column, twelve feet square, and eighty 
feet in height ; making the whole height about 
two hundred and thirty feet. We left our 
horses at the base, and ascended to the perpen- 
dicular. It is formed of indurated clay or 
marl, and in some parts is petrified. It is of a 
light chocolate or rufous colour, in some parts 
white. Near the top were some handsome 
stalactites, at which my assistant shot, and 
broke ofT some pieces of which I have taken a 
small specimen."-* 

Kelly is a sceptic in his view of Chimney 
Rock also : 

To my eye. there is not a single lineament 
in its outline to warrant the christening. The 
Wellington testimonial in the Phoenix Park, 
elevated on a Danish fort, would give a much 
more correct idea of its configuration, though 
not of its proportions. It is, I should say, 
500 feet high, composed of soft red sandstone, 
standing out from the adjoining cliiTs, not so 
much the result of a violent spasm of nature, 
as of the wearing and wasting effects of the 
watery storms that prevail in those forlorn 
regions. It appears to be fast chipping 
and crumbling away, and I have no doubt 
that, ere half a century elapses, Troja fiiit 
will apply to the Chimney Rock.^" 

Bryant places Chimney Rock three miles 
from the Platte river, and says that it is sev- 
eral hundred feet in height from base to apex 
and can be seen in a clear atmosphere at a 
distance of forty miles. "The column which 
represents the chimney will soon crumble away 
and disappear entirely. The scenery to the 

"^Journal of an Exploring Tour, pp. 64-65. 
^"Across the Rockv Mountains, p. 110. 
31 What I Saw in California, pp. 101-102. 
^-Journal of an Exploring Tour, p. 66. 
^^ Across the Rocky Mountains, p. 112. 
^* Stansbury's Expedition, p. 272. 



right of the rock as we face it from the river 
is singularly picturescjue and interesting. 
There are four high elevations of architec- 
tural configuration, one of which would rep- 
resent a distant view of the ruins of the 
Athenian Acropolis ; another, the crumbling 
remains of an Egyptian temple ; a third, a 
Mexican pyramid ; the fourth, the mausoleum 
of one of the Titans. In the background the 
bluffs are worn into such figures as to repre- 
sent ranges of castles and palaces. "^^ 

Scotts Bluff. Captain Bonneville observed 
that Scotts Bluff was composed of indurated 
clay, with alternate layers of red and white 
sandstone, and might be seen at a distance of 
upwards of thirty miles : and Irving calls at- 
tention to "the high and beetling cliffs of in- 
durated clay and sandstone bearing the sem- 
blance of towers, castles, churches, and forti- 
fied cities." 

Palmer found a good spring and abundance 
of wood and grass at Scotts Bluff. Parker 
describes these bluffs as "the termination of a 
high range of land running from south to 
north. They are very near the river, high and 
abrupt, and what is worthy of notice, there is 
a pass through the range a short distance back 
from the river, the width of a common road 
with perpendicular sides two or three hundred 
feet high. It appears as though a part of the 
bluffs had been cut off, and moved a few rods 
to the north." ^- 

Kelly relates that his party cried out, 
"Mount Ararat ; Mount Ararat, at last !" at 
first sight of the bluff". "As we got on the ele- 
vated ground we could see that the bluffs took 
a curve like the tail of a shepherd's crook: a 
prominent eminence forming the curl at the 
end. This is called Scotts Bluff, from the body 
of an enterprising trapper of that name being 
found upon it." ^^ 

Stansbury records that "these bluff's are 
about five miles south of the river. The road 
up the bluffs steep, but on good, hard, grav- 
elly ground. A small spring at the top of the 
first hill." " 

One Robidoux had a trading post and black- 
smith's shop there ; and when the smith was 
not inclined to work he rented the shop at 
seventy-five cents an hour to emigrants who 



EARLY TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION 



73 




Photographs by John Wright, Staff Artist. 



ScoTTs Bluff and Vicinity 



Scotts Bluff, the most imposing in appearance of a 
south of the town of that name and two miles west o 
show the Bluff, the Tower, and Mitchell's Pass, the 
from Gering. The upper picture on the right was ta 
exposure of an hour and a half (photo by H. A. Ma 
ond picture from the top is a view of the Bluff from 
At the bottom is the bridge at Camp Clarke, built in 
with the aid of other enterprising citizens of Omaha 
company. 



11 the elevations in the Platte valley, is three miles 
f Gering. The upper and next to the lower pictures 
route of the Oregon trail between them, looking west 
ken at midnight by the light of the moon, after an 
rk). To the left of it is the Tower alone. The see- 
the east side, an irrigation canal in the foreground. 
1876, for the Black Hills traffic, by Henry T. Clarke 
leading freighters, and the Union Pacific railroad 



74 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



might do their own work. He pointed out to 
Stansbury a good wagon which he had bought 
from discouraged emigrants for seventy-five 
cents. He kept a considerable stock-in-trade 
of this sort, which he had acquired through the 
misfortunes and discouragements of travelers. 

In his return itinerary Stansbury records 
that he found on Scotts Bluff a small rivulet, a 
row of old deserted houses, a spring at the foot 
of Sandstone Bluffs, where the road crosses 
the ridge, cedars on the bluffs and good grass 
on the plains. 

Bryant describes this remarkable formation 
as follows: 

The bluff is a large and isolated pile of 
sand-cliffs and soft sandstone. It exhibits all 
the architectural shapes of arch, pillar, dome, 
spire, minaret, temple, gothic castle and mod- 
ern fortification. These, of course, are upon a 
scale far surpassing the constructing efforts of 
human strength and energy. The tower of 
Babel, if its builders had been permitted to 
proceed in their ambitious vmdertaking, would 
be but a feeble imitation of these stupendous 
structures of nature. While surveying this 
scenery, which is continuous for twenty or 
thirty miles, the traveler involuntarily imag- 
ines himself in the midst of the desolate and 
deserted ruins of vast cities, to which Nine- 
veh, Thebes and Babylon were pigmies in 
grandeur and magnificence. The trail leaves 
the river as we approach "Scott's Bluff" and 
runs over a smooth valley in the rear of the 
bluff seven or eight miles. From this level 
])lain we ascended some distance, and found 
a faint spring of water near the summit of the 
ridge, as cold as melted ice. 

From the extreme height of this ridge the 
travelers were able to see the peaks of the 
Rocky mountains ; and Laramie's Peak, one 
hundred and fifty miles distant, was distinctly 
visible. This author gives perhaps as nearly 
authentic a story of the tragedy which gave 
the name to the bluff as can now be told : 

A party of some five or six trappers, in the 
employment of the American Fur Company, 
were returning to the "settlements," under the 
command of a man — a noted mountaineer — 
named Scott. They attempted to perform the 
journey in boats, down the Platte. The cur- 
rent of the river became so shallow that they 
could not navigate it. Scott was seized with 
a disease which rendered him helpless. The 



men with him left him in the boat, and when 
they returned to their employers, reported that 
Scott had died on the journey, and that they 
had buried him on the banks of the Platte. 
The next year a party of hunters, traversing 
this region, discovered a human skeleton 
wrapped in blankets, which from the clothing 
and papers found upon it, was immediately 
recognized as being the remains of Scott. He 
had been deserted by his men, but afterwards 
recovering his strength sufficiently to leave the 
boat, he had wandered into the bluff's where he 
died, where his bones were found, and which 
now bears his name. 

As Captain Bonneville learned the story in 
1832, Scott traveled sixty miles eastward be- 
fore he succumbed at the bluffs. 

While those early travelers were keen and 
intelligent observers of the remarkable moun- 
tain region of Nebraska, it was left to the 
recent work of scientific men to furnish accu- 
rate information and specific data concerning 
it. Court House Rock is now about five miles 
from the river, its height above the sea level 
is 4,100 feet; and above the level of the river, 
440 feet. Its upper part of about 160 feet is 
of sandstone and the rest of pink Bad Lands 
clay. Chimney Rock is somewhat less than 
two miles from the river ; its height above sea 
level is 4,242 feet, and above the river, 340 
feet. The chimney proper is about 50 feet in 
diameter at the base, 142 feet high, and is of 
sandy formation. A part of the upper forty 
feet of the chimney has been chipped off. The 
rest of the rock is of pink clay or marl, inter- 
bedded with volcanic ash. One of these beds 
is five feet in thickness. The varying colors 
of white and red attributed to these elevations 
by the early travelers were owing to the light 
to which they were exposed when they saw 
them. In the clear sunlight the color was 
white. Geologists suppose that the volcanic 
ash was blown across the plains from the far 
distant mountain regions of Arizona. Wind 
and rain tint the whole surface of these remark- 
able rocks with this whitish ash. 

Scotts Bluff is about three-quarters of a mile 
from the river; 4,662 feet in height above sea 
level, and nearly 800 feet above the river. The 
upper 282 feet is of sandy and concretionary 
formation, below which are pink Bad Lands 



EARLY TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION 



75 



clays or marls, with two beds of white volcanic 
ash. This bluff is in Scotts Bluff county, and 
Court House Rock and Chimney Rock are in 
Cheyenne county. The highest peak in the 
range is Wild Cat mountain — 5,084 feet — 
in Banner county. The highest elevation of 
these mountains, in Nebraska, is in the extreme 
northwest of Kimball county where they reach 
the height of 5,300 feet. 

It is said that the Oregon trail in Nebraska 
is entirely obliterated. In September, 1873, 
the writer of this history crossed it near Steele 
City, and it was then a gorgeotis band of sun- 
flowers, stretching on a direct line northwest- 
wardly as far as the vision could reach — ■ a 
most impressive scene. But the route may 
always be described generally by the principal 
rivers as follows : The Kansas, the Little 
Blue, the Platte, the Sweetwater, the Big 
Sandy, the Green, the Bear, the Snake, the 
Boise, the Grande Ronde, the Umatilla, the 
Columbia. The northern trail from old Council 
Bluff kept to the north of the Platte, 
crossing just beyond the mouth of the Laramie 
river. This northern route probably came to be 
considerably used about 1840. When Fremont 
crossed the Platte on his return, twenty-one 
miles below the junction of the north and south 
forks, he found on the north side "an excellent, 
plainly beaten road." Fremont crossed the 
Loup river below its forks, while the earlier 
Oregon trail crossed the forks above the junc- 
tion. Subsequently there were branches from 
Florence, Omaha, Bellevue, Plattsmouth, Ne- 
braska City, and Brownville, and from St. 
Joseph and Fort Leavenworth below the Ne- 
braska line. They flourished most from the 
time of the gold discoveries in the Pike's Peak 
region until the Pacific roads were built. 

This wonderful highway was in the broad- 
est sense a national road, although not sur- 
veyed or built under the auspices of the gov- 
ernment. It was the route of a national move- 
ment — -the migration of a people seeking to 
avail itself of opportunities which have come 
but rarely in the history of the world, and 
which will never come again. It was a route, 
every mile of which has been the scene of hard- 
ship and suffering, yet of high purpose and 
stern determination. Only on the steppes of 
Siberia can so long a highway be found over 



which traffic has moved by a continuous 
journey from one end to the other. Even in 
Siberia there are occasional settlements along 
the route, but on the Oregon trail in 1843 the 
traveler saw no evidence of civilized habita- 
tion except four trading posts, between Inde- 
pendence and Fort Vancouver. 

As a highway of travel the Oregon trail 
is the most remarkable known to history. 
Considering the fact that it originated with 
the spontaneous use of travelers ; that no tran- 
sit ever located a foot of it ; that no level 
established its grades ; that no engineer sought 
out the fords or built any bridges or surveyed 
the mountain passes ; that there was no grad- 
ing to speak of nor any attempt at metalling 
the road-bed ; the general good quality of 
this two thousand miles of highway will seem 
most extraordinary. Father De Smet, who 
was born in Belgium, the home of good roads, 
pronounced the Oregon trail one of the finest 
highways in the world. At the proper season 
of the year this was undoubtedly true. Before 
the prairies became too dry, the natural turf 
formed the best roadway for horses to travel 
on that has probably ever been known. It 
was amply hard to sustain traffic, yet soft 
enough to be easier to the feet than even the 
most perfect asphalt pavement. Over such 
roads, winding ribbon-like through the ver- 
dant prairies, amid the profusion of spring 
flowers, with grass so plentiful that the ani- 
mals reveled in its abundance, and game every- 
where greeted the hunter's rifle, and finally, 
with pure water in the streams, the traveler 
sped his way with a feeling of joy and exhila- 
ration. But not so when the prairies became 
dry and parched, the road filled with stifling 
dust, the stream beds mere dry ravines, or 
carrying only alkaline water which could not 
be used, the game all gone to more hospitable 
sections, and the summer sun pouring down 
its heat with torrid intensity. It was then 
that the trail became a highway of desola- 
tion, strewn with abandoned property, the 
skeletons of horses, mules, and oxen, and, 
alas ! too often, with freshly made mounds 
and head boards that told the pitiful tale of 
suft'erings too great to be endured. If the 
trail was the scene of romance, adventure, 
pleasure, and excitement, so it was marked 
in every mile of its course by human misery, 
tragedy, and death. 

The immense travel which in later years 
passed over the trail carved it into a deep 
furrow, often with several parallel tracks mak- 
ing a total width of a hundred feet or more. 
It was an astonishing spectacle even to white 
men when seen for the first time. 



76 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



It may be easily imagined how great an 
impression the sight of this road must have 
made upon the minds of the Indians. Father 
De Smet has recorded some interesting obser- 
vations upon this point. 

In 1851 he traveled in company with a 
large number of Indians from the Missouri 
and Yellowstone rivers to Fort Laramie, 
where a great council was held in that year 
to form treaties with the several tribes. Most 
of these Indians had not been in that section 
before, and were quite unprepared for what 
they saw. "Our Indian companions," says 
Father De Smet, "who had never seen but the 
narrow hunting paths by which they transport 
themselves and their lodges, were filled with 
admiration on seeing this noble highway, 
which is as smooth as a barn floor swept by 
the winds, and not a blade of grass can shoot 
up on it on .account of the continual passing. 
They conceived a high idea of the countless 
White Nation, as they express it. They fan- 
cied that all had gone over that road, and that 
an immense void must exist in the land of the 
rising sun. Their contenances testified evi- 
dent incredulity when I told them that their 
exit was in nowise perceived in the land of the 
whites. They styled the route the Great Medi- 
cine Road of the Whites. "^^ 

Over much of its length the trail is now 
abandoned, but in many places it is not yet 
elTaced from the soil, and may not be for cen- 
turies. There are few more impressive sights 
than portions of this old highway to-dlay. 
It still lies there upon the prairie, deserted by 
the traveler, an everlasting memorial of the 
human tide which once filled it to overflowing. 
Nature herself has helped to perpetuate this 
memorial, for the prairie winds, year by year, 
carve the furrow more deeply, and the wild 
sunflower blossoms along its course, as if in 
silent memory of those who sank beneath its 
burdens. . 

Railroads practically follow the old line 
from Independence to Casper, Wyoming, 
some fifty miles east of Independence Rock ; 
and from Bear river on the Utah-Wyoming 
line to the mouth of the Columbia. The time is 
not distant when the intermediate space will 
be occupied, and possibly a continuous and 
unbroken movement of trains over the entire 
line may some day follow. In a future still 
more remote there may be realized a project 
which is even now being agitated, of building 
a magnificent national road along this line as 

^^ Western Missions and Missionaries, pp. 07-Q8. 
^^ History American Fur Trade, vol. i, pp. 460-463. 
^' Journal of an Exploring Tour, p. 49. 
^^ Adventures of Captain Bonneville, p. S3. 



a memorial highway which shall serve the 
future and commemorate the past.^'^ 

There were other journeys of minor impor- 
tance through Nebraska to the far Northwest, 
previous to Fremont's return from his first ex- 
pedition, when the trans-Missouri region was 
no longer an unknown country. About 1832 
a strong movement began for sending mis- 
sionaries to the Indian tribes beyond the Rocky 
mountains. In 1834 the Methodists sent 
Jason and Daniel Lee; and in 1835 the Presby- 
terians sent Marcus Whitman and Rev. Samuel 
Parker, who started from Bellevue on the 
22d of June with a caravan of the American 
Fur Company led by Lucien Fontenelle. The 
party first traveled to the Elkhorn river, which 
they followed ten miles, then followed Shell 
creek "a good distance." They crossed the 
Loup at the Pawnee villages near the junc- 
tion of the forks, then went southwest to the 
Platte river, which they followed to the forks, 
and then proceeded along the north fork. 

In his journal "' Parker relates that his party 
crossed the Elkhorn on the 25th of June, 1835. 
"For conveyance over this river we constructed 
a boat of a wagon body so covered with un- 
dressed skins as to make it nearly water-tight. 
The method was very good." This appears to 
have been a favorite method of fording 
streams ; for the first wagon train that crossed 
the Plains of v.-hich we have an account — 
that of Captain Bonneville, in 1832 — forded 
the Platte in the same way. The wagons, 
"dislodged from the wheels, were covered with 
bufl^alo hides and besmeared with a compound 
of tallow and ashes, thus forming rude boats. "^* 
Mr. Parker tells us that 

The manner of our encamping is to form 
a large hollow sc|uare, encompassing an area 
of about an acre having the river on one side ; 
three wagons forming a part of another side, 
coming down to the river; and three more iii 
the same manner on the opposite side ; and 
the packages so arranged in parcels, about 
three rods apart, as to fill up the rear and the 
sides not occupied by the wagons. The horses 
and mules, near the middle of the day, are 
turned out under guard to feed for two hours, 
and the same again towards night, until after 
sunset, when they are taken up and brought 
within the hollow square, and fastened with 



EARLY TRA\EL AND TRANSPORTATION 




Photogmfhs by John Wright, Staff Artist. 

Scenes at Ash Hollow 

The original route of the Oregon trail, from the south fork to the north fork of the Platte river, by 
way of Ash Hollow, descends northward from the plain, 3.763 feet above sea level, four miles to the river 
bottom, at an elevation of 3,314 feet. From the head of the Hollow, the trail, still visible, wound to the 
left about a mile along the sharp-backed ridges, then dropped by a very steep descent eastward into the 
Hollow, which here widens into a level valley from a quarter to half a mile wide. The spring, a luxury 
to the emigrants, still bubbles up strongly a quarter of a mile from the mouth of the Hollow, and at the 
base of a cliff about 100 feet high, as shown in the middle picture. The cedar and ash trees at one time 
abundant here all have been cut away. Marks of Fort Grattan, occupied as a post in 1855, are visible near 
the river north of the east side of the mouth of the Hollow. On the west side of the mouth of the 
Hollow are the modest gravestones of Rachel Patterson, a girl of nineteen, who died in 1849, and of 
two infant children. 

The figure on the hill is that of Mr. Albert Watkins. editor of the Morton History 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ropes twelve feet long to pickets driven firmly 
into the ground. The men are divided into 
companies, stationed at the several parcels of 
goods and wagons, where they wrap them- 
selves in their blankets and rest for the night; 
the whole, however, are formed into six divi- 
sions to keep guard, relieving each other every 
two hours. This is to prevent hostile Indians 
from falling upon us by surprise, or coming 
into the tent by stealth and taking away either 
horses or packages of goods. 

The Pawnees were evidently the same 
troublesome, thieving creatures at the time 
of their first relations with white men as they 
proved to be down through territorial times. 
On the 2d of July Parker records''* that, "these 
Indians were going out upon their summer 
hunt by the same route we were pursuing, and 
were not willing we should go on before them 
lest we should frighten away the bufTalo." 
And again, July 6th : "We were prevented from 
making the progress we might have done if the 
Indians would have permitted us to go on and 
leave them. The men of the caravan began to 
complain of the delay, and had reason to do 
so, having nothing to eat but boiled corn and 
no way to obtain anything more before finding 
bufifalos." And then, July 9th, we have a hint 
of that irrepressible spirit which was soon to 
force the Indians out and away from further 
opportunity for interference ; for "Captain 
Fontenelle, l)y a large present, purchased of 
the Indians the privilege of going on tomorrow 
without them." But "our men could hardly 
have been kept in subordination if they had 
not consented." On the 14th of July "the an- 
nouncement of buffalo spread cheerfulness and 
animation through the whole caravan, and to 
men whose very life depended on the circum- 
stances it was no indifferent event. From the 
immense herd of these wild animals . . 
we were to derive our subsistence." 

Francis Parkman, the noted historian, trav- 
eled over the Oregon trail, starting from Leav- 
enworth in ]\Iay, 1846. Like every other ob- 
servant traveler, he makes note of the Pawnee 
trails leading from their villages on the Loup 
and the Platte to the southwestward hunting 

^^ Journal of an Explorinq Tour beyond the Rockv 
.^Toun tains, IS^SST, pp. 52-53. 
" Oregon Trail, pp. 69-70. 



grounds. The universal notice of these trails, 
which appear to have extended as far as the 
Smoky Hill river, proves that they must have 
been well-defined. Parkman expresses the dif- 
ference in the impression made upon travelers 
by the Plains and by the mountain country, 
by noting that the trip from Fort Leavenworth 
to Grand island was regarded as the more 
tedious, while that from Fort Laramie west 
was the more arduous. By this time the prin- 
cipal points in the Oregon trail had come to 
be permanently fixed, and Parkman says, "We 
reached the south fork of the Platte at the 
usual fording place." The trail had also be- 
come a busy highway by 1846, for Parkman 
tells us that the spring of that year was a busy 
season in the city of St. Louis. "Not only 
were emigrants from every part of the country 
preparing for the journey to Oregon and Cal- 
fornia but an unusual number of traders were 
making ready their wagons and outfits for 
Santa Fe. The hotels were crowded and the 
gunsmiths and saddlers were kept constantly at 
work preparing arms and equipments for the 
different parties of travelers. Steamboats were 
leaving the levee and passing up the Missouri, 
crowded with passengers on their way to the 
frontier." Parkman adds his testimony as to 
the illusory notion of the navigability of the 
Platte in an account of the misadventures of 
a fleet of eleven boats laden with furs which 
were attempting to make use of that treacher- 
ous stream as a highway : "Fifty times a day 
the boats had been aground ; indeed, those who 
navigate the Platte invariably spend half their 
time on sand-bars. Two or three boats, the 
property of private traders, afterward sep- 
arating from the rest, got hopelessly involved 
in the shallows, not very far from the Pawnee 
villages, and were soon surrounded by a swarm 
of the inhabitants. They carried off everything 
that they thought valuable, including most of 
the robes ; and amused themselves by tying up 
the men left on guard and soundly whipping 
them with sticks."*" 

Bryant testifies to the futility of success- 
fully attempting to navigate the Platte even 
with the shallow Mackinaw boats. Below the 
forks he met two parties with these craft laden 



EARLY TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION 



79 



with buffalo skins and bales of furs. The men 
were obliged to jump into the stream very fre- 
quently to push the boats over the bars, and it 
would often require three or four hours to cov- 
er a single mile. 

These incidents may be coupled in an inter- 
esting way with the serious attempts to navi- 
gate the Platte in the later territorial times. 

Bayard Taylor, in his Eldorado, or Adven- 
tures ill the Path of Empire, gives the follow- 
ing vividly realistic description of the part 
which Nebraska was playing in the great drama 
of California emigration: 

The great starting point for this route was 
Independence, Missouri, where thousands were 
encamped during the month of April, waiting 
until the grass should be sufficiently high for 
their cattle, before they ventured on the broad 
ocean of the Plains. From the first of May 
to the first of June, company after company 
took its departure from the frontier of civili- 
zation, till the emigrant trail from Ft. Leaven- 
worth, on the Missouri, to Ft. Laramie at 
the foot of the Rocky Mountains, was one 
long line of mule trains and wagons. The 
rich meadows of the Nebraska or Platte, were 
settled for the time, and a single traveler could 
have journeyed for the space of a thousand 
miles, as certain of his lodgings and regular 
meals as if he were riding through the old 
agricultural districts of the Middle States. 
The wandering tribes of Indians on the Plains 
— the Pawnees, Sioux, and Arapahoes — were 
alarmed and bewildered by this strange appa- 
rition. They believed they were about to be 
swept away forever from their hunting 
grounds and grass. As the season advanced 
and the great body of emigrants got under 
way, they gradually withdrew from the vicin- 
ity of the trail, and betook themselves to 
grounds which the former did not reach. All 
conflicts with them were thus avoided, and 
the emigrants passed the Plains with perfect 
immunity from their hostile and thievish vis- 
itations. 

Another and more terrible scourge, how- 
ever, was doomed to fall upon them. The 
cholera, ascending the Mississippi from New 
Orleans, reached St. Louis about the time of 
their departure from Independence, and over- 
took them before they were fairly embarked 
on the wilderness. The frequent rains of the 
early spring, added to the hardship and expo- 
sure of their travel, prepared the way for its 

*' Across the Rocky Mountains, pp. 99, 100. 



ravages, and the first three or four hundred 
miles were marked by graves. It is estimated 
that about four thousand persons perished 
from this cause. 

Willam Kelly observed Fort Kearney with 
foreign contemptuousness, thus : "We reached 
Fort Kearney early in the evening — if fort it 
can be called — where the States have station- 
ed a garrison of soldiers, in a string of log huts, 
for the protection of the emigrants ; and a 
most unsoldierly looking lot they were — un- 
shaven, unshorn, with patched uniforms, and 
lounging gait. Both men and officers were 
ill off for some necessaries, such as flour and 
sugar, the privates being most particular in 
their inquiries after whiskey."*^ 

Fort Kearney. Stansbury, who reached 
Fort Kearney on tlie 19th of June, gives this 
description of the fort : "The post at present 
consists of a number of long, low buildings, 
constructed principally of adobe, or sun-dried 
bricks, with nearly flat roofs ; a large hospital 
tent ; two or three workshops, enclosed by 
canvas walls ; storehouses constructed in the 
same manner ; one or two long adobe stables, 
with roofs of brush; and tents for the ac- 
commodation of horses and men." He speaks 
of the road over the prairies as being "already 
broad and well beaten as any turnpike in our 
country." He says of the emigrant's wagon 
that "it is literally his home. In it he carries 
his all, and it serves him as a tent, kitchen, 
parlor, and bedroom, and not infrequently as 
a boat to ferry him over an otherwise impass- 
able stream. Many have no other shelter from 
the storm during the whole journey, and most 
of these vehicles are extremely tight, roomy, 
and comfortable." He complains of the break- 
ing out of skin diseases on account of the lack 
of fresh meat and vegetables ; and as to game, 
"Ashambault, our guide, told me that the last 
time he passed this spot (the valley of the 
Platte near the eastern end of Grand island) 
the whole of the immense Plain as far as the 
eye could reach, was black with the herds of 
buffalo. Now not so much as one is to be 
seen ; they have fled before the advancing tide 
of emigration." The emigrants were obliged 
to go four or five miles from the line of travel 



80 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



to find a buffalo. Stansbury says that the Paw- 
nee Indians were very troublesome between 
the Blue and Fort Kearney, so that a force had 
been sent from the fort to drive them off. A 
great many of the travelers became discouraged 
before they had entirely crossed the ^Missouri 
plains, and Stansbury relates that "wagons 
could be bought from them for from ten to 
fifteen dollars apiece and provisions for al- 
most nothing at all." The party forded the 
south fork of the Platte one hundred and 
eightv miles west of Fort Kearney in this way : 

One of these wagons, as an experimental pi- 
oneer, was partially unloaded by removing all 




Alexander Majors 
Frontiersman, pioneer freighter, under 
direction the pony express was 
inaugurated 



ifhose 



articles liable to injury from water, and then 
driven into the stream ; but it stuck fast, and 
the ordinary team of six mules being found in- 
sufficient to haul it through the water, four 
more were quickly attached and the crossing 
was made with perfect safety and without 
wetting anything. In the same manner were 
all the remaining wagons crossed, one by one, 
by doubling the teams and employing the force 
of nearly the whole party wading along side 
to incite and guide the mules. The water was 



perfectly opaque with yellow mud and it re- 
quired all our care to avoid the quicksands 
with which the bottom is covered. . . Both 
man and beast suffered more from this day's 
exertion than from any day's march we had 
yet made. 

Published accounts of this California travel 
seem to be confined to the lower route — from 
Independence, St. Joseph, and Fort Leaven- 
worth. In the year 1849 one William D. 
Brown had a charter for operating the Lone 
Tree Ferry across the river from Council 
Bluff to accommodate this class of emigra- 
tion. The upper routes, however, did not 
come into general use until the Pike's Peak 
discoveries of gold about ten years later. 

The Overland Stage. The "Overland 
Mail" and the "Overland Stage" to California 
are justly famous as factors in the vast enter- 
prise of opening up the western plains and 
of traversing them for communication with 
the Pacific coast. The simultaneous develop- 
ment of the California gold fields and the suc- 
cessful founding of the great Mormon settle- 
ment at Salt Lake City led to the establish- 
ment by the federal government of the "Over- 
land Mail," and the first contract for carrying 
this mail was let in 1850 to Samuel H. Woods- 
ton of Independence. Missouri. The service 
was monthly and the distance between the 
terminal points, Independence and Salt Lake 
City, was twelve hundred miles. Soon after 
this time this mail route was continued to Sac- 
ramento, California. The service was by stage- 
coach, and the route was substantially the 
same as the Oregon trail as far as the Rocky 
mountains, and thus passed through Nebraska. 
Fort Kearney, Fort Laramie, and Fort Bridg- 
er were the three military posts on the route. 
When serious trouble with the Mormons was 
threatened in 1857, General Albert Sidney 
Johnston was sent with five thousand soldiers 
into the Salt Lake valley, and the mail service 
was soon after increased to weekly trips. In 
1859 this mail contract was transferred to 
Russell, Majors & \\'addell, who afterwards 
became the inost extensive freighters in Ne- 
braska from the Missouri river. The firm's 
original headquarters were at Leavenworth, 
but when it took the contract for carrying sup- 



THE OVERLAND STAGE 



81 



plies to Johnston's army in 1858 Nebraska 
City was chosen as a second Missouri river 
initial station, and the business was conducted 
by Alexander Majors, who thus became a very 
prominent citizen of the territory. He states 
that over sixteen million pounds of supplies 
were carried from Nebraska City and Leaven- 
worth to LTtah in the year 1858, requiring over 
three thousand five hundred wagons and teams 
to transport them. This firm controlled the 
Leavenworth and Pike's Peak E.xpress, and 
after taking the mail contract in question the 
two stage lines were consolidated under the 
name of the Central Overland California and 
Pike's Peak Express. The new contractors 



the winter season; but southern wish and 
political power were doubtless the real 
father to the thought of the change. 
The mail left St. Louis and San Francisco 
simultaneously on the 15th of September, 
1858, to traverse for the first time a through 
route from the Missouri river to the Pacific 
ocean. The trips were made semi-weekly with 
Concord coaches drawn by four or six horses, 
and the schedule time was twenty-five days. 

On account of the disturbance of the Civil 
war the southern route was abandoned in the 
spring of 1861, and a daily mail was estab- 
lished over the northern route, starting at first 
from St. Joseph, but a few months afterward 




One Type of the F.\mous Concord St.\ge-co,\ch 



abandoned St. Joseph as an initial point, and 
started only from Atchison and Leavenworth. 
After the subsidence of the Mormon trouble 
the mail service to Salt Lake City was reduced 
— in June, 1859. The first through mail line 
to the Pacific coast was opened by the post- 
office department September 15, 1858, and it 
ran from St. Louis through Texas via Fort 
Yuma to San Francisco. It was operated by 
the Butterfield Overland Mail company, John 
Butterfield being the principal contractor. The 
main objection urged against the north- 
ern route was that on account of deep 
snow and severe weather the mail could not 
be carried regularly and the trips were often 
abandoned during a considerable part of 



from Atchison, Kansas. The consolidated 
stage line which carried it — the Central Over- 
land California and Pike's Peak Express — 
was in operation for about five years, or until 
it was superseded in part by the partial com- 
pletion of the transcontinental railway. The 
first through daily coaches on this line left 
the terminal points — St. Joseph, Missouri, 
and Placerville, California — on the 1st of 
July, 1861, the trip occupying a litttle more 
than seventeen days. The stage route followed 
the overland trail on the south side of the Platte 
river, while the Union Pacific railroad, which 
superseded it as far as Kearney in 1866, was 
built on the north side of the river. "For two 
hundred miles — from Fort Kearney to a point 



82 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



oppKDsite old Julesburg — the early stage road 
and railroad were in no place more than a 
few miles apart; and in a number of places 
a short distance on either side of the river and 
only the river itself separating them." As the 
Central Pacific and Union Pacific railway lines 
approached each other from the west and from 
the east, the stages adapted their starting point 
from time to time to the termini of the rail- 
roads. The Concord coaches used on this 
greatest stage line ever operated, and so-called 
because they were built in Concord, New 
Hampshire, accommodated nine passengers in- 
side and often one or two sat beside the driver. 
Sometimes an extra seat was built on the 
outside behind the driver, and not infrequent- 
ly as many as fifteen passengers rode in and 
on a coach. 

Until 1863 the passenger fare by this stage 
line was $75 from Atchison to Denver, $150 
to Salt Lake, and $225 to Placerville. The 
fare was increased soon after when the cur- 
rency of the country became inflated. Ben 
Holladay, who was the transportation Morgan 
or Hill of those days, controlled this great line. 
In 1865 he obtained the contracts for carrying 
the mail from Nebraska City and Omaha to 
Kearney City. The Western Stage Company 
was another large transportation organization 
which operated stages in Iowa ; and from the 
latter '50's until it was taken over by Holladay, 
quite after the fashion of present day com- 
binations, it operated stage lines from Omaha 
and Nebraska City to Fort Kearney. There 
was a good deal of friction between these two 
lines during the times of heavy travel, owing 
to the fact that the through passengers on the 
Overland route from Atchison filled the stages 
so that those coming from Omaha and Ne- 
braska City on the Western Stage Company's 
lines were often obliged to wait at Fort Kear- 
ney a tedious number of days. 

The famous Pony Express, wliich was put 
into operation in 1860 between St. Joseph and 
Sacramento, was the forerunner of the present 
great fast mail system of the United States. 

In 1854 Senator W. M. Gwin of California 
rode to Washington on horseback on the cen- 
tral route by way of Salt Lake City and South 



pass ; and over part of the route B. F. Fick- 
lin, superintendent of the firm of Russell, 
Majors & Waddell, was his companion. The 
idea of the famous Pony Express grew out 
of this trip. Senator Gwin introduced a bill 
in the Senate to establish a weekly mail on 
the pony express plan, but without avail, and 
then, through Gwin's influence, Russell or- 
ganized the scheme as a private enterprise 
through the Central Overland California and 
Pike's Peak Plxpress company. No financial 
aid was extended to the company by the gov- 
ernment. Ordinary letters were carried by 
the slower service and were barred by the high 
toll from this fast express. "The charges 
were originally five dollars for each letter of 
one-half ounce or less ; but afterwards this was 
reduced to two dollars and a half . . . 
this being in addition to the regular United 
States postage. 

The originators of this great enterprise evi- 
dently knew that its regular revenue would 
amount to but a small part of the operating 
expenses, and counted on receiving a subsidy 
from the federal government. But the sub- 
sidy of a million dollars was reserved for the 
slower daily mail which superseded the pony 
express. This brilliant pioneer object lesson 
in fast trancontinental service cost the dem- 
onstrators some two hundred thousand dollars 
in loss. By an act of Congress of March 2. 
1861, the contract of the ix)st-ofifice depart- 
ment with the Overland company of the old 
southern route for a daily mail over the cen- 
tral route included a semi-weekly pony ex- 
press. The original company continued to 
operate the Pony Express under this contract 
by arrangement with the Overland company 
until it failed in August, 1861. The Express 
was continued by other parties until October 
24th of that year when the through telegraph 
line had been completed. 

In 1860, according to the report of the 
postmaster general, there was a tri-monthly 
mail by the ocean to California, and a semi- 
monthly mail from St. Joseph to Placerville, 
but during the year this was increased to a 
weekly between St. Joseph and Fort Kearney, 
'■for the purpose of supplying the large and 



THE PONY EXPRESS 



83 



increasing populations in the regions of the 
Pike's Peak and Washoe mines." There 
were two other mail routes to San Francisco — 
a weekly from New Orleans, via San Antonio 
and El Paso, and a semi-weekly from St. 
Louis to Memphis. 

By the ninth section of an act of Congress 
approved March 2, 1861, authority is given 
to the postmaster general to discontinue the 
mail service on the southern overland route 
(known as the "Butterfield route") between 
St. Louis and Memphis and San Francisco, 
and to provide for the conveyance, by the 
same parties, of a six-times-a-week mail by 
the "central route," that is, from some point 
on the IMissouri river, connecting with the 
east, to Placerville, California. In pursuance 
of this act, and the acceptance of its terms by 
the mail company, an order was made on the 
12th of March 1861, to modify the present 
contract so as to discontinue the service on 
the southern route and to provide for the 
transportation of the entire letter mail, six 
times a week on the central route, to be car- 
ried through in twenty days eight months in 
the year, and in twenty-ihree days four 
months in the year, from St. Joseph, Mis- 
souri (or Atchison, Kansas), to Placerville, 
and also to convey the entire mail three times 
a week to Denver City and Salt Lake, . . . 
a pony express to be run twice ri week until 
the completion of the overlan<l telegraph, 
through in ten days, eight months, and twelve 
days, four months in the year, conveying for 
the government free of charge five pounds 
of mail matter. . . The transfer of stock 
from the southern to the central route was 
commenced about the 1st of April, and was 
completed so that the first mail was started 
from St. Joseph on the day prescribed by the 
order, July 1, 1861. . . The overland 
telegraph having been completed, the running 
of the pony express was discontinued October 
26, 1861. . . At the commencement of 
threatening disturbances in Missouri, in order 
to secure this great daily route from inter- 
ruption, I ordered the increase of the weekly 
and tri-weekly service, then existing between 
Omaha and Fort Kearney, to daily. . . 
By that means an alternative and certain daily 
route between the east and California was 

*2 Messages and Documents, 1861-1862, pt. iii, pp. 
560-S61. 

^^ They were carried by Pony Express to Placer- 
ville or Sacramento and telegraphed from there. 

■'^ General Bela M. Hughes, late of Denver, Colo- 
rado, succeeded William H. Russell as president of 
the Overland, in March, 1861. 



obtained through Iowa, by which the overland 
mails have been transported when they becaine 
unsafe on the railroad route in Alissouri. In 
sending them from Davenport, through the 
state of Iowa, joining the main route at Fort 
Kearney, in Kansas [Nebraska] the only in- 
convenience experienced was a slight delay, 
no mails being lost so far as known. ■*- 

The Pony Express. In the spring of 1860 
an advertisement containing the schedule of 
the new enterprise was published in New York 
and St. Louis newspapers. It announced that 
the Pony Express would run regularly each 
week from April 3, 1860, that it would carry 
letter mail only, that it would pass through 
Forts Kearney, Laramie, and Bridger, Great 
Salt Lake City, Camp Floyd, Carson City, the 
Washoe silver mines, Placerville, and Sacra- 
mento, and that the letter mail would be de- 
livered in San Francisco within ten days of the 
departure of the express. Telegraph dispatch- 
es were delivered in San Francisco in eight 
days after leaving St. Joseph.''^ W. H. Rus- 
sell,^* president of the Central Overland Cal- 
ifornia and Pike's Peak Express company, 
was the mainspring of this remarkable enter- 
prise. About five hundred of the hardiest and 
fleetest horses were used ; there were a hundred 
and ninety stations distributed along the route 
from nine miles to fifteen miles apart, and each 
of the eighty riders covered three stations, or 
an aggregate of about thirty-three miles, using 
a fresh horse for each stage. In the spring of 
1861 the express left St. Joseph twice a week — 
on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The maxi- 
mum weight of the letters carried was twenty 
pounds. The schedule at first was ten days, 
but it was afterwards accelerated to eight days. 
The time occupied in making the first trip 
between St. Joseph and Sacramento was nine 
days and twenty-three hours, not much more 
than half the time of the fastest overland 
coach trip between St. Louis and San Fran- 
cisco by the southern route. At Sacramento 
the mail was taken aboard steamers, which 
made as fast time as possible down the Sac- 
ramento river for the remaining one hundred 
twenty-five miles to San Francisco. Sure- 
footed and tough Mexican horses were com- 
monly used on the rough, mountainous stages. 



84 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Heat and alkali dust in summer, snow and 
torrential streams in winter, and hostile 
Indians the year round, made these trips ex- 
ceedingly difficult and hazardous. Armed 
men mounted on bronchos were stationed at 
regular intervals along a large part of the trail 
to protect the riders from the Indians. These 
riders of necessity were distinguished for re- 
markable endurance and courage, and many of 
them afterward became famous as hunters and 
Indian fighters on the great Plains. The route 
of William F. Cody, who afterward became 




MosKs H. Sydenh.wi 
Pioneer of Western Nebraska 



a permanent citizen of Nebraska, lay between 
Red Buttes, Wyoming, and Three Crossings 
on the Sweetwater, a distance of about seventy- 
six miles, and one of the most difficult and 
dangerous stages of the whole line. Cody him- 
self relates that in an emergency he continued 
his trip on from Three Crossings 'to Rocky 
Ridge — eighty-five miles — and then back 
to his starting point, Red Buttes, covering the 
whole distance of three hundred and twentv- 
two miles without rest, making not less than 
fifteen miles an hour. The Pony Express 



was operated for eighteen months, or until it 
was superseded by the telegraph, which was 
completed in 1861. Considering its vicissitudes 
and hazards and its remarkable speed, so nearly 
approximating that of the steam railway train, 
the Pony Express was the most interesting 
and picturesque transportation enterprise of 
which we have any record. The Express fol- 
lowed the lines of the old Oregon trail in Ne- 
braska, passing through Big Sandy and Thirty- 
two Mile creek, Cottonwood Springs, and 
O'Fallons Bluff to the lower California cross- 
ing then opposite the present Big Spring. It 
then followed the Julesburg route, reaching 
the north fork near Court House Rock via 
Lodge Pole creek and Thirty-mile ridge. On 
occasion remarkably quick time was made by 
the Express. For example, a copy of Presi- 
dent Lincoln's first inaugural address went 
from St. Joseph to Sacramento, approximate- 
ly two thousand miles, in seven days and seven- 
teen hours, and the distance between St. Joseph 
and Denver, six hundred and sixty-five miles,, 
was covered on this trip in sixty-nine hours. 

The Missouri and Western Telegraph com- 
pany completed the first telegraph line from 
Brownville by way of Omaha to Fort Kearney 
in November, 1860, and the storeroom of Mos- 
es H. Sydenham of Kearney was used for the 
first office. This line was continued on to 
Julesburg Ijy the same company, while Mr. 
Edward Creighton built the line west from that 
point to Salt Lake City, where it met the one 
coming east from San Francisco. 

The first mail from the east to the Pike's 
Peak gold mines was established between Fort 
Kearney and Denver in August, 1860. Fort 
Kearney was a very important point on the 
great Overland route, since there was the 
junction of travel from Kansas City, Atchison, 
and St. Joseph on the southeast, and from 
Omaha, Council i fluffs, and Nebraska City on 
the east. 

Fort Kearney, in 1863, was a rather lone- 
some but a prominent point. It was a place 
of a dozen or more buildings including the 
barracks, and was established by the govern- 
ment in 1849. Here it was that the stages, 
ox and mule trains west from Atchison, 
Omaha, and Nebraska Citv came to the first . 



RIVER NAVIGATION 



85 



telegraph station on the great mihtary higli- 
way. It was a grand sight after travehng one 
hundred and fifty miles without seeing a settle- 
ment of more than two or three houses to gaze 
upon the old post, uninviting as it was, and 
see the few scattered buildings, a nice growth 
of shade trees, the cavalry men mounted upon 
their steeds, the cannon planted in the hollow 
square, and the glorious stars and stripes 
proudly waving in the breeze above the garri- 
son. The stage station — just west of the mili- 
tary post — was a long, one-story log building 
and it was an important one ; for here the 
western stage routes from Omaha and Ne- 
braska City terminated, and its passengers 
from thence westward had to be transferred 
to Ben Holladay's old reliable Overland line. 

River Navigation. Though there was some 
steamboat traffic on the lower Missouri river 
before 1830, the American Fur Company, un- 
der the control of John Jacob Aster and his son, 
William B. Astor, with headquarters at New 
York and a branch house at St. Louis, prepar- 
ed for the first regular navigation, extending to 
the upper river, in that year. The company 
built the steamer Yellowstone, so named, 
doubtless, because its farthest objective point 
was to be the mouth of the Yellowstone river. 
But on the first trip, in the spring of 1831, it 
was impracticable to go farther than Fort Te- 
cumseh, opposite the present city of Pierre. 
The following spring the Yellowstone reached 
Fort Union, and this first trip established the 
practicability of upper river steamboat navi- 
gation. Fort Benton soon came to be regarded 
as the head of navigation and retained that 
advantageous distinction as long as river navi- 
gation lasted. Missouri river steamboat 
traffic was largely cut off when the Northern 
Pacific railway reached Bismarck in 1873, and 
it was virtually abandoned when other rail- 
roads reached the river at Pierre in 1880 and 
at Chamberlain in 1881. It is probable that 
the last through commercial trip was made 
in 1878, and that the Missouri made the last 
trip for any purpose from St. Louis to Fort 
Benton in 1885. Though carried on for forty 
years with great difficulty, owing to the no- 
toriously shifty and snaggy character of the 
stream, this navigation was the chief medium 
of freight and passenger traffic between the 



East and the western Plains, and was the right 
arm of the forces which began the structure 
of civilized society in Nebraska and of the 
first trancontinental railway whose beginning 
was also in Nebraska. Whether this greatest 
but ugliest — in temper as well as appear- 
ance — of all our great rivers will ever again 
be utilized for navigation depends upon the un- 
settled economic question whether future me- 
chanical inventions and improvements shall 
constitute or reestablish it as a practicable 
rival or coadjutor of the railway. At the 
present time the chances do not encourage 
expensive experiments upon the river to fit it 
for navigation, and in 1902 Congress abol- 
ished the useless and senecure Missouri river 
commission. But it is not improbable that 
this vast body of water will eventually be 
used for the irrigation of enormous areas of 
arid and semi-arid but otherwise exceedingly 
rich agricultural lands. Engineering author- 
ity in support of this view is not wanting. 
Until the introduction of steamboats the 
river tralric of the fur companies was carried 
on by keel-boats. They were usually from sixty 
to seventy feet in length, and, with tiie excep- 
tion of about twelve feet at either end, were 
occupied by an enclosed apartment in the 
shape of a long box in which the cargo was 
placed. The boats were ordinarily propelled 
by a cordelle, a rope about three hundred 
yards long, one end being attached to a tall 
mast, while the other was in the hands of from 
one to two score men who traveled along the 
shore of the river and hauled the boat after 
them. When the wind was at all favorable 
a large sail was also used, and frequently the 
boat would make good progress against the 
current by the force of the wind alone. Poles 
and oars were used also as emergency re- 
quired. It is not remarkable that by this 
clumsy and fearfully laborious method the 
ordinary voyage of the keel-boat from St. 
Louis to the upper river was not accomplished 
in less than four or five months. The mack- 
inaw-boat was somewhat smaller than the keel- 
boat and of comparatively temporary construc- 
tion. It was propelled by four oarsmen, but 
was used only in down-stream trips. The 



86 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



frame of the hull-boat, which was used on the 
shallow tributaries of the Missouri, was built 
of willow saplings lashed together with raw- 
hide and covered with hides of bull buffaloes, 
which gave it its name. This craft was buoy- 
ant and flexible and well adapted for the sandy 
shallows of the Platte and others of the smaller 
rivers. 

Bellevue was an important point in the later 
fur trading days, because, being the site of an 
Indian agency, boats passing up the river were 
subjected to a rigid inspection to see that thev 



the service of the American Fur Company at 
Cabanne's post. In the spring of 1833 he con- 
ducted a fleet of mackinaw-boats from that 
post to St. Louis. He was also employed by 
Major Filcher, Cabanne's successor, and in 
1834 by Peter A. Sarpy. Soon after this he 
began his own career as pilot and captain of 
various steamboats on the Missouri — mainly 
on the upper river — which lasted till 1879. 
He died at St. Louis in 1899. La Barge named 
a steamboat built in 1854 and used on the Mis- 
souri river for the American Fur Company's 




From paiiitiitg by S. IV. Y. Scliymonsky 

Old Tr.miing Post, Bellevue. i.n 1854 



had on board no intoxicating liquors which it 
was unlawful to carry into the "Indian coun- 
try." 

The cargoes of the boats in the earlier river 
navigation consisted of merchandise for In- 
dian trading, outfits for trappers and hunters, 
and stores for . military posts ; and in addi- 
tion passengers of all sorts and conditions. 
Captain Joseph La Barge was the principal 
figure among the Missouri steamboat captains 
and pilots, and he characterized and distin- 
guished his class just as Kit Carson and our 
own "Buffalo Bill" and others illustrated the 
great qualities and achievements of the scouts 
of the Plains, He was born in 1815 of a 
French-Canadian father and a Spanish-French 
mother. At the age of seventeen he entered 



trade, St. ]\Iary, after Peter A. Sarpy's post 
situated just below Bellevue on the Iowa side 
of the river. 

On the 7th of June, 1851, Father De Smet, 
accompanied by Father Christian Hoecken, 
took passage on the steamer St. Ange from 
St. Louis to Fort Union, which was about 
three miles above the mouth of the Yellow- 
stone, on the northern side. Several members 
of the American Fur Company with about 
eighty men were on the boat. "They," said 
the missionary, "went in quest of earthly 
wealth ; Father Lloecken and I in search of 
heavenly treasures — to the conquest of souls." 
It had been a season of mighty floods, and the 
valleys of the Mississippi and Missouri were 
covered with water. The travelers were af- 



RIVER NA\IGATlON 



87 



flicted with malarial diseases in various forms, 
and about live hundred miles above St. Louis 
they were attacked by cholera, from which 
Father Hoecken died, after heroically minister- 
ing to the needs of his stricken fellow-passen- 
gers. "A decent coffin, very thick, and tarred 
within, was prepared to receive his mortal re- 
mains ; a temporary grave was dug in a beauti- 
ful forest, in the vicinity of the mouth of the 
Little Sioux, and the funeral was performed 
with all the ceremonies of the church, in the 
evening of the 19th of June, all on board as- 
sisting." On the return of the boat in about 
a month the coffin was exhumed and carried 
back to Florissant for burial. 

The annals of the times credit these noble 
priests with characteristic incessant devotion 
to their suffering fellow-passengers. 

In the year 1858 there were 59 steamboats 
on the lower river and 306 steamboat arrivals 
at the port of Leavenworth, Kansas. The 
freight charges paid at that point during the 
season amounted to $166,941.35. In 1859 the 
steamboat advertisements in the St. Louis pa- 
pers showed that more vessels left that port for 
the Missouri river than for both the upper and 
the lower Mississippi. In 1857 there were 28 
steamboat arrivals at the new village of Sioux 
City before July 1. There were 23 regular 
boats on that part of the river, and their freight 
tonnage for the season was valued at $1,250,- 
000. The period from 1855 to to 1860 was the 
golden era of steamboating on the Missouri 
river. It was the period just before the advent 
of the railroads. No other period before or 
after approached it in the splendor of the boats. 
All the boats were side-wheelers, had full- 
length cabins, and were fitted u'p more for 
passengers than for freight. It was an era of 
fast boats and of racing. 

The provisions for the establishment of pub- 
lic roads are recited in the account of the pro- 
ceedings of the several territorial legislatures; 
an account is also given of the building of ter- 
ritorial roads by appropriations of the federal 
Congress. The means of transportation and 
the amount and condition of travel in the ter- 
ritorial years before the completion of the 
Union Pacific railway are indicated in an inter- 
esting manner in the contempwrary news- 
papers. In a report of a committee of the first 
council of the territorial legislatures, on a bill 



chartering the Platte Valley & Pacific Railway 
company, it is stated that nine-tenths of the 
travel to the Pacific coast passes along the 
Platte valley — from St. Louis by water to 
Independence, Weston, St. Joe, Council Blufifs, 
and occasionally Sergeants Bluff, "and uniting 
at these points with those who come by land 
from the East, converge in the Platte valley 
at various points within two hundred miles, a 
little north of a due west line from Omaha, 
Bellevue, and Florence." This report recites, 
also, that "thirty years ago Colonel Leaven- 
worth, who then commanded the post in sight 




Peter J. De Smet, S. J. 

of this locality (Fort Atkinson), called the at- 
tention of our government to the importance, 
practicability, and expediency of constructing 
a railroad by way of the Platte valley to the 
Pacific." 

Acting Governor Cuming in his message 
to the legislature, December 9, 1857, states that 
"The United States wagon road from the Platte 
river via the Omaha reserve to the Running 
Water, under the direction of Colonel Geo. 
Sites, has been constructed for a distance of 
one hundred and three miles, including thirty- 
nine bridges" ; and he gives the names of the 
streams crossed by these bridges and the length 
of each bridge. Mr. J. M. Woolworth, in his 



88 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



little book, Nebraska in iS^/. notes that, 
■'A year ago Congress established a military 
road from this place to New Fort Kearney 
and appropriated $50,000 for its construction. 
That work is nearly comj>lete, and runs up 
the valley of the Platte through all the princi- 
pal settlements west of this." The terrtorial 
legislature*^ memorialized Congress to grant 
to John A. Latta, of Plattsmouth, 20,000 acres 
of land in the valley of the Platte river, on con- 
dition that before October 1, 1861, he "shall 
place on said river a good and substantial 
steamboat and run the same between the mouth 
of said Platte river" and Fort Kearney, and do 
all necessary dredging, "knowing that there is 
a sufficient volume of water in said river which 
is a thousand miles in length." This visionary 
memorial sets out that the proposed method 
of navigation would be advantageous for gov- 
ernment transportation among other things. 
In a joint resolution and memorial to Congress, 
the Fifth legislature, in urging the bridging 
of the Platte river, states that "a military or a 
public road beginning at Leau-qui-court and 
extending southward across the territory, has 
been located and opened under the direction 
of the national government, and has become 
a great thoroughfare, whereon military sup- 
plies may be expeditiously transported north- 
ward. It also affords an avenue of trade of 
great advantage and is now one of the promi- 
nent mail routes to the inhabitants of this ter- 
ritory and others, in said territory." *'' The 
governor's message to the seventh legisla- 
ture''" urges that "without a bridge over the 
Loup Fork the government road up the Platte 
valley is but a work half done." The govern- 
or's message to the twelfth — and last 
— territorial legislature** again urges the 
building of a bridge across the Platte river ; 
and the same document" informs us that 
"now four regular trains run daily between 
Omaha and North Platte, 293>^ miles, and 

■*■'"' Lazvs of Nebraska, 6th ter. sess., p. 219. 

^'^ Laws of Nebraska, 5th ter. sess., p. 412. 

*~ House Journal, p. 21. 

•"' Council Journal, p. 14. 

*'■> Ibid., p. 15. 

■•» Xovember, 13, 1858. 

51 March 17. 



that the track is complete for 305 miles, 240 
miles of roadbed having been constructed and 
262 miles of track laid during the past season; 
also that there is a Howe truss bridge, 1,505 
feet, across the Loup Fork and a pile bridge, 
2,640 feet, across the North Fork." 

The Herald of July 13, 1866, gives an ac- 
count of the excursion of the members of the 
legislature to the end of the Union Pacific 
road beyond Columbus. The excursionists took 
dinner at that place, and at the after-dinner 
ceremonies Andrew J. Poppleton presided and 
Dr. Thomas C. Durant, General Hazen, Geo. 
Francis Train, Governor David Butler, Thomas 
W. Tipton, John ^[. Thayer, and the ubiqui- 
tous Colonel Presson, then chaplain of the 
territorial house of representatives, made 
speeches. It is suggestive of the relations of 
the Union Pacific corporation to politics for 
many years afterwards that the speaking list 
at this banquet comprised most of the well- 
known republican, and some of the democratic 
politicians of the territory. The Herald of 
June 22, 1866, notes that George Francis Train 
had just made the quickest trip on record from 
Omaha to New York, via St. Joe, in eighty- 
nine hours. The same trip is now made in 
forty-two hours. The Nebraska of today, 
however, is not proportionately faster than 
his pioneer predecessor in other phases of his 
daily life. In May, 1867, passengers went 
from Chicago to Denver in five days — by rail 
over the Chicago and Northwestern and the 
L'nion Pacific roads to North Platte and thence 
by AVells, Fargo & Co.'s mail and express line. 
A striking illustration of economic condi- 
tions on our western frontier is afforded by a 
statement in the Nebraska City Xeivs'^" that at 
Fort Kearney the price of corn is $3.50 and $4 
a bushel, and from $3 to $4 a bushel a hun- 
dred miles west of Nebraska City. Illustration 
of the feeling of desert-like isolation in the ter- 
ritory as late as 1859 is found in Omaha corre- 
spondence of the Advertiser^'' which notices 
the arrival of the Florida, the first steamer of 
the season, "amid the shouts and cheers of the 
multitude, and the booming of cannon under 
the charge of Captain Ladd's artillery squad. It 
is the earliest landing made in this vicinity 



RRER NAVIGATION 



89 



for many years." The Advertiser of March 
3, 1859, says that the completion of the Han- 
nibal & St. Joseph railroad was celebrated 
at the place last named on the 23d inst. on a 
grand scale. "The completion of this road 
will take a surprising amount of emigration 
off the river which will be poured out oppo- 
site southern Nebraska and northern Kansas 
and speedily work its way into these portions 
of the two territories. The Nebraska City 
Nezcs'^^ rejoices that a depot of federal mili- 
tary supplies has been established at that 
place ; and May 29th, following, the Nezvs wag- 
ers that three times more freight and passen- 
gers have been landed at the Nebraska City 
wharf this season than at any other town. The 
Neivs of May 21, 1859, says Alexander Majors 
estimates that from four hundred to six hun- 
dred wagons would be sent out from Nebraska 
City that season, and about as many from 
Leavenworth. 

The Advertiser'"^ says that, "The little boat 
built for the purpose of navigating the Platte 
river passed here going up on Sunday morn- 
ing. It was a little one-horse aflfair, and will 
not, in our opinion, amount to much. If the 
Platte river is to be rendered navigable, and 
we believe it can, it requires a boat suffi- 
ciently large to slash around and stir up the 
sand, that a channel may be formed by wash- 
ing." The Omaha Xebraskian-'* notes that 
forty boats will navigate the Missouri river the 
coming season — two will run daily between 
Liberty and St. Joseph, and three daily 
between St. Joseph and Omaha, all in con- 
junction with the Hannibal and St. Joe rail- 
road. On the 11th of August following the 
same paper notes that the Kearney stage made 
a quick trip to Omaha in thirty-three hours, 
carrying six passengers. On the 25th of the 
same month the Nebraskian announces that 
Colonel Miles had chosen Omaha City as the 
place of debarkation and reshipping his sup- 
plies to Fort Kearney. 

At the height of travel to the newly discov- 

■" February 27, 1858. 
=^3 Mav 12, 1859. 
"l* February 18, 1860. 
'•' August 4. 
s«.\pril 21, 1860. 



ered gold mines in the vicinity of Denver there 
was sharp rivalry between Nebraska Cit}' and 
Omaha and other minor starting places, such 
as Brownville and Plattsmouth. As early as 
1854 the Omaha Arroiv,^^ with a wish no doubt 
aiding the thought, insists that Omaha has 
"the great advantages of being on a shorter 
line by many miles than any other crossing 
belovv this from Chicago to the north bend of 
the Platte, and the south, or Bridger's Pass, 
and the crossing of the Missouri river is as 
good, to say the least of it. at this point as at 




Stephen' F. Xuckolls 

any other in a hundred miles above the mouth 
of the Platte." The Nebraska City Neivs'" 
takes a traveler's guide to task for stating that 
the route from Plattsmouth is direct, where 
Fort Kearney is in fact forty miles south of a. 
line west from that starting point and half a 
mile south of Nebraska City. It is observed; 
in the item that no government train had ever 
gone out from Plattsmouth, all traffic of this 
kind starting from Nebraska City because it 
was the military depot. 

The Nezvs of April 28, 1860, tells of a new 
route to the mines, by way of Olathe, on Salt 



90 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



creek, which shortens the distance by fifty to 
seventy-five miles. June 30th the A^ezvs says 
that Cadman's, Goodwin's," and Davison's,^* 
on Salt creek, and Vifquain's on the Blue are 
good farms for entertainment on the new 
straight road to Kearney. The place on the 
Blue referred to was for many years subse- 
quently the farmstead of General A^ictor Vif- 
quain, and Cadman's was John Cadman's 
homestead. The Nczi's of July 28th, illustrat- 
ing the extensive freighting business at Ne- 
braska City, says that Hawke, Nuckolls & Co. 
sent in a train of twenty wagons from the 
mines for supplies. On the 24th of November 
the same paper gives a statement of Alexander 
Majors' freighting business to Utah, the west- 
ern forts, and Pike's Peak, from April 25 to 
October 13, 1860: 

Pounds transported 2,782,258 

Oxen used 5,687 

Wagons used 515 

Mules used 72 

Men employed 602 

At that time Hawke & Nuckolls were, next 
to Majors, the heaviest freighters. The 
A'eTi's of December 22, 1860, gives the follow- 
ing itinerary of the freight route from Ne- 
braska City: To Little Nemaha 9 miles, good 
bridge across the Nemaha ; Nemaha to Brown- 
ell creek, 10 miles, good ford; to north branch 
of Nemaha, 6 miles, good crossing, plenty of 
good water ; to Bucks Bend, 5 miles, a rock 
ford on the Nemaha ; to Salt creek, 20 miles 
— bridge begun — large steam saw and grist 
mill; to junction of the old road, 3 miles; to 
the Blue, 25 miles, bridge absolutely necessary, 
impossible for heavy teams to cross ; Blue to 
Dry Run, 20 miles, never failing spring of 
water ; Dry Run to a spring, 20 miles ; to the 
junction of Leavenwurth road, 60 miles; to- 
tal, 178 miles. 

The same paper contains a map of the route 
from Nebraska City to Fort Kearney, giving 
distances from point to point, making a total 
of 169^ miles, as follows : From Nebraska 
City to north fork of Little Nemaha, 63/2 
miles ; up Little Nemaha to Brownell creek, 

^' James Goodwin located on Salt creek in the 
spring of 1857. 

''* James L. Davison, pioneer of 18S7. 



7 miles ; to Little Nemaha, 4 miles ; to the head 
of Little Nemaha, 21 miles; to Salt creek, 11 
miles; to east fork Big Blue. 17 miles; to a 
grove of timber, 17 miles ; to head of Big 
Blue river, 50 miles; to Platte river, 17 miles; 
to Fort Kearney, 19 miles. 

The Nebraska City Nezvs gives the follow- 
ing account of a contract just made between 
the authorities of the United States army and 
Russell, Majors & Waddell : 

The contract amounts to $1,700,000. Five 
thousand tons of government supplies and 
stores are now preparing for shipment to this 
place to be conveyed hence in ox wagons, up 
the valley of the Platte and across the moun- 
tains to Utah. To move this immense mass 
will require two thousand heavy wagons, twen- 
ty hundred ox drivers and train masters, and 
from eighteen to twenty thousand oxen, and 
in one continuous column will present a length 
of forty miles. Mr. Majors, one of the gov- 
ernment contractors for transporting this 
freight, has taken up his residence in this city, 
and of course will prove an inestimable addi- 
tion to its society, both socially, morally, and 
in a business point of view. The capacious 
wharf, built specially to receive this freight, 
is nearly completed, and when finished will 
be one of the very best on the river. 

In view of this great commercial boon and 
boom a public meeting of citizens of Nebraska 
City was held on the 25th of February at 
which resolutions were adopted pledging it 
by the written obligation of "the mayors of 
the three cities" — presumably Nebraska City 
proper, South Nebraska City, and Kearney 
City — in the sum of $100,000, that the levee 
should be finished by the opening of naviga- 
tion, and that a committee of thirteen should 
be appointed to carry out the resolution that 
"the business of dram selling is demoralizing, 
illegal, and a public nuisance, and we heart- 
ily approve of the condition imposed of their 
suppression." The committee of thirteen were 
pledged "to take immediate and efficient meas- 
ures to abate the nuisances, wherever they 
arise in this locality, and to maintain the law 
in our community by moral suasion if possi- 
ble and that failing by every other lawful and 
honorable means." 

In glorification over this contract, the same 



RRER NAVIGATION 



91 




Freighting Scenes from Photographs 

The lower view represents the frerghting train known as "Bull of the Woods." owned by Alexander and 
James Carlisle. From a photograph taken on Main street, Nebraska City, looking east from Sixth street, 
and loaned by Mr O. C. Morton. This train consisted of twenty-five wagons with si.x mules to each 
wagon, and was considered one of the finest outfits known to freighters. 



92 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



paper, of February 17, 1858, announces tliat 
in the coming months of April, May, June, 
•and July two thousand wagons, hauled by six- 
teen thousand cattle, hitched up with two 
acres of ox yokes and driven by two thousand 
rjx drivers would start across the Plains. The 
item promises to the citizens a season of grand 
opera, when "Bellows Falls, or the Glory of 
a Bovine Jehu" would be presented nightly. 

The Nebraska City Ncii's leaves in unex- 
plained ambiguity the question whether the 
advantage of the Nebraska City over the 
Leavenworth route lay in distance or in the 
superiority of oxen over mules : "The ox 
trains leaving Nebraska Citv in Mav reached 



as that of commercial transportation, in those 
ante-railroad days is illustrated in an article 
[luffing the steamer Wautossa which appeared 
in the Omaha Times, June 17, 1858: "The 
Wautossa arrived here 'up to time' on Sunday 
morning last. Captain Morrison finding, at 
our levee and at other landings near here, a 
large quantity of freight, awaiting shipment 
for points above, consented to extend this trip 
to Sioux City. The Wautossa departed for 
Sioux City on Tuesday morning, having on 
board pleasure parties from Nebraska City, 
Council Bluffs, and Omaha. A band of music 
accompanied the party. The trip can not fail 
of being a pleasant one to all on board." 







Courtesy Mailia-n P. Dodge, Coitneil Bluffs. lotva 

Ferry Across the Elkhorn River 
Twenty-three miles nortluvest of Omaha, 1854. Drawing by 
George Simons, whose uncle, Norton Simons, owned the Bellevue 
ferry. 



Fort Kearney, unloaded and made four days 
travel back toward Nebraska City when they 
met mule trains from Leavenworth that left 
there in April." 

A curious illustration of the dependence of 
the people uixjn even impracticable water 
transportation as late as 1858 is afforded by a 
statement in the Advertiser that a small steam- 
boat had ascended the Big Nemaha as far as 
Falls City — twenty-five miles — coupled with 
the remark that, "this can not fail to prove 
gratifying to the enterprising citizens of this 
flourishing and prosperous young city." 

The inode of taking pleasure trips, as well 

s» February 25. 1860. 



Travelers at this time report a great deal of 
gold on the road from the mines to Nebraska 
City. The Nebraskian ^^ notes that two hun- 
dred miles of the route to the mines is over a 
military road, constructed by the federal gov- 
ernment, and gives much space to glorifying 
that route and the importance of the gold 
fields. A panoramic view of the North Platte 
route ten thousand feet long was exhibited in 
Omaha as an advertisement. Cottonwood 
Springs in those days was counted "ten days 
from Omaha." May 23, 1860, the Omaha 
Republican reports that crossing Loup fork 
at .Columbus can be accomplished "in a very 
few minutes." about four-fifths of the emi- 



RIVER NAVIGATION 



93 



grants through Omaha cross the Platte at 
Shinn's ferry. The correspondent says that 
since leaving Fort Kearney there had not been 
less than fifty to one hundred teams in sight at 
any time. Residents estimated that two thou- 
sand five hundred to three thousand teams 
had already passed along this route that sea- 
son, and, allowing about five persons to a team, 
he estimated that from ten thousand to fifteen 
thousand people had gone over that road to the 
mines during the spring in question. There 
were plenty of antelope and other kinds of 
game, but no bufifalo were to be seen. 

The Republican of August 15, 1860, notes 
that many adventurous individuals are build- 
ing boats at Denver for the purpose of navi- 
gating the Platte, and thereupon gives this 
sage counsel: "We would advise all that such 
an enterprise is attended with great difiiculties, 
and often results in the total abandonment of 
the boat after many weeks of fruitless en- 
deavor to reach the Missouri." The Nebras- 
kian "" says that not less than twenty Pike's 
Peak wagons pass its office daily, and thirty 
were counted one afternoon ; and the same pa- 
per of April 28th says that teams are passing 
Fort Kearney at the rate of two hundred a day. 
In the same issue there is a statement that the 
rate for freight from Omaha to Denver is $9 
per hundred pounds, and that there is much of 
it lying at Omaha awaiting transportation. In 
this paper James E. Boyd & Co. advertise 
that they keep a general merchandise store 
and a stable capable of accommodating forty 
horses on the north side of the Platte river 
directly opposite Fort Kearney, and the Genoa 
ferry is advertised to carry teams across the 
Loup fork "at the town of Genoa, eighteen 
miles west of Columbus, where there is a 
good crossing from bank to bank." O. P. 
Hurford also advertises a ferry over the same 
stream at Columbus. In this interesting issue 
of the Ncbraskian we find also a notice of the 
organization of the Missouri & Western Tele- 



6" April 14, 1860. 

^1 Charles M. Stebbins of St. Louis, was presi- 
dent. 

62 May 25, 1861. • 

^^ Dakota City Herald, August 13, 1859. 

6* October 19, 1865. 

"5 Mav 19, 1860. 



graph company at St. Louis, of which Edward 
Creighton of Omaha, was treasurer, and Robt. 
C. Clowry of St. Louis, secretary and super- 
intendent.*^' It is announced that the company 
intends to construct a telegraph line to Omaha 
and Council Bluffs immediately, and to extend 
it westward to the Pike's Peak region. 

The Xcivs '^- notes that the Messrs. Byram 
will send out two or three heavy trains a week 
to Pike's Peak guarded by thirty armed men. 
On the 9th of August, 1862, the News avows 
that the round trip to Denver from Nebraska 
City is two hundred miles shorter than from 
St. Joe or Leavenworth and fifty miles shorter 
than via Omaha. The following is a good il- 
lustration of the importance which the north- 
ern route from Omaha had assumed by the 
summer of 1859 : 

The secretary of the Columbus Ferry Com- 
pany at Loup Fork informs the Omaha Ne- 
braskian that the emigration across the Plains, 
up to June 25, was as follows : 1,807 wagons, 
20 hand carts, 5.401 men, 424 women, 480 
children, 1,610 horses, 406 mules, 6,010 oxen, 
and 6,000 sheep had crossed this ferry at that 
point. This statement includes no portion of 
the Mormon emigration but embraces merely 
California, Oregon, and Pike's Peak emigrants 
and their stock, all going westward. The re- 
turning emigration cross at Shinn's ferry, 
some fifteen miles below the confluence of the 
Loup Fork with the Platte. Many of the 
outward bound emigrants also crossed at the 
same point so that it is probable that not less 
than 4,000 wagons have passed over the mili- 
tary road westward from this city since the 
20th of March."^ 

The Advertiser,^* which at this time was 
fervently loyal, insisted that traffic should be 
diverted from Nebraska City as a punishment 
for disloyalty to the cause of the Union. The 
Nebraskian ^^ avows that a traveler met seven 
hundred teams in one day between Loup fork 
( Columbus) and the Elkhorn river. About 
five hundred of these would keep the north 
route and cross the Loup at Columbus ; the 
other two hundred would cross the Platte by 
Shinn's ferry, "and take the tortuous route on 
the other side of the river." Another traveler 
reported that the whole region about Buffalo 
and Elm creeks is a valley of death, strewn 
white with buft'alo bones over the whole width 



94 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



of the Platte bottom and fifty miles in length. 
The same paper, June 2, 1860, says that up to 
that time an average of thirty-five teams and 
three men to a team had crossed the Missouri 
river at Omaha on the way to the mines. The 
Press ''^ of Nebraska City says: 

There are four principal routes to the gold 
mines: the Omaha route crosses the Papillion, 
the Elkhorn, and Loup Fork, three large and 
bad streams, and a great number of smaller 
ones, and the Platte, the worst river to ford 
in the West, and is six hundred miles long. 
The St. Joe and Leavenworth route crosses 
the Soldier, Grasshopper, Nemaha, Walnut, 
Big Blue, Sandy, Little Blue, and many other 
tributaries of the Kansas, at points where 
there are no bridges and are difficult to ford — • 
distance, six hundred and fifty to seven hun- 
dred miles. The Kansas City route, up the 
Kansas and Arkansas rivers is a bad and dif- 
ficult road. From Kansas City to the mouth 
of Cherry creek it is nine hundred miles. The 
Nebraska City route runs along the divide be- 
tween the southern tributaries of the Platte 
and the northern tributaries of the Kansas and 
crosses but one stream of more than a few 
inches of water on the whole route. There 
are good timber, water, and grazing along the 
whole line. It is about five hundred miles — 
the road has not (nor have any) been meas- 
ured, but W€ judge from the time of travel ; ox 
teams have come from Auraria to Nebraska 
City in twenty-five days. 

The Huntsman's Echo,^'' published at Wood 
River Center, Buffalo county, shows that our 
own heyday of monopoly of transportation is 
no new thing: 

The people of the Pike's Peak mining dis- 
trict, together with all concerned, and the rest 
of mankind, will be pleased to learn that after 
being swindled, gouged, imposed upon, and 
literally robbed in the matter of mail facilities 
and service by that arch-monopoly, Jones, Rus- 
sell & Co., for near two years they are now 
provided by the department, at American rates, 
a mail from Omaha, by this place and Fort 
Kearney, once a week and back. The West- 
ern Stage Company, the most accommodating 
punctual, and reliable in the mail service, has 
the contract and have already sent out one mail. 

•ie February 3, 1860. 
8T September 13, 1860. 
esMay 4, 1861. 
69 November 1, 1860. 
■o March 1, 1862. 
"June 28. 1862. 
" August 14, 1863. 



Query : Did this editor have a pass ? 
The Nebraska City Neivs "^ notes that a 
daily mail line overland to California, via St. 
Joe, has recently been established. The Prcss,^^ 
of Nebraska City, quotes an item from the last 
N ebraskian stating that the telegraph line be- 
tween Omaha and Fort Kearney has just been 
finished and that news by Pony Express will 
doubtless come from Kearney by wire in fu- 
ture. 

The Nebraska City Neivs "° reports that 
grading is going on across the river for the 
Council Blufl^s and St. Joe railway; and the 
same paper,'^ describing the Salt Lake traffic 
from Omaha, says that in two days over a 
month six hundred and thirty -two large gov- 
ernment wagons, each carrying on an average 
five thousand pounds of freight to Colorado 
merchants at the; mines, passed through Ne- 
braska City. The N ebraskian "^ says that 
"five trains of sixty wagons each, loaded with 
freight and Moimon poor, have left for Sail 
Lake, and five more are to go, making six 
hundred wagons in all — the last to go this 
week. There are already two thousand emi- 
grants on the Plains and two thousand yet 
to leave." Freight on a cotton mill for Salt 
Lake had already cost $1,500 as far as Omaha. 
In the spring of 1865 there was bitter com- 
plaint by the partisans of the Omaha route 
because travelers were not protected from the 
Indians. It was charged that anywhere be- 
tween the mouth of the Elkhorn and the forks 
of the Platte the North Platte route was ig- 
nored by the military and was in a state of 
outlawry. After passing Fort Kearney trav- 
elers north of the south fork were at the mercy 
of the Indians for a distance of two hundred 
miles. It was charged also that Brigadier- 
General P. E. Connor telegraphed on the 24th 
of May, 1865, to Captain S. H. Morer at Oma- 
ha as follows: "Please notify all trains com- 
ing west that they must cross the Platte at 
Plattsmouth. They can not cross the Platte 
east of Laramie, and I have not the troops to 
escort them on the north side." The Repub- 
lican at this time charges Morer, Colonel Liv- 
ingston, and General Connor with favoritism 
for the Plattsmouth route. On the 27th of 



FIRST RAILROAD AND TELEGRAPH 



95 



May, 1865, a meeting was held at Omaha for 
the purpose of raising a subscription of $50,000 
for building a bridge across the Platte in the 
interest of the North Platte route, and among 
those on the subscription committee were Ed- 
ward Creighton, Ezra Millard, and Dr. George 
L. Miller. 

Representatives of the Burlington & Mis- 
souri River Railroad company took a lively part 
in the protest against the change of the route 
of the Union Pacific railway to the southern, 
or ox-bow line; and on the 21st of December, 
1866, Dr. Aliller, in the Omaha Herald, assists 
J. Sterling Morton in his attack in the Ne- 
braska City Nczi's on Secretary Harlan's de- 
cision that the Burlington company might go 
outside the twenty mile limit to locate its land 
grant. The Herald complains bitterly that to 
do so "withholds from occupation and sale 
three million acres of the best lands in Ne- 
braska." The Burlington company objected to 
the Union Pacific's change of line because it 
lapped over its own land grant. 

On the 25th of October, 1867, the Nezvs 
says that there is a tri-weekly stage from Ne- 
braska City to Lincoln doing a large business 
— "the only regular line of stages from the 
Missouri river to Lincoln." The Republican '^ 
says : 

The Burlington & Missouri River railroad 
has been located as far west as a point opposite 
Plattsmouth, and surveys have been made 
from that place west with a view to a con- 
nection with the Union Pacific at, or not great- 
ly beyond Columbus. The proposed extension 
of that line west of the Missouri river is to be 
in the valley of the Platte and Lincoln City 
has never been thought of as a point. Besides 
we venture the assertion that no intelligent 
man in Nebraska believes that the Burlington 
road will ever be built west of the Missouri 
river in any direction. It will seek a connec- 
tion with the L'nion Pacific at Omaha, where 
it can compete on equal terms with the other 
roads running through Omaha, and will not 
be guilty of the folly of inviting the opposi- 
tion of the LTnion Pacific by seeking to tap it 
at some point west of this city. 

The only excuse for the Republican's pro- 
phetic blindness is consideration of the fact 

" August 28, 1867. 
" August 22, 1863. 



that its mistakes had a great deal of company 
of the same sort at that time. The Republi- 
can observes that the Chicago & Northwestern 
Railway company at one time contemplated a 
connection with the Union Pacific at Columbus 
or Kearney, crossing the river at Decatur sixty 
miles north ; but, seeing that the Mississippi & 
Missouri (Rock Island) would form a con- 
nection with the Union Pacific at Omaha, the 
Northwestern changed its route to that city 
where it could compete on equal terms with 
its rival. The Republican laughed unrestrain- 
edly at the statement that the Northwestern 
would go to Lincoln. 

On the 4th of December, 1867, the Republi- 
can speaks of a famous early transportation 
company as follows: "The old Northwestern 
Stage Company is known by every man, wo- 
man, and child in Iowa and Nebraska. . . 
Its coaches rolled over every road. For years 
it was the only means of intercommunication 
— even as late as two years ago." 

The Brownville Advertiser ''* gives an inter- 
esting sketch of the effect of these freight 
routes upon the almost sole mdustry — agri- 
culture — in the course of a complaint of the 
sloth of Nemaha county in competition for 
the trade of the lines: 

The truth is farmers, more than anybody 
else, would be benefited by a good road to 
Fort Kearney. The market for farm produce 
is now west of us in Colorado and the forts. 
The thousands of gold hunters in the moun- 
tains are fed from the Missouri valley. There 
is no county in Nebraska that produces more 
than Nemaha. The surplus is gathered up 
by freighters, but they do not pay as much 
here by 20 per cent as in Nebraska City sim- 
ply because the road from here needs a little 
mending. Freighters pay 25 cents a bushel for 
corn at Nebraska City and only 15 and 20 cents 
here. A bridge, or a good ford, across the 
Blue, at or near Beatrice, would be worth 
thousands annually to Nemaha, Richardson, 
Pawnee, Johnson, Clay, and Gage counties. 

The Advertiser further complains that : 

Ten times as much of the travel across the 
Plains leaves the river from Omaha and Ne- 
braska City as from Brownville. Ten times 
as many freighters start for Denver, Jules- 
burg and the forts from Omaha and Nebras- 
ka City as from this countv. The route from 



96 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



here to Fort Kearney is naturally better than 
any other; in distance it is shorter than most 
other routes ; the road is comparatively level ; 
no large streams except the Nemaha to cross ; 
plenty of good water and pasture, and between 
here and the Leavenworth road at Sandy vou 
are never out of sight of timber. Had about 
two good bridges been built five years ago a 
large pvortion of the vast emigration to the 
mines would have passed over this route. We 
vainly hoped that the government vvould see 
the importance of this route and would aid us 
in making a good road. Meanwhile the tide 
of travel influenced by interested parties be- 
came fixed to other roads. 

In August, 1862, the Scientific American 
copied from the Nebraska City Nezvs an ac- 
count of the trip of a steam wagon — the Prai- 
rie Motor — which had started for Denver, 
"drawing three road wagons containing five 
tons of freight, two cords of wood, and all the 
wagons were crowded with excited citizens." 
The article goes on to relate that there were 
five regular stage routes between the Missouri 
river and the West, all of which concentrated 
at Fort Kearney, and that the stage fare for a 
single passenger from Nebraska City to Den- 
ver was $75, and the time taken for the trip 
one week, traveling day and night. "The citi- 
zens of Nebraska in view of these facts have 
regarded the introduction of the steam wagon 
with enthusiasm as a great improvement upon 
the common slow and expensive system of ani- 
mal teaming on the prairie road. On the 28th 
of July last they met in mass convention at 
Nebraska City and requested the authorities 
of the county to construct a road to its west- 
ern limits suitable for the steam wagon so as 
to make Nebraska City the focus of the steam 
wagon line." The Nebraska City News " re- 
lates that, "General Brown's steam wagon 
which left here last week, has, we regret to 
learn, met with an accident. About twelve 
miles from the city one of the cranks of the 
wagon shaft broke and stopped further pro- 
gress for the present. . . The wagon had 
got over the last rise of ground and was about 
to start on the long divide which runs clear 
through to Kearney when it broke. The acci- 
dent will cause a delay of about three weeks. 

" August 2, 1862. 



General Brown left immediately for New York 
with the broken parts to have them replaced. 
Messrs. Sloate and Osborne, the engineers, 
remain here and will push immediately for- 
ward when the new shaft arrives." But the 
experiment was abandoned at this stage. t^ 

Since Nebraska was, in law and in fact, 
exclusively "Indian country" prior to the time 
of its organization as a territory — 1854 — it 
had no roads except such as had been laid out 
in the natural course of travel, and no bridges 
except such as might have been voluntarily 
built by travelers over the smaller streams. 
The first appropriation for a highway within 
the present Nebraska was made by act of Con- 
gress, February 17, 1855, which authorized the 
construction of "a territorial road from a point 
on the Missouri river (opposite the city of 
Council Bluffs), in the territory of Nebraska, 
to New Fort Kearney in said territory." On 
the 3d of March, 1857, Congress appropriated 
$30,000 "for the construction of a road from 
the Platte river via the Omaha reserve and 
Dakota City to the Running Water river," 
under the direction of the secretary of the 
interior. Appropriations were made for roads 
within the original territory, but not within the 
present state, as follows: February 6, 1855, 
$30,000, "for a military road from the Great 
Falls of the Missouri river in the territory of 
Nebraska to intersect the military road now 
established leading from Walla Walla to Pu- 
get Sound." July 22, 1856, $50,000, "for the 
construction of a road from Fort Ridgley, in 
the territory of Minnesota, to the South Pass 
of the Rocky Mountains, in the territory of 
Nebraska." On the 3d day of March, 1865, 
an appropriation of $50,000 was made for the 
construction of a wagon road from the mouth 
of Turtle Hill river to Omaha, and from the 
same point to Virginia City, Montana. The 
main motive for the construction of these high- 
ways in the Northwest was national, that is, 
to provide for transportation of troops and 
supplies into the country where British influ- 
ence at the earlier dates and the Indians all 
the time were most to be feared. Encourage- 
ment and accommodation of local settlements 
was no doubt an important but secondary con- 
sideration. 



PACIFIC WAGON ROADS 



97 



SIOUA 

.City 







CHAPTER IV 

The Louisiana Purchask 



OUEST for the germ of political Nebraska 
f,^ leads us back just through the brief pe- 
riod of the nation's miraculous making, when 
— April 2, 1743 — at Shadwell, Albemarle 
county, Virginia, in the shadow of the Blue 
Ridge mountains, we find Alartha, the mother, 
clasping to her bosom the new-born Thomas 
Jefferson, under whose sandy hair are the 
brains that are to give to mankind the Declar- 
ation of Independence; to give distinction to 
American diplomacy at the court of France, 
between the years 1785 and 1789, as the first 
secretary of state under the federal constitu- 
tion; to initiate and develop the foreign and 
domestic policy of the young republic; to be- 
come president in 1801 ; to negotiate and com- 
plete the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon 
Bonaparte in 1803 at a cost of about two and 
three-fifths cents an acre. The aggregate 
amount paid for this new empire, of which the 
present Nebraska forms about a twelfth part, 
was $15,000,000. Of this purchase price 
France received in United States bonds $11,- 
250,000, and by agreement the remaining $3,- 
750,000 was paid to American citizens in 
liquidation of claims against the French gov- 
ernment. When the United States took formal 
possession of these lands on December 20, 
1803, the Union consisted of but seventeen 
states, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Ken- 
tucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hamp- 
shire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Car- 
olina, Tennessee, Virginia, and \"ermont, with 



1 Adams, History of the United States, vol. ii, p. 
121. Rufus King on the Missouri Bill, American 
Orations, vol. ii, p. 42. 

2 Including all of Colorado. Minnesota, and Wy- 
oming, 18,016,363. Census, 1910. 



a total area of -144,393 square miles, or 284,- 
411,520 acres. But Mr. Jefferson's purchase 
of contiguous territory covered 890,921 square 
miles, including both land and water surface, 
or 878,641 square miles — 562,330,240 acres — • 
of land alone ; and it lacked but little of being 
twice as large — as it certainly was twice as 
valuable for agriculture and mining — ■ as the 
seventeen states named. Today, with all the 
more expensively and less peacefully acquired 
islands of Hawaii, Porto Rico, Guam, and 
the Philippines in the reckoning, the Louisiana 
Purchase of President Jefferson comprises 
nearly one-fourth of the republic. 

From this vast purchase of territory adjacent 
to the previous holdings of the republic have 
been created thirteen great states, namely: 
Louisiana in 1812, Missouri in 1821, Arkansas 
in 1836, Iowa in 1846, Minnesota in 1858, 
Kansas in 1861, Nebraska in 1867, Colorado 
in 1876, Montana in 1889, South Dakota in 
1889, North Dakota in 1889, Wyoming in 1890, 
and Oklahoma in 1907. Only about one-third 
of Colorado, two-thirds of Minnesota, and a 
little more than three-fourths of Wyoming are 
parts of the Jefferson purchase. The esti- 
mated population of the land ceded by Na- 
poleon in 1803 was fifty thousand! whites, 
forty thousand slaves, and two thousand free 
blacks. More than four-fifths of the whites 
and all the blacks except about one thousand 
three hundred were in and adjacent to New 
Orleans. The rest were scattered through 
the country now included in Arkansas and 
Missouri.^ The population of the Louisiana 
Purchase is now over 18,000,000,= and if it 
were as densely populated as Belgium, which, 
contains 536 human beings to the square mile, 
it would contain and maintain 473,326,592. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 



99 



The importance of the Louisiana Purchase 
does not spring alone from its extent and value 
as a vast territorial addition to the country, but 
very largely from its momentous political sig- 
nificance and effect. In the first place it was 
a pawn played by the great Napoleon in his 
universal game of war and diplomacy, in 
which the ancient empires of Europe were 
the stakes. Acquired by France under Louis 
XIV, through exploration and settlement 
here and there, it was ceded to Spain as a salve 
for sacrifices on her part in the treaty of 1763, 
which secured the supremacy of the English 
speaking race on this continent and in general 
as a colonizing power, and was the territorial 
preparation for the great republic. Before 
Napoleon had forced himself into actual power 
as first consul, November 9, 1799, Tallyrand, 
who ruled under the directory, had conceived 
the idea of at once spreading out France in a 
great colonial empire, and curbing, through 
near neighborship, the pretentious young 
American republic, by securing the retroces- 
sion of Louisiana. Spain's fortunes were go- 
ing from bad to worse, and after Napoleon's 
startling victory over the Austrians at Maren- 
go in June, 1800, Tallyrand's messenger had 
but to demand the retrocession on the terms 
he proposed and it was accomplished — Octo- 
ber 1, 1800. The Spanish king, complaining 
that France had not carried out her part of the 
bargain, delayed the delivery of Louisiana, but 
finally yielded. October 15, 1801, on the as- 
surance of Tallyrand that, "You can declare 
in the name of the First Consul that France 
will never alienate it." Meanwhile Napoleon 
had won peace from Austria by force, and 
from Great Britain through diplomacy, so 
that now he prepared to take possession of 
Louisiana; but first he had to deal with the 
revolution of the negroes of the important 
outpost of Santo Domingo, under the lead of 
Toussaint L'Ouverture. The disaster which 
finally befell Napoleon's army in Santo Do- 
mingo, and the impending renewal of his irre- 
pressible conflict with England, led the marvel- 
ously practical first consul to abandon what- 
ever thought he may have indulged of a colo- 
nial empire in America. It is doubtful that he 



ever fully entertained or regarded as feasible 
this original dream of Talleyrand's. But at any 
rate, and in spite of Talleyrand, his unequaled 
executive mind saw straight and clear to his 
purpose and acted with characteristic decisive- 
ness. In the early days of April, 1803, he 
disclosed to Talleyrand, and then to others of 
his ministers, his purpose of ceding Louisiana 
to the United States. At the break of day, 
April 11th, the day before Monroe, Jefferson's 
special envoy for the purchase of New Orleans 
and possibly the Floridas also, arrived in Paris, 
Napoleon announced to Marbois, his minister 
of finance : "Irresolution and deliberation are 
no longer in season; I renounce Louisiana. 
To attempt obstinately to retain it would be 
folly. . . Have an interview this very day 
with Mr. Livingston." He had said the day 
before that he feared England would seize 
Louisiana at the beginning of war ; and al- 
ready, April 8th, he had countermanded the 
order for General Victor to sail with his army 
to take possession of Louisiana. When in an 
interview later in the day Livingston was 

"Still harping on my daughter," 

begging only for New Orleans and West Flor- 
ida, he was disconcerted at the sudden de- 
mand of Talleyrand, "What will you give for 
the whole?" The next day Livingston con- 
ferred with Monroe, but in the afternoon he 
met Marbois, who invited him to his house, and 
during the night a preliminary understanding 
was reached. After much haggling about the 
price the papers were signed during the early 
days of May, but were dated back to April 
30th. Napoleon sought to preclude danger of 
the subsequent cession of the territory to 
England, or any other rival power, and to pro- 
tect the inhabitants, who were mainly French 
and Spanish, in the enjoyment of their religion 
and racial propensities, by inserting the follow- 
ing guarantee in the treaty: 

The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall 
be incorporated in the union of the United 
States and admitted as soon as possible, ac- 
cording to the principles of the federal con- 
stitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, ad- 
vantages and immunities of citizenship of the 
United States ; and in the meantime they shall 



100 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



be maintained and protected in the free en- 
joyment of their liberty, property and the 
religion which they profess. 

Though this vast territory had actually been 
pressed upon the American ambassadors, its 
acquisition was indeed a triumph for the 
young republic. 

Livingston had achieved the greatest dip- 
lomatic success recorded in American history. 
. . . No other American diplomatist was so 
fortunate as Livingston for the immensity 
of his results compared with the paucity of 
his means. . . The annexation of Louis- 
iana was an event so portentous as to defy 
measurement. It gave a new face to politics, 
and ranked in historical importance next to 
the Declaration of Independence and the adop- 
tion of the Constitution — events of which it 
was the logical outcome; but as a matter of 
diplomacy it was unparalleled, because it cost 
almost nothing.^ 

But Livingston's cup of glory turned to 
ashes on his lips. He was charged with cor- 
ruption in the distribution of the part of the 
purchase price which was to be paid to Amer- 
ican claimants, and the credit the public gave 
Monroe elevated him to the presidency, where 
he was so fortunate as to make his name 
known of all men by the timely enunciation of 
the "Monroe Doctrine," which was adopted 
as an expedient for the safety of the still young 
and not yet firmly founded republic and its 
institutions, and which is still maintained as 
a principle of American polity, but more per- 
haps through the influence of tradition than 
of the original need or expediency, this motive 
having been superseded by one of wider scope 
and farther reach though not definitely defined 
or conceived. The direct bearing of an account 
of the Louisiana Purchase upon a history of 
Nebraska will now begin to appear, and is fore- 
cast in the following estimate of its political 
effect or sequel : 

Of the transcendent importance of that 
event, aside from the expansion of territory, 
we get some idea when we reflect that the 
Missouri compromise, the annexation of 
Texas, the compromise of 1850, the Kansas- 

^ Adams, History of the United States, vol. ii, pp. 
48-49. 

^ Thomas M. Cooley. "The .Acquisition of Louis- 
iana," Indiana Hist. Soc. Pamphlets, no. 3, p. 5. 



Nebraska bill, the Dred Scott case, and at 
length the Civil war, were events in regular 
sequence directly traceable to it, not one of 
which would have occurred without it.* 

The sweeping conclusions of the eminent 
jurist are doubtless technically correct, but 
there is a hint in them of the almost dogmatic 
implication in many historical accounts of the 
famous purchase that it was a work of 
chance — a result of the accidental extremity 
of the fortunes of Napoleon and of the Spanish 
nation at that particular time, and of the acu- 
men of several American politicians. Mr. 
Adams partially corrects this misapprehension 
when he declares that the acquisition of Louis- 
iana was "the logical outcome of the Declar- 
ation of Independence and the adoption of the 
Constitution." But the historian would have 
been equally correct and more fundamental if 
he had said that the acquisition was the logical 
outcome of the ascendency of the English race 
and English institutions in North America, 
as against the Latin race, which was formally 
determined by the result of the French and 
Indian war and the treaty of 1763. The ex- 
pulsion of France and Spain would have been 
completed by the same English race without 
the incident of the secession of the colonies and 
the division of English territory which the 
Declaration of Independence proclaimed. 
While the great Napoleon's necessity of try- 
ing conclusions with England at home in 1803, 
just as his predecessor had tried conclusions 
with England in America in 1763, and his 
necessity of diverting the troops with which 
he intended to take possession of and defend 
Louisiana to put down the Santo Domingo re- 
bellion, probably at once precipitated this final 
surrender of French pretension to America 
which might have been held in solution yet 
for some time, still the precipitation would 
have been only a question of time ; and it is 
not unlikely that there would have been the 
same evolutionary working out of the question 
of slavery and of union, the same tragedy and 
the same glory. The first view, in short, has 
the fault of empiricism, of explaining an im- 
portant social phenomenon as an accident in- 
stead of a natural evolutionary process. 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 



101 



News of the retrocession of Louisiana to 
France, which reached America about eight 
months after it had been agreed upon, dis- 
closed the inherent or inevitable opposition to 
the reinstatement of France. And so Jefferson 
was moved by fear of such an event to write 
in July, 1801.^ 

We consider her (Spain's) possession of 
the adjacent country as most favorable to 
our interests, and should see with an extreme 
pain any other country substituted for them. 

Spain, unlike her then monstrously mili- 
tant neighbor of the same race, was already 
too inert to be seriously inimical. Madison, 
Jefferson's secretary of state, wrote, Septem- 
ber 28, 1801; to Livingston, who had just 
reached France, that the proposed change of 
neighbors was a matter of "momentous con- 
cern." If allowed, "inquietudes would be 
excited in the southern states where numerous 
slaves had been taught to regard the French 
as patrons of their cause. "^ Livingston, who 
perceived the perplexities of the situation, 
wrote to Madison several months before the 
cession, that he was persuaded that the whole 
business would result in the relinquishment of 
Louisiana to the United States. It was plain, 
moreover, to astute American statesmen that 
the reoccupation of Louisiana by the French 
undid the work of the Seven Years' war and 
nullified the treaty of 1763. Jefferson's feel- 
ing seemed to grow stronger, and he wrote to 
Livingston, April 18, 1802, that New Orleans 
was so important to the United States that 
whoever held it was for that very reason 
naturally and forever an enemy, and that the 
day France took possession of the city the 
ancient friendship between her and the United 
States ended and alliance with Great Britain 



5 At the time fNovember, 1801) that Jefferson re- 
ceived Talleyrand's explicit denial of retrocession, he 
received also from Rufus King, American minister 
at London, the te.xt of the treaty of retrocession 
dated eight months before. 

'' It is curious to note that while the French Re- 
public in 1794, still in its mad career of enfranchise- 
ment, had freed the slaves of Santo Domingo, it was 
now part of Napoleon's purpose in sending troops to 
that island, instead of employing them to take pos- 
session of Louisiana, to again reduce the blacks to 
slavery. 

' Adams, History of the United States, vol. ii, pp. 
63-65. 



became necessary. Nor were English states- 
men slow to foresee the natural sequence of 
events. Before the cession had been mooted 
Lord Whitworth, the British ambassador at 
Paris, had predicted that America would 
reap the "first fruits" of the coming French 
war with England; and Addington, anticipat- 
ing Napoleon's own later reason for the ces- 
sion, told Rufus King that the first step of 
England on the outbreak of war would be 
to seize Louisiana. 

The interesting question as to Napoleon's 
real reasons for alienating Louisiana from 
France will perhaps never be settled. Of our 
late standard historians of the United States, 
Adams gives the question the most thorough 
consideration ; and while he seriously dam- 
ages, if he does not completely demolish the 
reasons usually given, he fails to establish 
others in their place. 

Bonaparte had reasons for not returning 
the colony to Spain ; he had reasons, too, for 
giving it to the United States, — • but why did 
he alienate the territory from France? Fear 
of England was not the true cause. He had 
not to learn how to reconquer Louisiana on 
the Danube and the Po. . . Any attempt 
(on the part of England) to regain ascend- 
ency by conquering Louisiana would have 
thrown the United States into the hands of 
France ; and had Bonaparte anticipated such 
an act he should have helped it. . . Every 
diplomatic object would have been gained by 
accepting Jefferson's project of a treaty (for 
New Orleans alone) and signing it, without 
the change of a word. . . The real reasons 
which induced Bonaparte to alienate the ter- 
ritory from France remained hidden in the 
mysterious processes of his mind. Anger 
with Spain and Godoy had a share in it, 
disgust for the sacrifices he had made, and 
impatience to begin his new campaigns on 
the Rhine, — possibly a wish to show Talley- 
rand that his policy could never be revived, 
and that he had no choice but to follow into 
Germany, — had still more to do with the act.^ 

McMaster, on the other hand, puts the 
orthodox, or generally accepted reasons into 
a nutshell, thus: 

New combinations were forming against 
him (Napoleon) in Europe; all England was 
loudly demanding that Louisiana should be 
attacked ; and, lest it should be taken from 



102 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



him. he determined to sell it to the United 
States.* 

Somewhat more at length, and willing to 
credit Jefferson with shrewd foresight, 
Schouler adopts the same reasons : 

The accident for which Jefferson had here 
allowed was. in truth, the speedy renewal of 
hostilities betwen France and England. The 
treaty of Amiens had been too hastily drawn 
up, and its adjustment of disputes was too 
incomplete to be more than a truce between 
them. . . And thus it came to pass ere 
Monroe could reach Paris. . . Napoleon 
after his abrupt fashion had relinquished, and 
most reluctantly, his designs upon the Amer- 
ican continent, under the pressure of a speedy 
war with England, and the necessity of pre- 
venting the United States from making the 
threatened alliance with its enemy. Forced 
to surrender the Mississippi, in any event he 
resolved to put it out of the reach of his im- 
mediate foe, and gain the gratitude of a new 
and rising power. He needed money, fur- 
thermore, in aid of his warlike operations.^ 

Rhodes essays little on this topic beyond 
crediting Jefferson with long-headedness : 

The possession of the mouth of the Missis- 
sippi was a commercial necessity, and Jeffer- 
son showed wisdom in promptly seizing the 
opportunity presented by a fortunate combina- 
tion of circumstances to secure the purchase 
of this magnificent domain.^" 

But it is easier and perhaps safer to give 
over attempting to interpret the motive and 
design of the arbiter of the Nebraska country, 
who is likened to deity, and acknowledge that 
"his ways are past finding out." For a noted 
Englishman, even, avows that he was "a super- 
natural force" ; that "his genius was su- 
preme" ; that "he raised himself by super- 
human faculties," and "carried human faculty 
to the farthest point of which we have ac- 
curate knowledge. "^^ And we find the head 
of the English army characterizing him as 
"the greatest soldier and ruler, the greatest 
human being whom God has ever allowed to 



8 McMaster, History of the People of the United 
States, vol. ii, p. 626. 

» Schouler, History of the United Stales, vol. ii, 
pp. 50-51. 

10 Rhodes, History of the United States, vol. i, pp. 
27-28. 

11 Roseberry, Napoleon, The Last Phase. 

12 Field Marshal Viscount Wolseley, in Cosmopol- 
itan for March and April, 1903. 



govern here below. . . His greatness in 
peace, his success in war, his wis.dom as a 
ruler, his genius as a commander, all com- 
bine to make him the most remarkable man 
whom God ever created. "^^ 

But while Napoleon's part in this great 
transaction remains equivocal, or not posi- 
tively to his credit, Jefferson's reputation for 
great capacity and consummate sagacity in 
his part has been established by a century's 
severest scrutiny. From the time of the retro- 
cession of Louisiana by Spain to France in 
1800 the position of the United States was 
diplomatically very delicate if it was not des- 
perate. France had been insolently preying 
upon our commerce, and Livingston was ob- 
liged to complicate demands for damages on 
this account with his negotiations for the pur- 
chase of New Orleans. No friendship could 
be expected from England except as it might 
be played off against France. In its constant 
peril of one or the other of these greatest 
powers, Spain took frequent opportunity to 
visit the young republic with both insult and 
injury; and though Napvoleon's extremity fur- 
nished our opportunity for the Louisiana ac- 
quisition, its original stimulus and initiative 
came from an imperious demand for free com- 
merce, through the channel of the Mississippi 
river, by the settlers of the western parts of 
Kentucky and Tennessee. 

Before the close of the war of the Revolu- 
tion, John Hay, minister to Spain, had in vain 
negotiated for an acknowledgment of this 
privilege, which was claimed on good grounds 
as a natural right by virtue of our claim of 
ownership of the entire east bank of the river 
as far as New Orleans, and of succession to 
the right of free navigation guaranteed to our 
grantor. Great Britain, by the treaty of 1763. 
But then, as now, international treaties and 
international law were made to be violated 
with impunity as against the weaker party, 
and the LTnited States was the weaker party. 
When Jay, for diplomatic reasons, agreed that 
the disagreeable matter should not be pressed 
against Spain for twenty-five years, the rest- 
lessness of the Kentucky and Tennessee pio- 
neers broke into riotousness, and preparations 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 



103 



were made to set up a separate government, 
and to send an armed expedition to force the 
free passage of the river beyond New Orleans. 
But, crushed in the adversity of the Napo- 
leonic wars, Spain relented in 1795, and guar- 
anteed free passage of the river and a place of 
deposit for American cargoes at New Orleans 
for the period of three years. The bold wes- 
terners regarded this agreement as a tempo- 
rary makeshift, and egged President Adams 
on for a permanent settlement. Even Hamil- 
ton, with many followers, urged the necessity 
of taking advantage of Spain's helplessness 
and seizing and holding New Orleans by 
force; but Adams held them off. Jefferson's 
administration inherited this persistent demand 
for a permanently free Mississippi, and he si- 
lenced its insistent clamor by setting on foot 
the negotiations for the purchase. Godoy, 
who in everything save the ultimate power to 
enforce his policy and rights, was a match for 
Talleyrand and Napoleon, had been recalled 
to power as foreign minister of Spain after 
she had been persuaded into the retrocession, 
and he skilfully played every device for delay 
of the final delivery. Godoy's bold strategy 
and Touissant's revolution in St. Domingo put 
off French occupation of Louisiana until, by 
the spring of 1802, Jefferson's eyes had opened 
wide on the situation. For "the whole power 
of the LTnited States could not at that day, 
even if backed by the navy of England, have 
driven ten thousand French troops out of 
Louisiana." ^^ Morales, the Spanish intendant 
at New Orleans, had goaded the temper of 
the free trade westerners to the acute stage 
by refusing to extend the right of passage and 
deposit at the end of the three years, as the 
treaty of 1795 had stipulated; and when resti- 
tution was ordered by Godoy's influence 
March 1, 1803, it was too late. 

The Spanish tariff on trade through the 
Mississippi, which drove the pioneer western 
colonists to revolution, and but for the peace- 
ful diplomacy of Jefferson must have involved 
the forcible conquest of New Orleans, was 

13 Adams, History of the Utiitcd States, vol. i. p. 
421. 

'* Schouler, History of the United States, vol. ii, 
p. 47. 



from fifty to seventy-five per cent. For the 
last forty years a tariff tax on western agri- 
culture, equally as high, has been imposed by 
the forms of law at the port of New Orleans 
and every other port of the LTnion, and its 
most strenuous and ablest opponents have 
hailed from the same old Kentucky common- 
wealth. It is interesting to reflect that per- 
haps the aggressive courage, brilliancy, and 
legal acumen of our present day Kentucky 
free-traders — the Wattersons and Carlisles 
— ■ are an inheritance from those pioneer revo- 
lutionists against the Spanish tax on trade 
which was so appropriately named after Tar- 
ifa, a Spanish free-booter at the passage of 
Gibraltar of a still earlier day. And thus the 
recalcitrant Godoy, playing for time, hoping 
against hope to free Spain from the shackles 
of Napoleon, five hundred thousand Santo Do- 
mingo negroes frenzied with the passion for 
personal freedom, and the necessity of the 
Kentucky and Tennessee settlers for a free 
market for their tobacco, flour, bacon, and 
hams, were the Providence of the great Louis- 
iana Purchase. 

While Hamilton's policy for getting New 
Orleans was to seize first and negotiate after- 
ward, and early in March, 1803, Congress 
authorized Jefferson to call out eighty thou- 
sand troops, he resolutely kept the key to the 
situation and continued "to palliate and en- 
dure." 

They who sought thus to lessen confidence 
in the president, and to take the Mississippi 
entanglement out of his discretionary control 
by cutting the knot, underrated at this crisis 
the ability of a most consummate and experi- 
enced negotiator; one with whom, in a matter 
of foreign diplomacy, Hamilton himself bore 
no comparison.^* 

While Adams, in his rigid impartiality, ap- 
parently sees that Jefferson might have been 
open to the charge of having dallied too long 
in his passion for peace, in face of the immi- 
nent danger of Napoleon's occupation with 
an impregnable force, if the outcome had been 
disastrous or less glorious, yet he is con- 
strained to unqualified recognition of his great 
diplomatic skill. 



104 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



With infinite pertinacity Jefferson clung to 
his own course. . . The essence and genius 
of his statesmanship lay in peace. . . The 
consistency of the career became more remark- 
able on account of the seeming inconsistencies 
of the moment. He was pliant and yielding 
in manner, but steady as the magnet itself in 
aim. His maneuvers between the angry west 
and the arbitrary first consul of France of- 
fered an example of his political method. He 
meant that there should be no war.^^ 

The consciences of republicans evidently 
suffered a severe gnawing because necessity 
impelled them to violate their construction of 
the Constitution to get Louisiana. Jefferson 
urged an amendment which would grant "an 
enlargement of power from the nation," rather 
than by mere construction to "make Dur pow- 
ers (including treaty powers) boundless," and 
the Constitution "blank paper." But Jeffer- 
son was no less consistent and certainly more 
logical than his fellow republicans in the 
the House and the Senate. Although it may 
be "hard to see how any president could have 
been more federalist than Jefferson himself," 
confronted by this imperious necessity of act- 
ing outside the acknowledged narrow limits of 
the written Constitution which theoretically 
restrained him, yet he frankly confessed that 
he was technically wrong, but as frankly 
avowed that he should "acquiesce with satis- 
faction, confiding that the good sense of our 
country will correct the evil of construction 
when it shall produce ill effects." Breckin- 
ridge and Nicholas, on the other hand, the one 
author of the Kentucky, and the other ardent 
supporter of the \'irginian resolutions, now 
began to see implied powers in the Constitu- 
tion which would amply support the present 
purpose. John Ouincy Adams, representing 
the younger and more moderate federalists, 
like Jefferson, desired the acquisition, but like 
him also thought a constitutional amendment 



^•'' Adams, History of the United States, vol. i, pp. 
434. 445. 

^•^ A leading newspaper of the metropolitan class 
disputed the statement in ex-President Cleveland's 
address at the opening of the Louisiana Purchase 
Exposition at St. Louis in 1903, that Jefferson be- 
lieved the acquirement of the territory was uncon- 
stitutional. 

1^ McMaster, History of the People of the United 
States, vol. ii, p. 630. 

IS Ibid., p. 628. 



necessary and, cooperating with the administra- 
tion, like Jefferson, offered an amendment for 
the purpose. Contrary to somewhat authori- 
tative assertion, the ground of Jefferson's con- 
stitutional objection included that of the ac- 
quirement of territory as well as the right, 
which was involved in the treaty, of adding 
this territory, acquired since the formation of 
the Constitution, as states to the Union. ^^ 

The extreme federalists, such as Pickering 
of Massachusetts and Griswold of Connecti- 
cut, in a fit of capricious, obstructionist partisan 
temper, insisted that the treaty was absolute- 
ly imconstitutional and void, their chief con- 
tention being that it involved the admisson of 
this new territory as a state in the Union which 
could not be done without the consent of all 
the other states, since the Constitution applied 
in this sense only to the territory comprised 
within the United States when it was adopted. 
"Nothing so fully illustrates the low state to 
which the once prosperous federalists were 
fallen as the turbulent and factious opposition 
they now made to the acquisition of Louis- 
iana." But "the mass of the people pro- 
nounced the purchase a bargain,"'' and Jeffer- 
son knew that he was safe in their hands. "He 
would accept the treaty, summon Congress, 
urge the House and Senate to perfect the 
purchase, and trust to the Constitution being 
mended so as to make the purchase legal."'' 
He called Congress in special session in 
October; the Senate almost unanimously rati- 
fied the treaty, and a bill to carry it into effect 
was passed with only five votes against it in 
the Senate, and twenty-five federalists voted 
against it in the House, seventeen of whom 
were from New England. Nothing more was 
heard of "mending the Constitution." Neither 
Jefferson nor Breckinridge, republicans, nor 
Adams nor Pickering, federalists, could then 
discern that out of the same revolution which 
had produced only our rigid written Consti- 
tution, hobbled by Hamiltonian "checks and 
balances," the seeds of a British polity were 
already growing whose full fruitage was soon 
to be a constitution made to the order of public 
opinion directly by the supreme popular house 
of parliament. In the new-born spirit of devo- 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 



105 



tion to an impracticable literal construction of 
a word-bound constitution, Jefferson was bit- 
terly assailed for violating it ; and he has not 
wholly escaped the assaults of our contem- 
porary publicists : "Mr. Jefferson struck a 
dangerous blow at the foundation principles of 
the government, and offered to demagogues 
who should come after him a corrupting and 
dangerous precedent, when he proposed to 
violate the Constitution in order to accom- 
plish an object of immediate desire."'" 

The singular error of this eminent exposi- 
tor of constitutions in saying that, "the pur- 
chase, according to the federal view of the 
Constitution was perfectly legitimate,"^" is 
sufificiently illustrated by the foregoing brief 
showing of the ' attitude of contemporary 
federal leaders. In brief, this process of 
immediate constitution-making at the right- 
eous dictate of the public welfare and opinion 
— though sometimes most unrighteous, and 
against the one and in spite of the other — 
which Jefferson, the strict constructionist, 
began, and which all shades of construction- 
ists have continued to the present day, serves 
chiefly to illustrate the misconception and the 
vanity of the painful hair-splitting of "the 
fathers" as to the constitutionality of the great 
Purchase. While of necessity we make our 
constitution as we go, as the work is done in 
England, according to the order of public 
opinion, we are hampered, morally and other- 
wise, by being cut off from that easy and 
natural test of appeal to the public which, un- 
der the responsible cabinet system, our British 
brethren enjoy. Under a like system of gov- 
ernment by discussion we are forced as well as 
we may to make British bricks without the 
British straw. All the constitutional questions 
and speculations raised in the transaction of 
this momentous business were left to be con- 
troverted from time to time during the various 
phases of the coming struggle over African 
slavery, and to be revamped and become fa- 

'" Cooley, "The Acquisition of Indiana," Indiana 
Hist. Pamphlets, no. 3, p. 17. 

20 Ibid. 

21 The Nation, December 12, 1889, vol. 49, p. 482. 
2- See speech of Daniel E. Dickinson, vol. 15, 

Cong. Globe, p. 416. 



miliar to our own ears a century later under 
the Philippine question, and the present ques- 
tion of the constitutional treaty-making power 
to enact "reciprocity" without the consent of 
the House of Representatives — all old yet 
ever new. But it was decided beyond contro- 
versy and without dissent that the government 
might constitutionally acquire territory though 
its constitutional status after acquisition is 
even yet unsettled. 

The acquisition was popular on the whole 
from various motives, chiefly of self-interest. 
The omnipresent slavery question, though only 
in a negative and defensive form, affected, if 
it did not determine, the attitude of the South. 
Slave-holders would gladly be rid of this 
French next neighbor whose inculcation of 
a bias for freedom in the West Indies had 
broken out in the fearful negro revolution of 
Santo Domingo. The extreme West, as we 
have seen, would dispossess the French to in- 
sure free travel and trade along the natural and 
only commercial highway. New England, as 
usual, at least in those provincial days, was 
both bigoted and selfish. Her strong religious 
scruple against having "infidel France" per- 
petually at our doors was overbalanced in some 
degree by jealousy of the expansion of the 
West, as she feared at her own loss in power 
and population.^' In this spirit a Massachu- 
setts politician said : "I consider Louisiana 
the grave of the Union." Elbridge Gerry 
animadverted on the danger to the country — 
that is to the East — to be apprehended from 
the creation of new states in the West. Even 
so great a political figure as Gouverneur Mor- 
ris could contract his vision to this : 

Among other objections they (new wes- 
tern states) would not be able to furnish men 
equally enlightened to share in the adminis- 
tration of our common interests. The busy 
haunts of men, not the remote wilderness, is 
the proper school of political talents. If the 
western people get the power in their hands 
they will ruin the Atlantic interests. ^^ 

And we wonder if these far-seeing New 
England statesmen are not at this moment 
(1905) turning in their graves at the spec- 
tacle of the commanding personages in the 
federal Congress and two members of the fed- 



106 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



eral cabinet, all from a single state " of this 
"remote wilderness" of the Louisiana Pur- 
chase. 

New England's opposition to the Louisiana 
Purchase and other manifestations of her ear- 
her temper show how lightly the value of the 
federal union was held, and were precursors 
and stimulants of the Civil war. The speech 
of Josiah Quincy, Jr., of Massachusetts, in 
the House of Representatives, in 1811, oppos- 
ing the admission of Louisiana as a state on 
these familiar New England grounds, might 
well have furnished the very text for the 
nullification convention of 1832 or of the 
secession resolutions of 1860-1861. 

As Louisiana, in the inevitable order of 
Providence, was annexed, so it has developed 
into a family of imperial food-producing states. 

A vast, unexplored, almost illimitable em- 
pire was ours; perpetual immunity from 
dangerous neighbors ; sole possession of this 
river of rivers, with all its tributaries ; a sure 
dominating influence in the affairs of the 
North American continent; national oppor- 
tunities for the future almost depressing in 
their sublimity."* 

What wonder that even Jefferson almost 

feared that it might not stop — not east of 
the Pacific or north of the isthmus; and that 
not foreseeing the cleavage of the slavery 
question between the North and South, he 
feared division along the Mississippi. 

The limits of Louisiana were defined in this 
momentous transfer with less care than we 
now give to the conveyance of an ordinary 
town lot or a forty-acre tract within the Pur- 
chase. Both Napoleon and Talleyrand had 
either some malign subjective design or some 
undisclosed objective purpose in keeping the 
boundaries ill-defined; and the southeast and 
southwest boundaries were not settled until the 
treaty with Spain and Great Britain in 1819, 
when the claim of the United States to Oregon, 
which included the present state of that name 
and Washington and part of Idaho, was also 
recognized. When at the time of the nego- 
tiations the .\merican representatives urged the 
need of a more definite boundary. Napoleon 



23 Iowa. 

-* Schouler, History of the United States, vol. ii, 
p. S3. 



treated the suggestion lightly if not scorn- 
fully, remarking that the very indefiniteness 
was so much the better for us, implying. 
Napoleon-like, that, being the stronger party, 
it would leave us a good oportunity to get 
the better of Spain in the final settlement. 
Decres, the French minister of marine, had 
undertaken to fix the boundary for the retro- 
cession from Spain. He said that it was well 
determined on the south by the Gulf of 
Mexico ; "but, bounded on the west by the 
river called Rio Bravo (Rio Grande) from its 
mouth to about the 30th parallel, the line of 
demarkation stops after reaching this point, 
and there seems never to have been any agree- 
ment in regard to this part of the frontier. 
The farther we go northward the more unde- 
cided is the boundary period. This part of 
America contains little more than uninhabited 
forests or Indian tribes, and the necessity of 
fixing the boundary has never yet been felt 
there. There also exists none between Louis- 
iana and Canada." The eastern boundary was 
more definite, and Decres fixed it by the terms 
of the treaty of 1763: "It is agreed that in 
future the boundaries between the States of 
His Most Christian Majesty and those of His 
Britannic Majesty shall be irrevocably fixed 
by a line drawn down the Mississippi river 
from its source to the river Iberville, and from 
there by a line down the middle of that river 
and of the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain 
to the sea. New Orleans and the Island shall 
belong to France." The western boundary 
was described in the treaty of 1819 with Spain 
as follows : "The boundary line between the 
two countries, west of the Mississippi, shall 
begin on the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of 
the river Sabine, in the sea, continuing north 
along the western bank of that river to the 
32d degree of latitude ; thence by a line due 
north of the degree of latitude where it strikes 
the Rio Ro.xo, of Natchitoches, or Red river ; 
then following the course of tlie Rio Roxo 
westward to the degree of longitude 100 west 
from London and 23 from Washington ; then 
crossing the said Red River and running 
thence b)- a line due north to the river Arkan- 
sas ; thence following the course of the south- 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 



107 



ern bank of the Arkansas to its source in lati- 
tude 42 north ; and thence by that parallel of 
latitude to the South Sea" (Pacific ocean). 
In the year 1899 a conference of experts was 
appointed at the request of the census officer to 
make a special study of disputed questions in 
relation to the boundaries of the western ter- 
ritory acquired by the United States. This 
conference made its report April 5, 1900, and 
its conclusions in regard to the boundaries of 
the Louisiana Purchase follow: 

1. The region between the Mississippi river 
and lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the 
west, and the Perdido river to the east, should 
not be assigned either to the Louisiana Pur- 
chase or to the Florida Purchase, but marked 
with a legend indicating that title to it between 
1803 and 1819 was'in dispute. 

2. The line between the Mississippi river 
and the Lake of the Woods, separating the 
territory of the LTnited States prior to 1803 
from the Louisiana Purchase, should be drawn 
from the most northwestern point of the Lake 
of the Woods to the nearest point on the 
Mississippi river in Lake Bemidji. 

3. The western boundary of the Louisiana 
Purchase between 49° and 42° north followed 
the watershed of the Rocky mountains ; thence 
it ran east along the parallel of 42° north to a 
point due north of the source of the Arkansas 
river, and thence south to that source. 

The conference found further, 

That the territory of Louisiana, as de- 
scribed by France and granted to Crozat by 
Louis XIV., extended on the east to the river 
Mobile, which, with the port, was ceded 
specifically by France to England by the treaty 
of Paris in 1763, Spain at the same time ceding 
the Floridas to Great Britain, with St. Augus- 
tine and the bay of Pensacola — thus, inferen- 
tially at least, determining the respective 
boundaries of Louisiana and West Florida ; 
that the first occupation of the interior of the 
territory between the rivers Mississippi and 
Perdido by the Spaniards, was during the War 
of the American Revolution, when it belonged 
to Great Britain ; that Great Britain retroceded 
the Floridas to Spain in 1783, at which time 
the Louisiana territory belonged to Spain by 
the French cession in the preliminaries of peace 
of 1762 (confirmed 1763), whereby "all the 
country known under the name of Louisiana" 
was transferred ; that Spain in 1800 retro- 
ceded Louisia na to France as it was received 

== Census Bullclin, no. 74, July 20, 1901. 



from France in 1763 ; that France in 1803 
ceded the territory of Louisiana to the United 
States, as discovered and held by France, ceded 
to Spain, and retroceded to France ; and, 
finally, that in 1819 Spain ceded to the United 
States all the territory held or claimed by His 
Catholic Majesty under the names of East and 
West Florida. In addition to the grounds of 
dispute between France and Spain, and the 
United States and Spain, here shown, there 
was a conflicting claim concerning the extent 
of West Florida, born of the contention be- 
tween French and Spanish discoverers and 
settlers in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
turies ; and there was also the claim of the 
French, by right of La Salle's decent of the 
Mississippi in 1682, to "all the country drained 
by that river." 

With reference to the Louisiana boundary, 
there remained but one point of difference 
between the maps under consideration. Ar- 
ticle II of the definitive treaty of peace in 1783, 
between the United States and Great Britain, 
after defining the northern boundary to the 
Lake of the Woods, continues as follows: 
". . . Thence through the said lake to the 
most northwestern point thereof, and from 
thence on a due west course to the river Mis- 
sissippi." Such a line as that described being 
obviously impossible, the Mississippi river 
being south not west of the Lake of the Woods, 
the line drawn by the conference was a line 
from the most northwestern point of that lake 
to the nearest point on the Mississippi. This 
line the conference regarded as justified by 
rules of international law and practice re- 
.'.picting vaguely described boundaries in such 
topographical circumstances.-^ 

The temporary act of October 31, 1803, for 
taking formal political possession of the new 
territory, continued the form of the Spani.sh 
government, merely substituting Jefferfon for 
the king, and subordinate officers of his ap- 
pointment for the king's officers. The act of 
March 26, 1804, divided the territory on the 
33d parallel — the present line between I ,ouis- 
iana and Arkansas — and provided fot a gov- 
e;-nment for the lower division, or "territory of 
Orleans," bv a governor and secretary, judi- 
cial officers and a so-called legislative council 
of thirteen, all appointed by the president. 
There was much clamor against the arbitrary 
character of this government in which the 
people had no voice at all, but this form was 
modeled upon that of the ordinance of 1787, 



108 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



under \vhi:h the whole northwest territory and 
then the individual territories, such as Indiana 
and ^lichigan, as they were successively carved 
out of it, were governed. It was known as 
government by "the governor and judges," 
and under it all executive and legislative power 
was vested in a governor and three judges 
appointed by the president. These officers 
might adopt such laws of other states as were 
applicable to the territory. "The whole gov- 
ernment thus originated in Washington and 
centered there, and was neither derived from 
the people governed nor responsible to them."^'' 

While this government, in form at least, was 
obviously arbitrary and unrepublican, yet its 
temporary necessity, until there should be 
people enough to form a popular government 
or render it practicable, was alike obvious ; and 
the republican principle was saved by pro- 
viding for a legislative assembly as soon as 
there should be five thousand free male per- 
sons of full age in the territory to elect its 
members. This assembly would submit names 
of ten persons to the governor from whom he 
should select five for a legislative council or 
upper house ; though the governor had abso- 
lute veto power over legislation — "the source 
of unseen harm still inhering in the institutions 
of Ohio."^' 

The upper division, called the "district of 
Louisiana," was attached to the territory of 
Indiana for governmental purposes. Thus 
with the exception that the legislative authority 
in the territory of Orleans was broadened into 
the council of thirteen appointed exclusively 
by the president, the whole territory started 
under the same government as that under 
which the territory of Ohio had started. If 
the people of Ohio were fewer in numlser and 
so scattered that their participation in govern- 
ing was impracticable, while those of Orleans 
were more compactly settled, yet the former 
were largely Americans, "to the manner born," 
while as to the latter it was frankly insisted 
that "the principles of civil liberty can not 
suddenly be engrafted on a people accustomed 

=" Cooley, History of Michigan, p. 146. 
=' King, History of Ohio (Commonwealth Series), 
p. 183. 



to a regimen of a directly opposite line," and 
who by prejudices of race were largely hostile 
to the new government. In both instances 
wise expediency amounting to temporary ne- 
cessity prevailed. True, the principles of the 
government of the northwest territory which, 
as we have seen, were applied to Louisiana, 
were adopted under the cooperative leadership 
of Washington and Adams, and Jefferson and 
Madison, before they and their followers had 
divided on federalist and republican party 
lines. And the defense of the principle by 
some of the republicans on the ground that 
Congress had absolute power over the ter- 
ritories — that "the limitations of power found 
in the Constitution are applicable to states and 
not to territories" — was inconsistent with the 
spirit, at least, of the strict constructionist 
principles which in its youthful ardor the new 
republican party was just then promulgating 
with such enthusiasm. This incongruity was 
illustrated when Marshall, the great federalist 
chief justice, validated this principle of the 
extra-constitutional power of Congress as ap- 
plied to Florida. It was left to Chief Justice 
Taney, thirty years after, somewhat under the 
spur of the later developed slave interests, to 
bring the belated Marshallized constitution 
back again into consistency with Jeffersonian 
principles. 

But though some of Jefferson's followers, 
like Breckinridge and Rodney, lost their heads 
and professed a false faith, and though Jefifer- 
son himself, in the temporary government as 
in the purchase, found it necessary to techni- 
cally burst some impracticable bonds of a 
written constitution, yet both Jefferson and his - 
party were in the long run absolutely true to 
their republican faith in their policy of giving 
republican government to all territories and f)f 
admitting them as states in the LTnion under 
republican constitutions of their own making 
at the earliest practicable moment. In his 
general republican aim touching the new 
territory Jeft'erson was, as the sequel shows, 
"steady as the magnet itself." 

On the 30th of November the Spanish au- 
thorities formally and, we may well believe, 
most reluctantiv, turned over Louisiana to 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE 



109 



Laussat, the French prefect at New Orleans, 
and on December 2C)th following possession 
was in turn given to General James Wilkinson 
and Governor Claiborne of Mississippi, who 
were authorized to receive it on the part of 
the United States. When the French flag, 
which was floating in the square, was hauled 
down and the American flag hoisted to its 
place, it is related that the few Americans 
present at the momentous ceremony cheered, 
but that not a few of the Frenchmen shed 
tears. On the 9th of March,..lSQ4..a detach- 
ment of American troops crossed the river 
from Cahokia to the village of St. Louis, and 
Don Carlos Dehault Delassus delivered upper 
Louisiana to Captain Amos Stoddard, of the 
United States army, who was authorized to 
receive it on behalf of France. The next day 
he turned it over to himself representing the 
United States, thus ending thirty-eight years 
of Spanish rule. On the 26th of the same 
mon th President Jefferson" approved the act 
of Congress dividing the territory and placing 
the upper division, the "district of Louisiana," 
under the government of Indiana territory. 
That government was embodied in Governor 
W lUianTTTenry Harrison, afterward president 
ofthe United Stat'eC~an"d"'fIifee fudges — Wil- 
liam Clark, Henry Vanderburgh, and John 
Griffin. The secretary was John Gibson. 
These men had organized the first government 
of Indiana, July 4, 1800. In a very broad 
sense, therefore, both territpria,lIx7iA3. PO.Iiti- 
caTly speaking, William Henry Harrison — 
" Old I'lppecahoe" — was the first governor of 
NebrasI ca", arid~ tHelirst capital was Vincennes. 
Governor Harrison relieved Captain Stoddard, 
who had been "king for a day" with the powers 
and prerogatives of a Spanish lieutenant- 
governor.^* 

By act of Congress the laws of the district 
of Louisiana were to remain in force until 
they were altered, modified, or replaced by 
the governor and judges of Indiana territory. 
On the 1st of October the governor and 
judges promulgated six laws for Louisiana 

28 Carr, Historv of Missouri {Commonwealth 
Series), pp. 81, 82. 

^^ See Rcz'iscd Lazi^s of Louisiana Territory, i8oS. 
^' Ch. 8, Dunn's History of Indiana. 



territory;-" but these did not affect Indiana, 
and no law of Indiana extended over Louis- 
iana. The most important of these six laws 
applied to slavery, and many of its provisions 
remained in force as long as slavery existed 
in Missouri. The French settlers had carried 
slavery with them to St. Louis, and slaves 
were actually held at this time in Indiana 
under the quasi-protection of the law ; and 
Harrison, the first governor over "the Ne- 
braska country," was himself a slave-holder. 
The people of the new territory stoutly 
rebelled against the arbitrary absentee gov- 
ernment, and they again gave cry to the "no 
taxation without representation" shibboleth 
whose revolutionary echoes had scarcely died 
away. 

We have already seen that the slavery ques- 
tion faintly shadowed the Louisiana Purchase 
from the first. Now one of the chief objec- 
tions to the absentee government was based 
on the fear that the extension of the abolition 
ordinance of 1787 over Louisiana might be a 
preliminary to the abolition of slavery there. 
It was insisted that re-union of the whole ter- 
ritory under a single government would be 
more convenient than the Indiana annexation, 
and that the separation from the territory of 
Orleans might afford the pretext to "prolong 
our state of political tutelage." At the same 
time that these people of upper Louisiana were 
insisting on being detached from Indiana the 
people of western Indiana were petitioning 
Congress to have that territory attached to 
Louisiana as they believed their slave property 
would be safer under such an arrangement.^' 

These grievances were formulated in a pe- 
tition prepared and adopted by a convention 
held at St. Louis, September 4, 1804, and 
which was received by the Senate December 
31st. Congress gave prompt ear to the remon- 
strance, and March 3, 1805, a law was passed 
to take effect July 4th, erecting the territory of 
Louisiana under a separate government, but 
the same in form as that of Indiana, legislative 
power being vested in a governor and three 
judges appointed by the president, "who shall 
have power to establish inferior courts in the 
said territory and prescribe their jurisdiction 



no 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



and duties and to make all laws which they 
may deem conducive to the good government 
of the inhabitants thereof."^^ The act contained 
a provision in the nature of a bill of rights 
guaranteeing to the people of the territory 
right of jury trial in civil and criminal cases 
and immunity from religious disability, and 
prohibiting the passage of laws inconsistent 
with the Constitution. 

The first governor of the new territory was 
General James Wilkinson who had been a 
leader in the agitation for forcibly clearing 
the Mississippi of Spanish obstruction. He 
went to Kentucky as a merchant in 1784, and 
appeared in New Orleans as a trader in 1787. 
In 1807 Aaron Burr was tried for treasonable 
conspiracy to break up the federal union, and 
a few years later Wilkinson was also tried as 
an accessory. Though both escaped convic- 
tion, yet the bad character of both was es- 
tablished. J. B. C. Lucas, a French Penn- 
svlvanian, was appointed chief justice, and Dr. 
Joseph Browne, of New York, a brother-in- 
law of Burr's, was appointed secretary. 

Captain Lewis, who had returned from the 
Lewis and Clark expedition in September, 
1806, was appointed governor in place of Wil- 
kinson in the spring of 1807. He encountered 
great disorder on account of disputes over land 
titles and the hostility of Creoles to American 
rule. Spain had continued in possession of 
Louisiana after the treaty of retrocession to 
France in 1800 till the time of American oc- 
cupancy, and the act of March 26, 1804, pro- 
vided that all grants of land made by Spain 
during this time were void. In 1808, Pierre 
Chouteau, under the instructions of Governor 
Lewis, concluded a treaty with the Osage 
Indians for the cession of forty-eight million 
acres of land extending from Fort Clark, thirty- 
five miles below the mouth of Kansas river, 
due south to the Arkansas and along that river 
to the Mississippi. The Sacs and Foxes sold 
three million acres in 1804. In 1803 this 
tribe and the lowas, their allies, claimed all the 
state of Missouri, as well as the northwest 



32 Annals of the 8th Cong., 2d ses., p. 1684. 
•■'^ McMaster, Historv of the People of the United 
Stales, vol. ii, pp. 570-571. 



quarter of Illinois and part of southern Wis- 
consin. The treaty of Portage des Sioux, a 
village on the west side of the Mississippi, a 
few miles above the mouth of the Missouri, 
put an end to the Indian wars in the territory, 
but on the part of the Indians there was the 
familiar bitter complaint of dark ways and 
vain tricks pursued by the white negotiators. 

Howard succeeded Lewis as governor in 
1810. By the census of 1810 the population 
of the territory was twenty thousand, and 
settlements had been pushed along a strip 
from fifteen to twenty miles wide from the 
Arkansas river to a point not far above the 
mouth of the Missouri, ^^ and had already 
necessitated the treaties with the Indians. By 
the act of June 4, 1812, which was to take 
effect December 12th, the territory of Louisiana 
became the territory of Missouri, and its gov- 
ermnent was advanced to the second grade, 
after the fashion of the second grade terri- 
tories of the Northwest Territory. The act 
provided for a governor appointed by the 
president, a house of representatives elected 
by the people, and a legislative council of nine 
members appointed by the president from a 
list of eighteen persons furnished by the house 
of representatives — a somewhat more than 
half-way republican form of government. 
Governor Howard divided its settled portion 
into five counties by proclamation, and then 
for soine months the secretary of the territory, 
Frederick Bates, acted as governor until Wil- 
liam Clark, of the Lewis and Clark expedi- 
tion, was appointed in 1813. He held the 
ofiice until Missouri became a state in 1821, 
and after this he was superintendent of Indian 
affairs until his death. He seems to have been 
even more skilful and a better selection than 
his famous companion for the main function 
of these officers, which was to get hold of the 
lands of the Indians ; and through his nego- 
tiations, by 1825, the Sacs and Foxes, the 
Osages and the Kickapoos had relinquished 
all their domains within the state of Missouri. 

All the part of the original territory between 
latitude 33° and 36° 30', that is, between the 
south line of Missouri and the north line of 
Louisiana, and extending west to the Mexican 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASl". 



Ill 



line, about five hundred and fifty miles, was 
included in Arkansas territory by the act of 
March 2, 1819. From the time of the admis- 
sion of Missouri as a state in 1821 until 1834 
all the remaining part of the territory was left 
without any government whatever. By the 
act of Congress of June 30, 1834, "All that 
part of the United States west of the Missis- 
sippi river and not within the states of Mis- 
souri and Louisiana or the territory of 
Arkansas, and also that part of the United 
States east of the Mississippi river, and not 
within any state to which the Indian title has 
not been extinguished, for the purposes of 
this act, shall be taken and deemed to be 
Indian country." The object of this act was 
to define and regulate the relations of the 
L'^nited States with the Indians of the territory 
in question, and jurisdiction of questions aris- 



ing under it in all the territory south of tlie 
north line of the Osage Indian lands was 
vested in the courts of Arkansas, and of all 
the territory north of this line and west of the 
Mississippi in the courts of Missouri.^* The 
act provided for a superintendent of Indian 
affairs for all the Indian country who resided 
at St. Louis, and his salary was $1,500 a year. 
He was provided with two agents. ^^ By the 
act of June 28, 1834, that part of the territory 
east of the Missouri and White Earth rivers 
and north of the state of Missouri was "for 
purposes of temporary government attached 
to and made a part of Michigan."^^ That part 
of the territory west of the Missouri river, 
which included present Nebraska, was left 
without government or political organization 
until the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill 
in 1854. 



3* United States Statutes at Large, vol. 4, p. 729. 
35 Ibid., p. 735. 
3" /&/(/., p. 701. 



CHAPTER V 



The Missouri Compromise — The Second Compromise — Stephen A. Douglas — The 
Richardson Bill — The Dodge Bill — The Kansas-Nebraska Bill — Provisional 
Government — Division of Nebraska — Estimate of Douglas — Proposed Boun- 
daries — ■ Suffrage Qualifications 



THE first direct contest over the slavery 
question took place when John Taylor 
of New York, February 17, 1819, moved to 
amend the bill for the territorial organization 
of Arkansas by the same anti-slavery provi- 
sion which Tallmadge sought to incorporate 
into the enabling act for the admission of Mis- 
souri as a state. It provided that no more 
slaves should be introduced into the territory, 
and that all children born after admission 
should be free, though they might be held to 
service until the age of twenty-five years. But 
the status of slavery was fixed on the east in 
Mississippi and on the south in Louisiana at 
the time of the purchase, and the argument 
that Arkansas was naturally and by original 
right slave territory easily prevailed. But the 
proposal at the same time to admit Missouri 
as a state started the fierce controversy over 
the slavery question, which to leading states- 
men even then seemed destined to end in dis- 
ruption of the Union, and war, and which 
were postponed merely by the three great com- 
promises — the last being the Nebraska bill. 

Missouri became the storm center, partially 
because it was further north, and therefore 
less logically or naturally slave territory than 
Arkansas, and partially because the proposed 
dedication of the state to slavery by consti- 
tutional provision would be final. 

The lower house of the First Congress re- 
solved, after thorough debate, that Congress 

1 Annals of Congress, vol. 2. p. 1473. 

- Rhodes, History of the United States, vol. i, 
p. 29. 

3 Schouler, History of the United States, vol. ii, 
p. 66. 

* Rhodes, History of the United States, vol. i, 
p. 27. 



had no power to interfere with slavery in the 
states, and the North faithfully adhered to 
this decision.^ The prompt and almost unani- 
mous passage of the act prohibiting the impor- 
tation of slaves after January 1, 1808, the time 
when the constitutional limitation would 
expire, seemed to end the slavery question, 
and "the abolition societies which existed in 
all of the states as far south as Virginia died 
out; it seemed as if their occupation was 
gone."^ 

There was a growing conviction that slav- 
ery was in a decline,^ and Jefferson and Madi- 
son proposed and hoped to colonize the slaves 
of Virginia in Sierre Leone. But when the 
Missouri question came up, the cotton gin and 
the fugitive slave law — brought forth in the 
same year — had been at work, gradually 
changing commercial conditions and moral 
attitudes, for twenty-five years. 

From the time of the invention of the cot- 
ton gin till slavery agitation culminated in 
secession in 1860 the production of cotton 
increased a thousand fold. In 1860 its total 
product was twelve times that of sugar and 
thirty-five times that of rice; and to the rais- 
ing of cotton it was believed that slave labor 
was indispensable. "Cotton fostered slavery ; 
slavery was the cause of the war between the 
states. That slavery is a blessing and cotton 
is king were associated ideas with which the 
southern mind was imbued before the war. 
On the floor of the Senate it was declared that 
cotton had vanquished all powers, and that 
its supremacy could no longer be doubted."* 

Thus the slavery issue was as selfishly sec- 
tional and commercial as the tariff issue, which 



THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE 



113 



precipitated nullification in 1832 and has kept 
the countrj- in a state of sectional embroilment 
ever since. Previous to the war political pol- 
icies were controlled by the Northeast and the 
South. The Northeast was adapted to manu- 
facturing, for which slave labor was unfit, and 
so the Northeast eschewed slavery and chose 
a tariff subsidy instead. The South believed 
that it could only raise the raw material for 
which slave labor was essential, and so refused 
to pay New England's tariff subsidy, and 
clung to slaverj'. The same immoral principle 
in kind was involved in both policies, but it 
differed in degree, and to the disadvantage of 
the South ; and on this point the Northwest, 
holding the balance of power, sided with the 
Northeast, and the South was loser. It was 
insisted also that the growth of slaven.' was 
inherently essential to its life and, in turn, 
demanded its territorial expansion. To fur- 
ther this end, in the Missouri controversy Clay 
contended that this spreading policy' was 
philanthropic and would mitigate the evils of 
crowded confinement within the old states, and 
Jefferson, in his anxiet>' to ameliorate the 
condition of the slaves, since he now despaired 
of the practicabilitj- of abolishing slaven,-, lent 
his approval to this theory of dilution.^ 

In 1820 Missouri had a free population of 
fiftj'-six thousand and ten thousand slaves. In 
those days at least no odium of being dedi- 
cated to commercialism attached to New York, 
for she furnished the leaders in this first great 
anti-slavery battle — ■ Tallmadge and Taylor in 
the House and Rufus King in the Senate. To 
illustrate so momentous an event pwssibly 
Schouler's partial rhetoric is not too highly 
colored. Referring to Tallmadge's advocacy 
of the restriction amendment to the Missouri 
enabling act, which he had offered, the histo- 
rian says: 

His torch kindled this great conflagration. 
A young man of seemingly frail health, but 
of burning eloquence and seemingly deep con- 

5 IVritings of Jefferso*. vol. 10. p. 158. 

« Schouler, History of the United Stales. voL iii, 
p. 103. 

" McMaster, History of the People of the United 
States, voL iv, p. 576. 

* Rhodes. History of the United States, vol. i, 
p. 37. 



viction, his national service was limited to a 
single term . . . for he declined a reelec- 
tion. His crowded hour here was one of 
glorious life ; he blew one loud, shivering blast 
and then passed out to be heard no more.* 

But this panegj'ric is faulty in its implica- 
tion that the North was the aggressor in the 
^lissouri struggle ; and the contrary contention 
has been urged by the highest authority: "In 
that section (the North) the status of slaver>' 
had long been regarded as settled. No one 
supposed for a moment that another slave state 
would ever come into the Union."" "The 
Missouri compromise was a southern measure. 
Its passage was considered at the time as in 
the interests of the South, for it gained imme- 
diately a slave state in Missouri, and by impli- 
cation another in Arkansas, while the settle- 
ment of the northern portion of the territor>' 
was looked upon as remote.' 

On the other hand, as late as 1836, John 
Quincy Adams, a stout and consistent oppo- 
nent of the expansion of slavery, in advocating 
the admission of Arkansas as a slave state, 
quoted the Louisiana treaty, which provided 
that the inhabitants were to be "incorporated 
in the Union and admitted as soon as possible 
to enjoy all the rights, advantages, and immu- 
nities of the United States." And he held 
that, "As congress have not the power to 
abolish slavery- in the original states of the 
Union, they are equally destitute of power in 
those parts of the territories ceded by France 
to the United States by the name of Louisiana, 
where slavery existed at the time of the acqui- 
sition." And Mr. Adams also said that he 
had favored the admission of ^Missouri on 
this ground, though he also favored the 
restriction of the Compromise as to the rest 
of the territory. 

But there is no doubt that the conflict which 
began over the Missouri question was irre- 
pressible, and a few statesmen at least so 
interpreted and feared it. From Jefferson in 
his retirement at Monticello came the cry that 
it was "the knell of the Union" : and Clay 
lamented that "the words civil war and dis- 
union are uttered almost without emotion." 
It was in the very nature of things that the 
North should stand against the aggressive 



114 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



expansion spirit of the South ; and now that 
the northern obstructionists had outgrown the 
determined propagators of slavery, outnum- 
bering them in the House of Representatives 
by twenty-nine members, the obstruction was 
the more exasperating. Tallmadge's amend- 
ment passed the House by eighty-seven to 
seventy-six, notwithstanding the great ad- 
verse influence of Clay who was then speaker ; 
but it was lost in the Senate, and the bill for 
the time was dead. The bill for admitting 
Missouri as a slave state was passed March 
6, 1820. The three points of the Compro- 
mise were as follows: (1) The Senate should 
consent to the division of the bill for the 
admission of both Maine and Missouri ; (2) 
the House should yield on the restriction of 
slavery in Missouri; (3) both houses should 
consent to the admission of Missouri with 
slavery, but forever restrict it from all the 
Louisiana territory north of the parallel 36° 
30' — the extension of the southern boundary 
of Missouri. John Randolph dubbed the fif- 
teen northern members who voted against the 
restriction of slavery in Missouri "dough 
faces," and the epithet stuck to them and their 
kind till the death of the slavery question. 
Every member of Monroe's cabinet answered 
yes to his question whether Congress had the 
constitutional power to prohibit slavery in the 
territories. John Quincy Adams thought that 
this power extended to statehood as well, 
while Crawford, Calhoun, and Wirt thought 
it was limited to the territorial status alone. 
This difference was portentous of trouble to 
come. 

The constitution offered by Missouri for- 
bade the state legislature to interfere with 
slavery, and required it to pass laws prohibit- 
ing free colored people from settling in the 
state. The anti-slavery element in the House 
was of course opposed to these provisions, 
and it seemed as if the whole question would 
be reopened. But in 1821 Clay succeeded in 
smoothing over the difficulty by a stipulation 
that the Missouri legislature assent to a con- 
dition that the exclusion clause of the consti- 



46. 



^ Cox, Three Decades of Federal Legislation, p. 



tution should never be construed to authorize 
the passage of any law, and that no law 
should ever be passed, by which a citizen of 
any state should be deprived of any privileges 
and immunities to which he was entitled under 
the Constitution of the United States. The 
legislature coupled to its assent to this funda- 
mental condition the ungracious declaration 
that it was an invalid requirement and not 
binding upon the state. But the restive terri- 
tory at last came into the Union by the 
proclamation of the president, August 10, 1821. 
The second great slavery compromise took 
place in 1850, and the controversy which it 
temporarily settled arose directly out of the 
question of territorial organization for New 
Mexico and Utah. This portion of the coun- 
try had been acquired by the Mexican war 
and therefore was outside of the Louisiana 
Purchase, and so appertains to our subject 
only as it leads up directly to the Nebraska 
bill. The first contest over the expansion of 
our territory arose out of the determination 
of the pro-slavery element to annex Texas. 
Webster and Clay, the great Whig leaders, 
and the Van Buren element of the Democracv 
were opposed to annexation. Van Buren lost 
renomination for the presidency through 
his opposition, and Clay, alarmed at the 
power and determination of the South, lost 
the election to Polk by retreating from his 
positive ground and attempting to get on both 
sides. The annexation of Texas was chiefly 
due to Calhoun, Tyler's secretary of state, 
and he boldly advocated it on the ground that 
it was necessary to the preservation of sla- 
very.'' Under Polk the Democratic party, for 
the first time, was in the hands of the South- 
ern element and committed to the now aggres- 
sive policy of slavery extension, and under 
this policy war with Mexico was deliberately 
provoked, and the annexation of the vast 
territory between the Louisiana Purchase and 
the Pacific ocean brought about. The great 
northern leaders opposed this acquisition — or 
"robbery of realm," as Channing put it. 
Webster based his opposition ostensibly on 
the general principle of non-e.xpansion. In 
a speech before the Whig state convention at 



THE SECOND COMPROMISE 



115 



Boston, September 29, 1847, he denounced 
the war as unnecessary and therefore unjus- 
tifiable.i" 

I should deprecate any great extension of 
our domains. . . I think that thus far 
we have a sort of identity and similarity of 
character that holds us together pretty well. 
. . . I do not know how we can preserve 
that feeling of common country if we extend 
it to California. . . I say at once that 
unless the president of the United States shall 
make out a case that the war is not prosecuted 
for the purpose of acquisition of dominion, 
for no purpose not connected directly with 
the safety of the union, then they (the whig 
house of representatives) ought not to grant 
any further supplies." 

To what a truly "little American" must 
such sentiments reduce the "god-like Web- 
ster" in the eyes of the present-day expan- 
sionist ! But slavery extension was firmly in 
the saddle and only to be unhorsed by the 
shock of war. Calhoun boldly brushed aside 
his assent in Monroe's cabinet to the consti- 
tutionality and binding force of the restric- 
tion of slavery in the territories by the 
Missouri Compromise, which the tell-tale 
diary of John Quincy Adams has disclosed, 
and insisted that as soon as the treaty with 
Mexico was ratified the sovereignty of Mexico 
became extinct and that of the United States 
was substituted, "carrying with it the Consti- 
tution with its overriding control over all the 
laws and institutions of Mexico inconsistent 
with it."^- The continuation of slavery in 
Arkansas and Missouri had been defended on 
constitutional ground because it existed there 
under Spanish and French law at the time 
of the cession. By parity of reasoning, there- 
fore, slavery should not be extended into the 
newly acquired Mexican territory because it 
had been formally abolished throughout the 
Mexican domains by the Mexican govern- 
ment. But with Calhoun necessity was a 
prolific mother of invention. 

Webster in his speech on the admission of 
Oregon as a free state, August 12, 1848, 
reminded the South that alreadv five slave 



!» Niles' Register, vol. 73, p. 104. 

" Ibid., vol. 73, p. 106. 

i2/6«d., vol. 74. p. 61. 

13 Webster's Works, vol. v, p. 311. 



States had been admitted from territory not 
contemplated when the Constitution was 
formed, and since slave labor and free labor 
could not exist together- the inequality would 
be on the side of the North in northern terri- 
tory. He pointed out, in opposition to Cal- 
houn's sweeping doctrine, that slavery rested 
on purely local law and was against natural 
law. Under the Roman law and the law of 
all mankind a person was presumed to be 
free till it was proven that he was a slave. 
But his most important proposition was this: 

Congress has full power over the subject. 
It may establish any such government, and 
any such laws in the territories as in its dis- 
cretion it may see fit. It is subject of course 
to the rules of justice and propriety; but it is 
under no constitutional restraints. ^^ 

Calhoun, who, when the question of the 
territorial organization of New Mexico and 
Utah arose, had come to be representative of 
the South, demanded equal rights for slavery 
in the newly acquired territory, actual return 
of fugitive slaves, and that agitation of the 
slave question should cease. The New Mexico 
and Utah bill was a compromise with the first 
demand in providing that when these terri- 
tories came to be admitted as states they 
should come in with or without slavery as 
their constitutions might prescribe ; yet yielded 
to the second demand by greatly strengthen- 
ing the fugitive slave law ; and as to the third 
demand — that was beyond the power or reach 
of any human agency. The compromise of 
1850, then, led the way directly to the third 
and last compromise of the slavery extension 
question — the Kansas-Nebraska bill. It was 
a natural, if not an easy step, for "squatter 
sovereignty" from this outside territory where 
it had been enthroned over into the jurisdic- 
tion of the Missouri Compromise. The align- 
ment of parties, or rather of sections, on the 
slavery extension question at this time is 
shown by the vote for the admission of Cali- 
fornia as a free state. The ayes were composed 
of fifteen northern democrats, eleven northern 
vvhigs. four southern whigs, and Salmon P. 
Chase, John P. Hale, Thomas H. Benton, and 
Houston of Texas. The nays were all from 
slave states, and all democrats but three. The 



116 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



questions of the compromise were, the organ- 
ization of the territories of New Mexico and 
Utah without the Wihnot Proviso, that is, 
without any restriction as to slavery', the ad- 
mission of California as a free state, the aboh- 
tion of the slave trade in the District of Colum- 
bia, adjustment of the Texas boundary dispute, 
and strengthening of the fugitive slave law. 
There has never been an array of giants in de- 
bate in Congress equal to those who discussed 
the compromise of 1850. Among its supporters 
were Webster, Clay, Cass, and Douglas; and 
among its opponents, Calhoun, Seward, Chase, 
Hale, Benton, and Jefferson Davis. Calhoun's 
speech in opposition was his last in the Senate, 
and he died before the bill finally passed. It 
was the last struggle also of Clay and Webster. 
Clay died in 1852, two weeks after the Whig 
convention had set him aside for General 
Scott as the candidate for president, and Web- 
ster died four months later "the victim of 
personal disappointment." " 

Stephen A. DouGL.^s. The slavery ques- 
tion, which had been twice compromised with 
such futility, in 1820 and 1850, was more acute 
than ever in the contest over the Nebraska bill, 
and was so fitly characterized by Seward as the 
"irrepressible conflict." The death of Webster, 
Clay, and Calhoun left Douglas easily in the 
ascendency as leader and efifective debater. 

His blue eyes and dark, abundant hair 
heightened the physical charm of boyishness ; 
his virile movements, his face, heavy-browed, 
round and strong, and his well-formed, extra- 
ordinarily large head gave him the aspect of 
intellectual power. He had a truly Napoleon 
trick of attaching men to his fortunes. He 
was a born leader beyond question. ^° 

This commanding physical equipment was 
completed by his firm, rich, and powerful 
voice. Douglas certainly strongly resembled 
Napoleon in his boldness and brilliancy in giv- 
ing battle and his wonderful successes; and in 
his tragical personal defeat, which was the 

1* Schouler, History of the United States, vol. v, 
p. 246. 

^^Stet'hen A. Douglas (Brown), Riverside Bio- 
graf' ifal Series, p. 21. 

« Co»(7. Globe, 2d sess., 28th Cong., p. 41. 

^'' Ibid., 2d sess., 30th Cong., pp. 1, 68. 

IS These boundaries are from the original liills on 
file at Washington, and never hefore published. 



concomitant of his brilliant victory in the 
Kansas-Nebraska campaign, there is a strong 
reminder of Waterloo. Douglas was the pio- 
neer projector of a territorial organization 
for Nebraska. As early as 1844 he introduced 
a bill in the House of Representatives "to 
establish the territory of Nebraska," which 
was read twice and referred to the committee 
on territories from which it was not report- 
ed." In March, 1848, he introduced a bill of 
the same purport which was recommitted on 
his own motion in the following December, 
and, like its predecessor in the House, was 
pigeonholed by the committee.'^ 

The boundaries of the proposed territory in 
the bill of 1844 were as follows : 

Commencing at the junction of the Kan- 
sas with the Missouri river ; thence following 
the channel of the Missouri river to its con- 
fluence with the Qui Court, or Running Water 
river; thence following up the latter river to' 
the 43d degree of north latitude ; thence due 
west to the summit of the grand chain of the 
Rocky mountains ; thence due south to the 
42d degree of latitude ; thence pursuing the 
line agreed upon between Spain and the 
United States, February 22, 1819, as the 
boundary between the territories of the two 
countries, to the 100th degree of longitude 
west from Greenwich ; thence following the 
course of the Arkansas river until it inter- 
sects the 38th parallel of latitude at a point 
east of the 98th degree of longitude ; thence 
due east on the 38th parallel to the boundary 
line of the state of Missouri ; thence north on 
the said boundary line of the state of Missouri 
to the place of beginning.^^ 

Following are the boundaries of the bill of 
1848: 

Commencing at a point in the Missouri 
river where the 40th parallel of north latitude 
crosses said river ; thence following up the 
main channel of said river to the 43d parallel 
of north latitude ; thence west on said parallel 
to the summit of the Rocky mountains ; thence 
due south to the 40th parallel of north lati- 
ttide ; thence east on said parallel to the place 
of beginning. 

Why Douglas should have projected these 
measures so much before their time, or, to 
put it another way, why so forceful a member 
as Douglas should have done so little with 
them has been superficially regarded as inex- 



STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 



117 



plicable except by the assumption that from the 
first his motive was to further the scheme of 
the South for the extension of slavery. But 
inspiring the origin and running through the 
entire long campaign for the organization of 
Nebraska we find the strong and steady pur- 
pose of commercial enterprise. Chicago, where 
Douglas lived, was already the potential base 
of northwestern commercial conquest and 
development. In 1844 the state of Illinois 
was already well settled, and the territory of 
Iowa had become important in population as 
well as promise. The quick eye of business 
interest already saw that the Missouri river 
would soon be the terminus of railway lines 
leading from Chicago. Whitney had come 
home from Europe in 1844 enthusiastic in 
the conviction of the need and practicabilit}' 
of a railway to the Pacific, and as early as Jan- 
uary, 1845, he memorialized both houses of 
Congress in favor of such a project, and from 
that time on the national legislature was 
bombarded with influences in its favor. The 
representatives in Congress from Illinois and 
Iowa could now see the importance of making 
the most of this border territory. Douglas, as 
chairman of the committee on territories, was 
the natural agent and spokesman for these 
interests. He afterward explained his seem- 
ingly premature action in introducing the or- 
ganization bill of 1844 by saying that he served 
it on secretary of war as a notice that he must 
not locate any more Indians there, and by re- 
peating this notice he prevented action for ten 
years." He said also that the Atlantic states 
opposed opening Nebraska to settlement out 
of jealousy, and that both political parties had 
the power to defeat the Kansas-Nebraska bill 
by making new Indian treaties, and "I was 
afraid of letting that slip." 

In December, 1851, Willard P. Hall, mem- 
ber of the House from Missouri, gave notice 
of a bill for the same purpose.^" and although 
Missouri statesmen favored the organization 
of the territory on their western border at the 
earliest time, and I\Ir. Hall actively supported 

's Constitutional and Party Questions, J. M. Cutts, 
pp. 90-92. inclusive. 

20 Cong. Globe, vol. 24, pt. 1. p. 80. 
21/btW., vol. 26, p. 47. 



the successful measure in 1854, his own bill 
seems to have perished by neglect. Mr. Hall 
also introduced a bill for the organization of 
the territory of the Platte on the 13th of De- 
cember, 1852,-^ but it was never reported from 
the committee. The introduction of a bill by 
this leading member of the lower house from 
Missouri so shortly before the completion of 
the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and which made no 
reference to slavery or the repeal of the Com- 
promise, illustrates the indifference to that 
question then existing in that state, and also 
the complete dominance in the public mind of 




Stephen A. Dougl.'^s 

the name Nebraska, or its French substitute, 
for the country' in question. 

From the time the region of the Platte 
valley became known to white men till it was 
politically divided by the Kansas-Nebraska 
act, the name of its principal river was ap- 
plied, roughly speaking, to the countrv be- 
tween the water-shed of the Platte and Arkan- 
sas rivers on the south and the 43d parallel on 
the north, the ^Missouri river on the east, and 
the Rocky mountains on the west. It was "the 
Nebraska countrv." 



118 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



The Richardson Bill. On February 2, 
1853, William A. Richardson, member of the 
House from Illinois, and who, after the death 
of Douglas in 1861, was elected to fill a portion 
of his unexpired senatorial term, introduced 
house bill No. 353, "to organize the territory of 
Nebraska."-- This bill, which made no ref- 
erence to slavery, passed the house February 
10, 1853, by a vote of 98 to 43. The northern 
boundary of the territory described in this bill 
was the 43d parallel, the present boundary of 
Nebraska on that side, its eastern limit was the 
west line of Missouri and Iowa, its southern, 
the territory of New Mexico and the parallel 
of 36° 30', and its western, the summit of the 
Rocky mountains.-^ The bill underwent an 
extended and spirited debate which throws 
an interesting light on the condition of the 
territory and of politics at that time. It ap- 
pears from the debate that the Indian affairs 
of the territory were under the jurisdiction 
of the superintendent at St. Louis, and that 
all Indians located immediately along the Mis- 
souri frontier had been removed there from 
their eastern habitat.-^ Mr. Brooks of New 
York objected strongly to the bill on the 
ground that the government had no right to 
take possession of the territory because the 
Indian title to it had not been extinguished.-'' 
In reply to this objection, Mr. Hall of Mis- 
souri, who was an ardent lieutenant of Doug- 
las and Richardson in their enterprise, said 
that a tract forty miles wide and three hundred 
miles long, running along the border of Mis- 
souri, had been set aside for the Indians by 
treaty and was occupied by twelve thousand 
to fourteen thousand of them ; a strip of 
about the same extent, called neutral, was not 
occupied ; as to the rest of the territory it was 
in the same situation as that of Oregon, Utah, 
Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa when they 
were organized. Mr. Hall said that by the 
act of 1834 all the territory west of the Mis- 
sissippi river, except the states of Missouri 
and Louisiana and the territorv of Arkansas, 



474. 



22 Cong. Globe, vol. 26, p. 

23 House Roll, 353. 

24 Cong. Globe, vol. 26. pp. 442-443. 

25 Ibid., p. 543. 
2« Ibid. 



was erected into what was called Indian ter- 
ritory. Under the operation of that law our 
people were not permitted to enter that terri- 
tory at all without a license from the executive 
of the government or his agent. As a result 
the occupants were limited to about five hun- 
dred licensed persons, and yet as many as 
fifty or sixty thousand people passed through 
this country annually on the way to Oregon, 
California, Utah, and New Mexico, under the 
protection of no law, and murders and other 
crimes were perpetrated. If we desired to 
protect this travel we must organize the ter- 
ritory and extinguish the Indian title. When 
Mr. Brooks insisted that this was the first 
time that a territorial bill had ever been intro- 
duced to establish government over territory 
to which the Indian title had not been extin- 
guished in any part and over a people who 
do not exist there, Phelps, Richardson, and 
Hall held out that the Indian title had not 
been extinguished in any of the territories 
when they were organized. Brooks persisted 
in his demand to know the population of the 
proposed territory, and Richardson replied 
that it was not over one thousand two hun- 
dred. 

Mr. Howe (Pennsylvania) taunted Joshua 
Giddings on neglecting to insert the anti-slav- 
ery provision of the Ordinance of 1787 in the 
bill, and wanted to know if it was on account 
of the national party platforms of 1852, which 
had dodged the slavery question. Giddings 
retorted by reading the restriction of the Mis- 
souri Compromise and said : "This law stands 
perpetually, and I did not think that this act 
would receive any increased validity by a re- 
enactment. . . It is very clear that the ter- 
ritory included in that treaty must be forever 
free unless the law be repealed." 

When asked by Mr. Howe if he did not 
remember a compromise since that time 
( 1850), Giddings replied that it did not affect 
this question ; and, illustrating the then tem- 
perate spirit of anti-slavery statesmen, Mr. 
Giddings added, "I am not in the habit of 
agitating these questions of slavery unless 
drawn into it." '" 

When Sweetzer (Ohio) moved to strike out 



THE RICHARDSON BILL 



119 



the part of the bill which provided for the 
making of treaties with Indians to extinguish 
their title, because it was time "to let the 
country know that it is our policy to plunder 
these people ; not make a mockery anew by 
the pretense of a treaty," Hall protested that 
while Sweetzer might be correct in holding 
that the Indians should be incorporated as 
citizens, yet a territory large enough for two 
or three large states should not be given up 
to ten or twelve thousand Indians. He 
thought a portion of the territory had been 
secured by treaty with the Kansas Indians, 
but that so far there was no controversy 
between the Indians and the government. Mr. 
Howard said that the treaty of 1825 had 
given the Ohio and Missouri Shawnees fifty 
miles square, and the Kansas Indians had 
also selected a tract of the same area on the 
Missouri river under treaty.-" 

Howard (Texas) said the territory had 
340,000 square miles and not over six hun- 
dred white people, that the bill violated 
treaties with eighteen tribes^^ who had been 
moved west of the Mississippi river, to whom 
the government had guaranteed that they 
should never be included in any state or terri- 
tory. Monroe had begun this policy in 1825, 
and Jackson had matured and carried it out 
under the act of 1830. The Indians, he said, 
would be surrounded by the white men's gov- 
ernment, which would force them to come 
under the jurisdiction of white men's laws 
or suflfer their tribal organization to be 
destroyed. There would be no country left 
for other tribes east of the Rocky mountains 
and west of the Mississippi river. It was 
Great Britain's policy to concede to Indians 
the right to occupancy but not to the fee, 
while Spain conceded neither.^" Hall then 
charged Howard with the design of settling 
the Comanches and other wild tribes of Texas 
in Nebraska territory, which would drive the 
overland routes from Missouri and Iowa to 
Texas ; and he urged that. 

If in course of time a great railroad should 



" Cong. Globe, vol. 26, p. 544. 

-* Ibid., p. 556, for names of tribes. 

23 Ibid., p. 558. 



be found necessary from this part of the coun- 
tinent to the shore of the Pacific, and the 
doctrine prevails that all the territory west 
of the Missouri river is to be a wilderness 
from this day, henceforth and forever, Texas 
being settled, this country will have no alter- 
native but to make the Pacific road terminate 
at Galveston or some other point in Texas. 

Mr. Hall insisted that Howard's argument 
meant that "we should never settle Nebraska 
at all," and that white settlement must be 
extended to the mountains to keep in touch 
with California and Oregon for the protec- 
tion of the Union and of travel across the 
plains. He quoted from Medill, the late com- 
missioner of Indian affairs, who urged that 
the Omahas, "Ottoes," and "Missourias" be 
moved so as to be with the Osages and "Kan- 
zas," because they were circumscribed in 
hunting by the Pawnees and Sioux and often 
attacked and murdered by the tribe last named. 

The Pawnees all should be removed north 
of the Platte, and the Sioux of the Missouri 
restrained from coming south of that river, 
so that there would be a wide and safe passage 
for our Oregon emigrants and for such of 
those to California as may prefer to take that 
route, which, I am informed, will probably 
be the case with many. 

Howard argued that we should negotiate 
with the Indians before violating our treaties 
with them by organizing a territorial govern- 
ment over lands which they occupied. To 
the objections of Clingman (North Carolina) 
that there were only from six hundred to nine 
hundred inhabitants in the proposed territory, 
Hall replied that it was because the law pre- 
vented a white man from settling there, "and 
if he does a company of dragoons will run 
him out." There would be thirty thousand or 
forty thousand people there within three or 
four months after there was a territorial 
organization to protect them. The southern 
line went down to 36° 30', he explained, be- 
cause the route from Missouri to New Mexico 
crossed that line, and that travel must be pro- 
tected. 

Sutherland (New York), imbued with the 
characteristic spirit of the Northeast, and espe- 
cially of New England, in relation to western 
expansion, argued that it was bad policy to 



120 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



take in more lands and encourage emigration 
from the states which were still so largely 
unoccupied. The eleven landed states, as he 
called them, of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, 
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, 
Mississippi, Missouri, and Wisconsin, had 
137,000,000 acres of unimproved lands in the 
hands of private owners and 200,000,000 
acres of public lands. Richardson retorted 
that this was the argument of Fisher Ames 
over again, and charged the eastern members 
with fear of opening the better lands of the 
West in competition with their own. He 
thought the best way was to give the people 
a chance to make their own choice. 

The Senate committee on territories was 
composed of Douglas, Johnson of Arkansas, 
Jones of Iowa, Houston^" of Texas, democrats, 
and Bell and Everett, whigs. Douglas domi- 
nated the committee. The three members last 
named were opposed to the Nebraska bill. On 
the 17th of February Douglas reported the 
bill as it came from the House without amend- 
ment, and March 2d he tried to get it up for 
consideration, and complained that for two 
years the Senate had refused to hear a terri- 
torial bill. Rusk of Texas bitterly opposed 
the bill, and said that its passage would "drive 
the Indians back on us," and it failed of con- 
sideration by a vote of twenty to twenty-five, 
all but five of those opposed — including two 
from Delaware — ' being of the South. Of the 
southern senators, only the two from Missouri 
favored the bill.^' 

Senator Atchison's remarks on the 3d of 
March are notable as a remarkable contribu- 
tion to the theory of the inviolability of the 
Missouri Compromise, and also as being the 
only serious reference in the whole debate to 
the slavery question. In the early part of the 
session he had seen two objections to the bill, 
namely, the fact that the title of the Indians 
had not been extinguished and the Missouri 
Compromise. It was very clear to him that 
the law of Congress passed when Missouri 
was admitted into the Union, excludins; slav- 



3" General Sam Houston, the hero of San Jacinto. 
31 Cong. Globe, vol, 26, p. 1020. 
^"- Ibid., p. 1113. 
^^Ibid., p. Ills. 



ery from the territory of Louisiana north of 
36° 30', would be enforced in that territory 
unless it was specially rescinded, and, whether 
constitutional or not, would do its work, and 
that work would preclude slaveholders from 
going into that territory. But when he came 
to look into the question he saw no prospect 
of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, 
But for this he would oppose organization of 
the territory unless his constituency and all 
people of the South could go into it carrying 
their slaves with them. But he had no hope 
that the restriction would ever be repealed. 
The first great error in the political history 
of the country was the Ordinance of 1787, 
making the Northwest territory free; the sec- 
cond was the Missouri Compromise. He did 
not like the competition in agriculture with 
his own state which would follow the organ- 
ization of the territory, but population would 
go into every habitable part of the territory 
in a very few years in defiance of the govern- 
ment, so it might as well be let in now.^- 

Houston made a flamboyant speech against 
the bill, entirely devoted to the wrongs 
of the Indians which its passage would 
involve, and Bell (Tennessee) spoke along the 
same line, and urged that there was no neces- 
sity for territorial organization.^^ Douglas 
closed the debate showing that the provisions 
of the bill did not include the land of any 
Indian tribe without their consent (it had 
been so amended in the House), and he said, 
"It is an act very dear to my heart." He had 
presented a bill eight years before in the 
House and had been pressing it ever since. 
But on the 3d of March the motion to take 
up the bill was laid on the table by a vote of 
twenty-three to seventeen, and it was never 
revived in that form. 

The debate, especially that of the House, 
discloses that the border states north and south 
were fighting for advantage in the traffic to 
the Pacific coast and in the location of the 
then somewhat dimly prospective Pacific rail- 
way. This real objection to the measure on 
the jiart of the southern states seems to have 
been largely veiled by an ostensibly very phi- 
lanthropic regard for the fate of the Indian ; 



THE DODGE BILL 



121 



but it seems scarcely possible that finesse could 
have been so adroitly spun and spread so far 
as to have concealed the consideration of the 
admission of more free territory as the real 
objection on the part of the South. On the 
other hand, the prompt report which Douglas 
made from his committee early in the next 
session of Congress, recommending the squat- 
ter sovereignty compromise, indicates that he 
had discovered not only that the South, in 
part at least, had decided to press the slavery 
objection, but the way to meet it — unless 
indeed this compromise was a gratuitious sop 
thrown to the South as a bid for its favor to 
his political fortunes. In a speech at Atchison 
during the vacation, September 24, 1854, 
Senator Atchison, in a bibulous burst of 
confidence, said that he had forced Douglas 
to change his tactics and adopt the compro- 
mise.^'' While this claim shames the wily sena- 
tor's frank disclaimer at the last session, 
alluded to above, it is entirely consistent with 
his leadership in the subsequent attempt to 
make the most of the compromise by forcing- 
Kansas into the Union as a slave state. 

At a meeting, in Platte county, Missouri, 
Atchison spoke in the same vein. The senti- 
ment and determination of the western border 
Missourians whom he represented were ex- 
pressed in the following declaration: "Re- 
solved, that if the territory shall be opened to 
settlement we pledge ourselves to each other to 
extend the institutions of Missouri over the 
territory, at whatever cost of blood or trea- 
sure." There was a very large slave popula-- 
tion in these border counties, amounting, it is 
said, to as many as seventeen thousand, and 
the fears freely expressed by Atchison and 
others that this property, and so the system 
under which it was held, would be seriously 
menaced if the immediately adjoining territory 
of Kansas should be made free, were no doubt 
well founded. And yet solicitude about this 
matter seems to have been confined to a few, 



3* Rhodes, Historv of the United States, vol. i, 
p. 431. ■ . 

3^ Rhodes, History of the United States, vol. i, p. 
432. 

38 Senate bill No. 22, 18S3. 

3' Cong. Globe, vol. 28, pt. 1, p. 239. 



and there is evidence that indifference was the 
rule rather than the exception. This is illus- 
trated by the fact that the members of the 
House of Representatives from Missouri left 
it to the members of Congress of Iowa to in- 
sist on the division of the territory. 

The sweeping dictum that "Douglas was 
a man of too much independence to suffer the 
dictation of Atchison, Toombs, or Stephens,"^^ 
is rather beside the question, and it seems to be 
virtually contradicted by its author when he 
shows how readily Douglas yielded to the 
radical and rnomentous amendment of Dixon, 
a lesser man than either of the three above 
named, for the total repeal of the Missouri 
restriction, when Douglas spoke "in an earnest 
and touching manner," so that "it was a 
pretty comedy. The words of Douglas were 
those of a self-denying patriot, and not those 
of a man who was sacrificing the peace of his 
country, and, as it turned out, the success of 
his party, to his own personal ambition." 

Early in the session of the next Congress, 
December 14, 1853, Senator Dodge of Iowa, 
apparently acting in concert with the commit- 
tee on territories of which Douglas was chair- 
man, introduced a bill to organize the terri- 
tory of Nebraska which should comprise "all 
that part of the territory of the United States 
included between the summit of the Rocky 
mountains on the west, the states of Missouri 
and Iowa on the east, the 43° 30' of north 
latitude on the north, and the territory of New 
Mexico and the parallel of 36° 30' north lati- 
tude on the south. "3« This bill contained no 
reference to slavery. "The simple bill which 
Dodge introduced has undergone very impor- 
tant changes," said Chase, in asking for more 
time to consider the committee's substitute.^' 

The DoDce Bill. On the 4th of January 
following, the committee on territories, through 
Douglas, reported the bill of Dodge in the 
form of a substitute, in which the proposed 
territory embraced all of the Louisiana Pur- 
chase lying north of latitude 36° 30', except 
tlie states of Iowa and Missouri and that part 
of the territory of Minnesota which lay between 
the Mississippi river on the east and the north- 
ern boundary of Iowa and the Missouri and 



122 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



White Earth rivers on the south and west ; and 
Fort Leavenworth, then a military station, was 
designated as the capital.^" A leading histo- 
rian commits the error of including within this 
proposed territory of Nebraska the area now 
comprised in the states of Kansas, Nebraska, 
the Dakotas, Montana, and part of Colorado 
and Wyoming, which "contained 485,000 
square miles, a territory larger by thirty-three 
thousand square miles than all the free states 
in the Union east of the Rocky mountains." ^^ 
That larger part of the Dakotas lying east of 
the Missouri, however, belonged to Minne- 
sota, and a corner of Wyoming was not in- 
cluded in "the purchase." But the area in 
square miles as given is approximately correct. 
The committee's bill contained the compro- 
mise provision of the Utah and New Mexico 
bills, that the territory of Nebraska or any 
portion of the same when admitted as a state 
or states "shall be received into the Union 
with or without slavery as their constitution 
may prescribe at the time of their admissiori " 
Accompanying this bill was a formal report in 
which Douglas explained why the provisions 
relating to slavery were inserted. He i5oint^ 
out that "eminent statesmen hold that Con- 
gress is invested with no rightful authority 
to legislate upon the subject of slavery in the 
territories, and that therefore the eighth soc- 
tion of the Missouri Compromise is null and 
void" ; while "the prevailing sentiment in 
large sections of the Union sustains the doc- 
trine that the Constitution of the United 
States secures to every citizen an inalienable 
right to move into any of the territories with 
his property of whatever kind and description 
and to hold and enjoy the same under the 
sanction of law. . . Under this section, as 
in the case of the Mexican law in New Mex- 

■ 38 Cong. Globe, vol. 28, pt. 1, p. 222. 

39 Rhodes, History of the United Slutcs, vol, i, p. 
426. There are also two material errors in the de- 
scription of the boundaries of the territories of Ne- 
braska and Kansas in p. 222, pt. 1, vol. 28, Cong. 
Globe. The boundaries given in the bills here re- 
ferred to lia-ve been obtained by examination of the 
bills on file in the capitol at Washington, as none of 
them, excepting the last one, which passed, wore 
officially published. 

*" Senate reports, 1st scss., 33d Cong., no. 15. 

*i Rhodes, History of the United States, vol. i, p. 
433. 



ico and Utah, it is a disputed point whether 
slavery is prohibited in the new country by 
valid enactment. As Congress deemed it wise 
and prudent to refrain from deciding the mat- 
ters in controversy then (1850), either by 
affirming or repealing the Mexican laws or by 
an act declaratory of the true intent of the 
constitution and the extent of the protection 
afforded by it to slave property in the terri- 
tories, your committee are not prepared now 
to recommend a departure from the course 
pursued on that memorable occasion either by 
affirming or repealing the eighth section of 
the Missouri act, or by any act declaratory of 
the meaning of the constitution in respect to 
the legal poitits in dispute." '"' 

After the bill was reported it was amended 
by the addition of the concluding part of the 
committee's report, which was declaratory of 
the meaning of the comproinise of 1850, as 
follows : 

First. — That aJl questions pertaining to 
slavery in the territories and the new states 
to be formed therefrom, are to-be left to the 
decision of the people residing therein, by 
their appropriate representatives, to be chosen 
by them for that purpose. 

Second — That "all cases involving title to 
slaves" and "questions of personal freedom" 
are to be referred to the jurisdiction of the 
local tribunals, with the right of appeal to the 
supreme court of the United Staes. 

Third — That the provision of the constitu- 
tion of the United States in respect to fugi- 
tives from service is to be carried into faithful 
execution in all "the organized territories" the 
same as in the states. 

On the 16th day of January Dixon of Ken- 
tucky fortified the indirect setting aside of the 
Missouri Compromise by the popular sover- 
eignty provision of the bill by moving an 
amendment explicitly repealing the anti-slav- 
ery clause of the compromise. If it is true 
that "the Senate was astonished and Douglas 
was startled"'" their emotions must have been 
due to being brought face to face with the 
spectacular plainness of the meaning of the 
indirect repeal already incorporated in the bill. 
The popular sovereignty clause of the Ne- 
braska bill was absolutely inconsistent with 
the Missouri restriction and applied to all the 



I 



KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL 



123 



territory affected by it except the part of the 
Dakotas lying east of the Missouri river, and 
which would be hopelessly anti-slavery under 
the popular choice. Moreover, this very area 
had been embraced in the territory of Wis- 
consin by the act of 1836, in which was incor- 
porated the slavery interdiction of the 
Ordinance of 1787; and this interdiction seems 
to have been passed on when the territory fell 
to Minnesota in 1849, where it remained when 
the Missouri Compromise was repealed by the 
Kansas-Nebraska act. It seems still less accu- 
rate, or still more misleading, in the attempt 
to exaggerate the importance of the formal 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, to say, 
touching Douglas's 4th of January bill, that, 
"The South was insulted by the pretense of 
legalizing slavery in territory already by the 
Missouri Compromise preempted for free- 
dom" ;*^ for the report of Douglas "closed with 
a proposition which certainly set it (the com- 
promise) aside" ; *^ and this very proposition 
was appended to the 4th of January bill. 

Nor is the ground for the statement that, 
"So long as the Missouri Compromise 
remained the law of the land slavery could 
have no legal recognition in Nebraska while 
it was yet a territory" discoverable; for the 
4th of January bill provided, as we have seen, 
"That all questions pertaining to slavery in 
the territories . . . are to be left to the 
decision of the people residing therein." 
Eastern writers seem to have conceived it to be 
an a priori virtue to be offended at the virile 
strenuosity of this remarkable western leader 
and they seem to write under the compulsion 
of arriving at the conclusion that "in the view 
of Douglas moral ideas had no place in poli- 
tics."" For the great part which Clay played 
in the compromise of 1850 there is a palliation 
where there is not praise, and we are told that 

*- Macv, Political Parties in the United States, p. 
189. 

^■^ Rhodes, History of t'e United States, vol. i, p. 
428. 

^*Ihid., vol. i, p. 431. 

*° Ibid., p. 430. 

■*^ Schouler, Historv of the United States, vol. v, 
p. 285. 

" Rhodes, Historv of the United States, vol. i, 
p. 471. 



it is probable that "the matured historical 
view will be that Webster's position as to the 
application of the Wilmot Proviso was states- 
manship of the highest order." Though Clay, 
like Webster, was a constant candidate for the 
presidency and bore a potent part in the two 
great compromises with slavery aggression, 
which were bitterly assailed by anti-slavery 
sentiment, he is awarded the meed of patriotic 
motive and achievement, while the similar 
action of Douglas is written down as a mere 
"bid for southern support in the next demo- 
cratic convention. "^^ By a sort of pneumatic 
method he is summarily rejected from the 
company of respectable statesmen, or politi- 
cians even, with the brand of "Stephen Arnold 
Douglas — with accent on that second name."*^ 
This last is a good example of the over- 
working of a bias, a predilection, or a tortured 
emotion which one almost expects of the 
author. Another historian is fairer in describ- 
ing the great 3d of March speech: 

The appearance of Douglas was striking. 
Though very short in stature, he had an enor- 
mous head, and when he arose to take arms 
against a sea of troubles which opposed him, 
he was the very picture of intellectual force. 
Always a splended fighter, he seemed this 
night like a gladiator who contended against 
great odds ; for while he was backed by thirty- 
seven senators, among his opponents were the 
ablest men of the senate, and their arguments 
must be answered if he expected to ride out 
the storm which had been raised against him. 
Never in the United States, in the arena of 
debates had a bad cause been more splendidly 
advocated ; never more effectively was the 
worse made to appear the better reason.*" 

Kansas-Nebraska Bill. These estimates 
of the author of Nebraska's political beginning 
by standard historians of today, seem pertinent 
here as affording the latest and thus far the 
best view of his character and of his motives 
in the prologue to the great national tragedy 
which followed the Nebraska contest. But 
they also indicate that a remove of a single 
generation from the culminating scenes of the 
struggle over slavery does not serve entirely 
to separate the northern writer from northern 
prejudice and partisanship. The serious 
charge against Douglas is that he initiated the 



124 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Nebraska bill, which grew into the Kansas- 
Nebraska act, including the repeal of the Mis- 
souri Compromise, of his own volition, and, by 
so doing, to ingratiate himself with the South 
for the selfish furtherance of his presidential 
ambition, he deliberately disturbed the repose 
which had been established by the compromise 



lead and pressed what he saw was a necessary 
concession as a positive measure of his own. 
Moreover, the debate shows that the question 
whether Douglas acted in bad faith in refer- 
ence to the Missorui Compromise at least re- 
mained an open one, and with the technical 
or formal advantage with Douglas. In his 









. '^— .r" 




^^IV 




7 ''^ 




n ^ 



Bitgra^ing from a photograpli owned by the Ncbrasica State His- 
torical Society 

William Walker at the Age of 33 
Provisional governor of the proposed territory of Ne- 
braska, 1853 



of 1850, and which President Pierce had prom- 
ised in his late message should "suffer no shock 
during my official term, if I have power to pre- 
vent it." There is much reason for believing 
that Douglas was aware that southern politi- 
cians would press for adherence to the princi- 
ples of the latest compromise, and that, instead 
of accepting it in the way of a compromise, as 
Clay or Webser would have done, at an earlier 
time, by his imperious method he took the 



speech in the Senate, February 29, 1860, he 
said : 

It was the defeat in the House of Represent- 
atives of the enactment of the bill to extend the 
Missouri Compromise to the Pacific ocean, 
after it had passed the Senate on my own mo- 
tion, that opened the controversy of 1850, 
which was terminated by the adoption of the 
measures of that year. . . Both parties in 
1852 pledged themselves to abide by that 
principle, and and thus stood pledged not to 



KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL 



125 



prohibit slavery in the territories. The 
whig party affirmed that pledge and so did the 
democracy. In 1854 we only carried out, in 
the Kansas-Nebraska act, the same principle 
that had been affirmed in the compromise 
measures of 1850. I repeat that their resist- 
ence to carrying out in good faith the settlement 
of 1820, their defeat of the bill for extending it 
to the Pacific ocean, was the sole cause of the 
agitation of 1850, and gave rise to the neces- 
sity of establishing the principle of non-inter- 
vention by congress with slavery in the terri- 
tories. 

And in his famous speech of March 3, 1854, 
he silenced Chase and Seward on his point by 
showing that, after the Missouri compact of 
1820 was made, the northern vote" in Congress 
still kept that state out of the Union and forced 
Mr. Clay's new conditions of 1821 ; that a like 
northern vote was recorded against admitting 
Arkansas with slavery in 1836, and that the 
legislature of Mr. Seward's state (New York), 
after the Missouri act of 1820, had instructed 
her members of Congress to vote against the 
admission of any territory as a state with 
slavery. 

Mr. Douglas at least went far toward estab- 
lishing the consistency of his action in 1854 
by quoting from his speech in Chicago in 1850 : 
"These measures (of 1850) are predicated on 
the great fundamental principle that every 
people ought to possess the right of regulating 
their own internal concerns and domestic insti- 
tutions in their own way." 

It was conceded on both sides that the 
states had the absolute power to adopt or re- 
ject-slavery by provisions in their constitutions, 
and, as Douglas points out, it was inconsistent 
to deny this principle to the territories : "These 
things are all confided by the constitution to 
each state to decide for itself, and I know of no 
reason why the same principle should not be 
confided to the territories.'' 

A severe critic of Douglas's selfish sub- 
serviency in the Nebraska afifair admits that. 

Probably he had at first no more intention 
of actually enlarging the arena of slavery than 
had Daniel Webster in laboring to remove the 
legal restriction from the territory of Utah. 
Northern free labor was moving westward, 
as he knew, by leaps and bounds. It was not 
likely that slavery would ever gain any foot- 



hold in the region between the Rocky moun- 
tains and the states of Minnesota, Iowa and 
Missouri. Douglas no doubt sought to further 
his presidential prospects without making 
any actual change in the practical situation 
respecting slavery extension. 

But what more or less could be said of Clay, 
Webster, or Lincoln, each of whom, while as 
ardently seeking to further his presidential 
prospects, temporized upon the slavery ques- 
tion ? And in view of the probability, con- 




.■\iiELABD Guthrie 

Delegate to Congress representing the proposed 

territory of Nebraska, 1853 

firmed by the result, that slavery could not be 
forced upon Kansas or Nebraska, whatever 
might be done with the Missouri restriction, 
did not the course of Douglas result in a dis- 
tinct gain in that, "the southerners abandoned 
the claim to their inherent right to take their 
slaves into the new territories and united — 
both whigs and democrats — in support of 
Douglas's bill" ? 

Furthermore, Douglas emphasized the fact 
that there was a grave question as to the con- 
stitutionality of the Missouri restriction ; and 
may he not be credited with sagacity and patri- 



126 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



otisni in fortifying against the event of the 
Dred Scott decision in 1857, which confirmed 
his fears, by interposing his Kansas-Nebraska 
popular sovereignty device as a new bar to the 
door against slavery in the territories which 
that memorable decision had otherwise opened 
wide? For "Kansas was the only territory 
in which slaveholders tried to assert their 
rights" — that is, the constitutional right 
to carry slaves into the territories against at- 
tempted prohibition by Congress or its crea- 
tures, the territorial legislatures. And as it 
turned out, they had the best of the argument, 
and nothing could have hindered their design 
but the popular sovereignty provision of the 
Nebraska bill. 

But this spontaneous harshness toward 
Douglas reaches the climax of its unreason- 
ableness when it discovers in southern pro- 
slavery motives a rare nicety or moral dis- 
crimination and self-renunciation, and exalts 
it to contrasting heights above the groveling 
motives of Douglas. Thus we are told that the 
bill that passed the House in 1853, "being 
naturally objectionable to the pro-slavery 
politicians who still respected the Missouri 
Compromise, was defeated by them in the Sen- 
ate." But in this bill there was no allusion to 
slavery, and the Compromise was not attacked. 
Moreover, on the final passage of the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill, which repealed the Compro- 
mise, onh' nine votes from the South — two 
democrats and seven whigs — could be mus- 
tered against it in the House, while forty-two 
democrats and forty-five whigs from the 
North voted against it.^* But in one instance 
Douglas has been grouped with the patriots — 
though perhaps inadvertently. For "the ar- 
dent advocates of the compromise of 1850 were 
all devoted to the Union" ; *^ and Douglas ad- 
vocated every part of the compromise. 

The impartial judge of contemporary cir- 
cumstances will conclude that Douglas thought 
and had good ground for thinking that in this 

*8 Rhodes, History of the United States, vol. i, p. 
489. 

^^Macy, Political Parties in the United States, p. 
129. 

^o Schoulcr, Historv of the United States, vol. v, 
p. 281. 



first organization of new territory since the 
new compromise or temporizing arrangement 
between the slavery and the anti-slavery ele- 
ment in 1850, another controversy was inevit- 
able, and that the statement that the "new pol- 
icy thus sprung so unexpectedly upon the coun- 
try was the secret contrivance of a few aspiring 
democrats, obsequious to slavery's propagan- 
da,"^" is an inadequate and inconsistent ex- 
planation of the new compromise. Dixon's 
reason for pressing the repeal of the Missouri 
restriction, which it is generally admitted took 
Douglas by surprise, illustrates the fact that 
the pro-slavery leaders of the South intended 
to fight for a new arrangement, and the solid 
support which the members from the South 
gave to the bill makes the contention that the 
scheme was originated by a few politicians, 
and that the people of the South "had not 
dreamed of taking it" little less than ridiculous. 
Mr. Dixon stated that he never did believe in 
the propriety of passing the Missouri Compro- 
mise. "I never thought the great senator 
from Kentucky, Mr. Clay, when he advocated 
that measure did so because his judgment ap- 
proved it. . . And I have never thought 
that that measure received the sanction of his 
heart or of his head." He said that he pro- 
posed the amendment under the firm convic- 
tion that he was carrying out the principles 
settled in the compromise of 1850, and which 
left the whole question of slavery with the 
people and without any congressional inter- 
ference. He had always believed that Congress 
had no authority over the subject of slavery 
in states or territories, and, therefore, that 
the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. 
In a colloquy with Dixon, Douglas explained 
that he "and some others with whom he con- 
sulted" thought that Dixon's amendment not 
only wiped out the legislation excluding sla- 
very but affirmatively legislated slavery into 
the territory ; he therefore inserted the repeal- 
ing clause in his own words to avoid the af- 
firmative force of Dixon's amendment. Abel- 
ard Gtithrie, who had been elected a delegate 
to Congress from Nebraska, at Wyandotte, in 
October, 1852, writing while on his way to 
Washington in December, 1852, to William 



PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 



127 



Walker, provisional governor, throws light 
on the attitude of the pro-slavery element to- 
ward territorial organization, as follows : 

I traveled in company with Senators Guyer 
and Atchison of Missouri and Representatives 
Richardson and Bissil of Illinois. I am sorry 
to say our Missouri senators are by no means 
favorable to our territorial projects. The 
slavery question is the cause of this opposi- 
tion. I regret that it should interfere — it 
ought not. Mr. Atchison thinks the slaves in 
Nebraska are already free by the operation of 
the Missouri Compromise act, and asks a re- 
peal of that act before anything shall be done 
for Nebraska. 

In a letter to the New York Tribune, writ- 
ten August 9, 1856, Mr. Guthrie relates that he 
was a candidate for reelection as a delegate 
to Congress in 1853 ; but because "the repeal 
of the Missouri Compromise was now first 
agitated, and it was thought important to suc- 
cess that the territory should be represented 
by one favorable to that measure," Mr. Guthrie 
complains, the influence of the administration 
was thrown against him, and he was defeated 
by a large Indian vote. 

The tradition and belief of the Douglas 
family are worthy of consideration. A son 
of Senator Douglas thinks that his father had 
become convinced that the South could and 
would repeal the Missouri Compromise, and 
he therefore set about to get the best terms he 
could against the further spread of slavery, and 
believed he had accomplished this in the formal 
recognition of the doctrine of popular sover- 
eignty in lieu of the open door which the South 
was bent on securing. 

Provisional Government. On the 23d 
day of January, 183?, TTouglas presented the 
Kansas^Nebraska bill which passed as a sub- 
stitute for the Nebraska bill of January 4th. 
It comprised two important additions to the 
old bill, which Were to divide the territory into 
two — Kan sas and Nebrask a.^ and....&pecifi- 
cally repeal the Missouri Compromise. His 
own reasons for dividing the territory are as 
follows : 

There are two delegates here who have been 
elected by the people of that territory. They 
are not legal delegates, of course, but they 

" Cone;. Globe, vol. 28. pt. 1. p. 221. 



have been sent here as agents. They have pe- 
titioned us to make two territories instead of 
one, dividing them by the 40th parallel of north 
latitude — the Kansas and Nebraska territories. 
Upon consulting with the delegates from Iowa 
I found that they think that their local interests 
as well as the interests of the territory, require 
that the proposed territory of Nebraska should 
be divided into two territories, and the people 
ought to have two delegates. So far as I have 
been able to consult with the Missouri dele- 
gates they are of the same opinion. The com- 
mittee therefore have concluded to recommend 
the division of the territory into two territo- 
ries, and also to change the boundary in the 
manner I have described. '^^ 




Engraznng from a photograf^li ozvned by the Nebraska 
State Historical Society 

Hadlev D. Johnson 
First "delegate to Congress" from the unor- 
ganized territory, now known as the state of 
Nebraska. Elected October 11, 1853. 



The change consisted in making the southern 
line 37° instead of 36° 30', thus avoiding di- 
vision of the Cherokee country and running 
between that and the Osages. 

The simple reasons Douglas himself gave 
for finally and somewhat suddenly dividing 
the Nebraska territory as at first proposed, in- 
to two territories, are not only consistent 



128 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



with the circumstances but are fairly confirmed 
by them, and they leave no necessity for the 
search that has been made for hidden, myste- 
rious, and unworthy motives. The two dele- 
gates to whom Douglas referred, as he is quo- 
ted above, were Mr. Hadley D. Johnson, who 
was chosen at an election held at Bellevue, 
October 11, 1853, and the Rev. Thomas John- 
son,who was elected at Wyandotte on the same 
day. Mr. Hadley D. Johnson states that 
after consultation with citizens it was decided 
to advocate the organization of two territories 
instead of one, and that on his presentation of 
the case to Douglas he adopted Johnson's plan 
and changed the bill so as to divide Nebraska 
into Kansas and Nebraska. It was quite nat- 
ural that the people of the northern part of the 
territory and of Iowa lying directly opposite, 
should desire the division so as to have complete 
control, in view of the contemplated Pacific rail- 
way, and for other commercial reasons, and 
Mr. Johnson states that Senator Dodge of 
Iowa warmly approved his plan for two ter- 
ritories, and took pains to introduce him to 
Douglas. Just as naturally, too, the people 
and politicians of Missouri would prefer to 
have the territory opposite their state, and over 
whose affairs they would naturally exercise 
much control, separated from the northern ter- 
ritory. The general commercial interests, as 
well as considerations of the slavery question, 
would lead them to this desire,. 

Contemporaries of Hadley D. Johnson now 
living, as well as the important part he played 
in the afTairs of Iowa and Nebraska, testify to 
his high standing and the credibility his state- 
ments deserve. He was elected a member of 
the Iowa senate for the Council Bluffs district 
in 1852, was a "provisional" delegate to Con- 
gress from Nebraska in 1853, was a prominent 
candidate for delegate to Congress at the elec- 
tion of 1854, was elected territorial printer 
by the legislature of Nebraska in 1856, and in 
general was recognized as a man of affairs in 
those earlier years. 

We have an account of a meeting of citizens 
of Mills county, Iowa, at Glenwood, in Octo- 
ber, 1853. Glenwood was then the county 
seat of Mills county, which adjoins Potta- 



wattomie, of which Council Bluffs is the 
county seat, on the south, and borders on the 
Missouri river on the west, opposite Sarpy 
county, Nebraska, in which Bellevue is situ- 
ated. Among those who addressed this "great 
and enthusiastic meeting were Hadley D. 
[ohnson, delegate elect from Nebraska," J. L 
Sharp, who was chairman of the committee 
on resolutions, M. H. Clark who had been 
chosen provisional secretary of Nebraska at 
the same Bellevue election which chose John- 
son for delegate, and Hiram P. Bennet. Mr. 
Sharp became president of the first legislative 
council of Nebraska, and Bennet and Clark 
were also members of that body. 

The resolutions adopted by the meeting 
declared that the best interests of western 
Iowa as well as the bordering Indian tribes 
would be secured by the early organization 
of the territory of Nebraska, and that "the 
boundaries indicated by Judge Douglas's bill, 
subserve the interests of the whole country; 
but if they can not be obtained we would next 
prefer the parallel of 39^2 degrees south and 
44 degrees north as the boundaries of Ne- 
braska." This reference to the bill of Doug- 
las "introduced some years ago," which must 
have meant his bill of 1848. discloses that the 
boundary which in the opinion of these enter- 
prising border promoters would "best subserve 
the interests of the whole country" extended 
half a degree further south than the line that 
would satisfy them — to the fortieth parallel, — 
and fell one degree short of the boundary 
they proposed on the north. There is no 
material difference in the two boundaries in 
question, and perhaps the Glenwood resolu- 
tions made a mistake in their reference to 
Douglas's bill : but in any event they show 
that the men of Iowa wanted a territory, as 
nearly and exclusively as they could get it, 
opposite their own state. The proprietary 
regard of these lowans for the prospective 
territory, the key to it, and their resolute 
intent to bring about territorial organization 
in the form suited to their ambitious purposes, 
are disclosed in the other resolutions of the 
meeting. While they "approve of an election 
by the citizens of Nebraska of provisional ter- 



DIVISION OF NEBRASKA 



129 



ritorial officers as well as a delegate to repre- 
sent their interests in the approaching 
Congress," they "would not approve any 
measure which would retard or interfere with 
the early extinction of the Indian titles to all 
of said territory." They request their senators 
and representatives in Congress to use their 
best efforts to carry out the policy set forth 
in the resolutions, direct a copy to be sent to 
each of them and to Senator Douglas, 
recommend the appointment of a committee 
to confer with citizens of other counties touch- 
ing the interests of western Iowa, and ask the 
St. Mary's Gazette, Western Bugle, Chicago 
Democratic Press, Peoria Press, and New 
York Herald to publish the proceedings of the 
meeting. Nor did they neglect the one sub- 
ject on which all wide-awake border people 
in this latitude were now always harping, so 
they resolved, "That the valley of the Ne- 
braska or Platte river and the South Pass is 
the route most clearly pointed out by the hand 
of nature for a world's thoroughfare, and a 
natural roadway for the United States, con- 
necting the Atlantic with the Pacific." 

Mr. Hadley D. Johnson states^- that in the 
month of November meetings were held at 
Council Bluffs which were addressed by Sena- 
tor A. C. Dodge and Col. S. R. Curtis, one of 
the first United States Commisioners of the 
Union Pacific railway, "who warmly advo- 
cated the construction of our contemplated 
railways, and the organization of Nebraska 
territory." He further says : 

Before starting (for Washington) a num-. 
ber of our citizens who took a deep interest 
in the organization of a territory west of Iowa 
had on due thought and consultation agreed 
upon a plan which I had formed, which was 
the organization of two territories instead of 
one as had heretofore been contemplated. 

After arriving at Washington Mr. Johnson 
says: 

Hon. A. C. Dodge," senator from Iowa, 
who had from the first been an ardent friend 
of my plan, introduced me to Judge Douglas, 
to whom I unfolded my plan, and asked him 

52 Trans. Neb. State Hist. Soc, vol. ii, p. 87, et 
seq. 

53 Augustus C. Dodge, born January 2, 1812; died 
November 20, 1883. 



to adopt it, which, after mature consideration, 
he decided to do, and he agreed that he would 
report a substitute for the pending bill, which 
he afterwards did do. . . The Honor- 
able Bernhart Henn, member of the house 
from Iowa, who was also my friend, warmly 
advocated our territorial scheme. 

The important part which Senator Dodge 
played in the great national drama — or per- 
haps a prologue which was to be followed 
by the tragedy of the Civil war — aids greatly 
in the interpretation of its motive and mean- 
ing. Many of us of Nebraska remember him 
as the suave, kindly, and gracious gentleman 
of the old school. By virtue of his ability 
and experience as statesman and politician, 
as well as his official position. Senator Dodge 
represented the interests and wishes of the 
anti-slavery state of Iowa, which demanded 
the early organization of the great empire on 
its western border. 

Indeed, until the last, when the question of 
the adjustment of the interests or demands 
of slavery became paramount. Senator Dodge 
might well have been regarded as the leader 
in the project of territorial organization rather 
than Douglas himself. In the terrific but 
short struggle at the last, when slavery was 
pressing its over-reaching and self-destructive 
demand, he preserved his independence. His 
democratic, anti-slaveholding spirit breaks out 
in his rebuke of Senator Brown of Missis- 
sippi in the course of the Kansas-Nebraska 
debate. Brown had defended negro slavery 
on the ground that it was necessary to the 
performance of menial labor which he 
referred to contemptuously as beneath white 
people : 

There are certain menial employments 
which belong exclusively to the negro. Why 
sir, it would take you longer to find a white 
man in my state who would hire himself out 
as a boot-black or a white woman who would 
go to service as a chamber-maid than it took 
Captain Cook.to sail around the world. Would 
any man take his boot-black, would any lady 
take her chamber-maid into companionship? 

This spirited retort of Senator Dodge's is 
not that of a dough-face : 

Sir, I tell the senator from Mississippi, — I 
speak it upon the floor of the American sen- 



130 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ate, in presence of my father [Henry Dodge 
of Wisconsin] who will attest its truth — that 
I have performed and do perform when at 
home, all of those menial services to which 
that senator referred in terms so grating to 
my feelings. As a general thing I saw my 
own wood, do all my own marketing. I never 
had a servant of any color to wait upon me 
a day in my life. I have driven teams, horses, 
mules and oxen, and considered myself as 
respectable then as I do now, or as any senator 
upon this floor is.'^* 

This incident serves also to illustrate the 
great change in customs and manners which 
has taken place in the short time since the birth 
of our commonwealth. This Cincinnatus — 
foreman of the founders of Nebraska — was 
yet of courtly manners, a senator of the United 
States, and minister to the court of Spain. 

When, at last, the Kansas-Nebraska bill 
involved a question of vital importance to the 
Democratic party, Douglas, as the conceded 
and imperious leader of the party, overshad- 
owed all others. But from first to last Dodge 
cooperated with Douglas for the organization 
of Nebraska. He showed that he consistently 
supported the popular sovereignty principle of 
the Nebraska measure by showing that he 
had advocated that principle as a solution of 
the still vexed slavery question in his support 
of the compromise measures of 1850.^^ 

Senator Dodge discloses clearly his reasons 
for desiring the division of the territory: 

Originally I favored the organization of 
one territory ; but representations from our 
con.stituents, and a more critical examination 
of the subject — having an eye to the systems 
of internal improvement which must be 
applied by the people of Nebraska and Kan- 
sas to develop their resources — satisfied my 
colleague who was a member of the committee 
that reported this bill, and myself, that the 
great interests of the whole country, and espe- 
cially of my state demanded that we should 
support the proposition for the establishment 
of two territories. Otherwise the scat of gov- 

5* Appendix Cong. Globe, vol. 29, p. 376. 
" Ibid., p. 380. 

^•^ Appendix Cong. Globe, vol. 29, p. 382. 
■■■'T Bernhart Henn, elected to Congress in 1849, 
serving four years. 

=8 .Appendix Cong. Globe, vol. 29, p. 885. 
=" Ibid., p. 886. 



crnmcnt and leading thoroughfares must have 
fallen south of lozva.'''^ 

Though Bernhart Henn,-" member of the 
lower house of Congress, lived at Fairfield, 
as early as June 11, 1853, he had established 
a land and warrant broker's office under the 
firm name of Henn, Williams & Co., at Coun- 
cil Bluffs, the residence or rendezvous of the 
potent promoters of the territorial organization 
and of Omaha City. 

In a speech in the House, urging the pas- 
sage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, he discloses 
the objects and motives of the promoters even 
more clearly than Senator Dodge had done. 
"The bill is of more practical importance to 
the state of Iowa, and the people of the dis- 
trict I represent than to any other state or 
constituency in the union. "^^ 

In answer to '"the unjust charge made on 
this floor by several that it was the scheme 
of southern men, whereby one of the states 
to be formed out of these territories was to 
be a slave state" he demands : "Do they not 
know that the delegates sent here by the peo- 
ple interested in the organization of that coun- 
try proposed this division ?" ^^ 

Continuing in the same strain he urges that 
the 40th parallel, the proposed line of divi- 
sion, is nearly on a line dividing the waters 
of the Platte and the Kansas rivers : 

A line which nature has run for the boun- 
dary of states : a line that will insure to each 
territory a common interest, each having a 
rich and fertile valley for its commercial cen- 
ter ; a line that will be of immense importance 
to the prosperity and commerce of Iowa ; a 
line that will make the commercial and politi- 
cal center of Nebraska on a parallel with the 
great commercial emporiums of the Atlantic 
and the harbor of San Francisco. . . 
The organization of two territories instead of 
one has advantages for the north, and for 
Iowa in particular, which should not be over- 
looked. It secures in the Platte valley one 
of the lines of Pacific railways by making it 
the center of commerce, wealth and trade. It 
brings to the country bordering on Iowa the 
seat of government for Nebraska. It at once 
opens up a home market for our produce. It 
places west of us a dense and thriving settle- 
ment. It gives to western Iowa a prominence 
far ahead of that which ten years ago was 
maintained by the towns in the eastern por- 



DIVISION OF NEBRASKA 



131 



tion of our state. It brings Iowa nearer to 
the center of power and commerce.™ 

While these members of Congress from 
anti-slavery Iowa thus strongly urged divi- 
sion of the territory, those from pro-slavery 
Missouri merely acquiesced in the plan. In 
the Senate Benton opposed the passage of the 
bill on account of the repeal of the Compro- 
mise. Atchison took little part in the debate 
on the bill, but while he said that he thought 
slavery would go into Kansas if the Compro- 
mise should be repealed,^' it does not appear 
that he ever urged division. 

In the House, Lindley, Miller, and Oliver 
discussed the measure but said nothing about 
division. Lindley urged that organization 
must precede settlement, which must precede 
"that great enterprise of the age, the great 
Pacific railroad." Miller and Oliver discussed 
the question of Indian cessions. 

Facts thus rudely obtrude themselves as a 
substitute for the guessing of the historians 
as to the primary motive of Douglas for the 
division scheme, namely, subserviency to the 
hope and intent of the slave power to make 
Kansas a slave state, and they seem positively 
to preclude that theory. On this point there 
is a strong and significant concensus of north- 
ern opinion. Douglas himself expressed his 
belief that it would be impracticable to fix 
slavery upon either of the territories. In his 
noted speech on the 30th of January, 1854, he 
urged that slaves had actually been kept in 
the Northwest territory in spite of the pro- 
hibition of the ordinance, and that they were 
then kept in Nebraska in spite of the prohi- 
bition of the Missouri Compromise; but the 
people of all the northern territories had abol- 
ished slavery as soon as they had the local 
authority to do so. And so he said of Ne- 
braska: "When settlers rush in, when labor 
becomes plenty and therefore cheap, in that 
climate, with its productions, it is worse than 
folly to think of its being a slaveholding coun- 
try. I do not believe there is a man in Con- 

00 Appendix Cone/. Globe, vol. 29, p. 886, 

" Ibid., pp. 939-940. 

«= CoH<7. Globe, vol. 28, pt. 1, p, 279. 

«3 Appendix Co>ig. Globe, vol. 29, p. 560. 

o^/fciU, p. 382. 



gress who thinks it could be permanently a 
slaveholding country. I have no idea that it 
could. . . When you give them a legis- 
lature you thereby confess that they are com- 
petent to exercise the powers of legislation. 
If they wish slavery they have a right to it. 
If they do not want it they will not have it, 
and you should not force it upon them.""- 

Benton in his speech in bitter opposition to 
the Kansas-Nebraska bill said: "The ques- 
tion of slavery in these territories, if thrown 
open to a territorial action, will be a question 
of numbers, a question of the majority for 
or against slavery; and what chance would 
the slaveholders have in such a contest? No 
chance at all. The slave owners will be over- 
whelmed and compelled to play at a most 
unequal game, not only in point of numbers 
but in point of stakes. The slaveholder stakes 
his property and has to run ofif or lose it if 
outvoted at the polls. "'^^ 

Benton dreaded and deprecated opening 
anew the slavery contest by the proposed 
repeal of the Compromise. For the sake of 
peace he had promoted the clause in the con- 
stitution of Missouri prohibiting the legisla- 
ture from emancipating slaves without the 
consent of their owners. 

Senator Dodge insisted that, as touching 
slavery, the bill would have the effect of free- 
ing several hundred slaves who would be taken 
into Kansas and Nebraska as domestic ser- 
vants on the promise of freedom at some fixed 
time. The owners of slaves, he said, would 
be too timid and conservative to take them 
into new and unfavorable communities in 
larger number.^* This theory was peculiarly 
confirmed in Nebraska, and doubtless would 
have been in Kansas after conditions had 
become settled there, but for the Civil war 
which swept slavery away entirely. 

In his speech in the House, in which he 
urges the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska 
bill with all his powers, Mr! Henn argues 
that, "These territories will, nay must become 
non-slaveholding states. . . . My experi- 
ence in the settlement of new countries so 
teaches." Emigration moves on a line south 
of west for the betterment of physical as well 



132 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



as financial conditions. "Hence," he con- 
tinues, "all of Nebraska, if not all of Kansas, 
will be settled by emigrants from non-slave- 
holding states. Three thousand of these, from 
free states, are now in the line of Nebraska 
and fifteen hundred on that of Kansas ready 
to step over as soon as the bill passes." A 
network of railways in this latitude already 
embraced the Mississippi and would soon 
reach the Missouri. "^^ Without a word of tes- 
timony^ ;unprejudiced eyes should see why 
commercial and political considerations, en- 
tirely independent of the slavery question, 
should have discovered the advantages of divi- 
sion to Iowa and Illinois also, and stimulated 
to the utmost their demand for it. Douglas 
was the natural mouthpiece of this sentiment 
by virtue of his residence in Chicago, which 
was vitally interested in securing the location 
of the Pacific railway as a direct extension of 
her great trunk lines to the West, and of his 
position as chairman of the senate committee 
on territories. So far from being surprising 
it is quite natural that these advantages of 
division should have appeared and been pre- 
sented now, when the long-mooted question 
of territorial organization was at last plainly 
to be settled, and which quickened, and for 
the first time made the question of a Pacific 
railway practicable and imminent. This now 
certain prospect of the opening of the way 
for giving value to the bordering territory 
and for the most gigantic project for a com- 
mercial highway that had yet been imagined 
suddenly increased the importance of every 
local consideration or possible advantage, and 
resulted in the project of division for north- 
ern commercial interests and by northern 
commercial initiative. 

Douglas had from the first striven for a 
northern territory. His prompt acquiescence 
in the proposal of division is quite explicable 
and consistent when coupled with the fact 
that his bill of 1844 provided for a territory, 

"'i Appendix Cong. Globe, vol. 29, p. 885. 

«« Rhodes, History of the United States, vol. i p 
439. 

^'' Von Hoist, Constitutional History of the United 
States, vol. iv, p. 323. 



whose northern boundary line was identical 
with that of present Nebraska and whose 
southern line was only two degrees farther 
south than the dividing line between the two 
territories, and with the further fact that the 
proposed northern boundary of his bill of 1848 
was that of the present state, and the southern 
boundary was the same as the division line 
between the two territories and states, namely, 
the 40th parallel. 

But this cogent consistency of circumstance 
and specific human testimony must, it seems, 
give way to the exigencies of contrary histo- 
rical authority. For we are told in no incon- 
clusive tone and terms that, 

We cannot clearly trace the ways leading 
up to the division of Nebraska which appar- 
ently formed no part of the original plan. 
Nor is the explanation of Senator Douglas 
sufficient. It is almost certain that if there 
had been no question of slavery this change 
would not have been made.*^" 

And again: "For the division of the Ne- 
braska country had no meaning if it were not 
made in order to secure a part of it to sla- 
very." "" This author brings to the discussion 
of the question great ability, but a zeal that 
leaps the bound of fairness and reason. It 
certainly seems as if he has retained his pow- 
ers to discredit and smirch Douglas to the 
utmost. This palpable predetermination nat- 
urally leads to disingenuous if not false state- 
ments. Thus, to sustain his preconception 
that the primary object of the organization 
of the Nebraska country, and especially its 
division into two territories, was to further 
the interests of the slavocracy, he insists that 
there were no white men in the territory, keep- 
ing back the fact that theoretically or legally 
there could be none since they had been inter- 
dicted by the law of Congress of 1834; and 
he neglects to mention the very relevant fact 
that the advocates of organization in Con- 
gress rightfully urged that the population 
would be forthcoming, and, more scrupulous 
than the Israelites of old, in general waited 
legal permission to "go up and possess the 
laiid." Organization therefore must need 
precede population, or else be indefinitely post- 
poned. Douglas himself completely answered 



ESTIMATE OF DOUGLAS 



133 



these objections in his great 3d of March 
speech by correctly stating that, in spite of the 
formal legal prohibition there was a goodly 
number of white settlers within the proposed 
territory ; that there was an immense traffic 
through it to the Pacific coast, now entirely 
unprotected, and organization was necessary 
on that account ; and that people would inev- 
itably invade the territory in spite of legal 
barriers which therefore had better be removed 
in response to the popular demand. The first 
census of Kansas taken within six months 
after the passage of the organic act indicates 
that there was already a population not far 
from five thousand. Douglas very plausibly 
if not conclusively established his contention 
that he at least was breaking no new ground 
and springing no surprise in what he re- 

^^ The pertinent declaration of the democratic 
convention was as follows : "Congress has no power 
under the constitution to interfere with or control 
the domestic institutions of the several states. . . 
All efforts of the abolitionists or others to induce 
Congress to interfere with questions of slavery or to 
take incipient steps in relation thereto are calculated 
to lead to the most alarming and dangerous conse- 
quences. . . Therefore the Democratic party of 
the Union, standing on this national platform, will 
abide by and adhere to a faithful execution of the 
acts known as the compromise measures settled by 
the last Congress." The whigs bore even more 
heavily upon the idea of the general principle : "The 
series of acts of the thirty-second Congress, the act 
known as the fugitive slave law included, are re- 
ceived and acquiesced in by the Whig party of the 
United States as a settlement, in principle and sub- 
stance, of the dangerous and exciting questions 
which they embrace, and so far as they are con- 
cerned we will maintain them and insist upon their 
strict enforcement until time and experience shall 
demonstrate the necessity for further legislation." 
The free-soil democratic convention denounced the 
compromise measures of 1850 for "their omission to 
guarantee freedom in the free territories, and their 
attempt to impose unconstitutional limitations on 
the powers of Congress and the people who admit 
new states." The free-soilers, however, plainly 
opened the way for the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
promise, if it were found inexpedient, by declaring, 
"That the doctrine that any human law is a finality 
and not subject to modification or repeal, is not in 
accordance with the creed of the founders of our 
government, and is dangerous to the liberty of the 
people." True, both the regular democratic and the 
whig convention resolved in the strongest terms 
against the further agitation of the slavery question 
in Congress or out; but Douglas could easily answer 
to the implication that he broke or was inclined to 
break these solemn party vows, that the organization 
of the Nebraska country was an enterprise that had 
been "dear to my heart" for ten years, and that he 
had no thought of mixing it up with the slavery 
question until it was forced upon him at the elev- 
enth hour by greedy and shortsighted representa- 
tives of the slavocracy. 



garded as the incidental repeal of the Mis- 
souri Compromise. In his noted speech in 
Chicago, October 23, 1850, he had very 
explicitly and broadly generalized the principle 
which he substituted for the Compromise : 

These measures are predicated on the great 
fundamental principle that every people ought 
to possess the right of forming and regulat- 
ing their own internal concerns and domestic 
institutions in their own way. . . These 
things are all confided by the constitution for 
each state to decide, and I know of no reason 
why the same principle should not be confided 
to territories. 

He cited the forcible fact that the two great 
political parties — whig and democrat — ■ in 
their national conventions in 1852 "adopted 
and affirmed the principles embodied in the 
compromise measures of 1850 as the rules of 
action by which they would be governed in 
all future cases in the organization of terri- 
torial governments and the admission of new 
states."^* 

Seward, Chase, and Sumner were the prin- 
cipal leaders of the opposition to the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill. Perhaps they had a finer ethi- 
cal and philanthropic instinct and purpose 
than Douglas. This is doubtless true at least 
of Chase and Sumner. It is true also of 
Lincoln, whom the new opportunity presented 
by the passage of the bill lured out of the 
hiding into which he had gone discouraged 
after his unfortunate participation with the 
Whig party in its opposition to the Mexican 
war, and discouraged also by the easy ascend- 
ency of Douglas in Illinois. But the position 
of Douglas was far different from that of 
either of the statesmen named. He had the 
tremendous responsibility of leadership of a 
party which was virtually without opposition 
and whose dominating element was fatuously 
bent, as it continued to be to its self-destruc- 
tion, on the expansion of slavery. To Douglas 
fell the colossal task of holding the dominat- 
ing pro-slavery element of his party at bay 
without destroying the party — and the Union. 
It would be rash to say that Seward, Chase, 
or Lincoln, who were all ambitious, practical 
politicians, would have done differently in 
Douglas's place. Seward and Lincoln repre- 
sented politically the echo of dying whiggism 



134 



HISTORY OF NEP.RASKA 



and Chase had cut loose from the democratic 
party. It was therefore easy for them to join 
the now swelling chorus of the North and of 
the civilized world against slavery. But Doug- 
las had the misfortune at this critical juncture 
of being the responsible leader of the dominant 
party and personally ambitious as well. 
Though Seward and Lincoln, and perhaps 
Chase, were already shaping the new anti- 
slavery republican party of which they were 
to become the ambitious leaders and the prime 
beneficiaries, yet as their aim was more remote 
than that of Douglas, its element of selfish- 
ness was not as apparent. Certain it is that in 
their early leadership of the republican party 
Seward and Lincoln compromised on the 
slavery question more than Douglas evaded — 
more than it was possible for him with his 
impetuous, Napoleonic, dictatorial spirit to 
trim. The dramatic halo of the Civil war, 
from whose embrace death snatched Douglas 
all too soon — for he had promptly and un- 
equivocally thrown his weighty influence on 
the side of the Union — hides all but martyr- 
dom and saintship in the character and career 
of Lincoln, and illuminates, if it does not 
exaggerate the moral heroism of Seward and 
Chase. It is not likely that an impartial esti- 
mate of these early republican leaders will 
ever be written. For an opposite reason no 
impartial or just estimate of Douglas has yet 
appeared. 

Estimate of Douglas. After the passage 
of the Kansas-Nebraska bill there was a mem- 
orable struggle in Kansas for six years between 
the pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces, both 
augmented by organized colonization from oth- 
er states, until the unhappy territory was ad- 
mitted as a state without slavery in January. 
1861, just as the southern states were busy go- 
ing out of the Union. Actual experience in 
Kansas with the popular sovereignty plan of 
adjustment was sorry and sorrowful indeed. 
But this was a sorrowful and vexatious ques- 
tion, and under any plan there would have 
been an irrepressible conflict. It should suf- 
fice that though under Douglas's plan free- 
dom was born in sore travail, yet it seems not 
improbable but for that plan it had not been 



born at all ; and it is to the eternal credit of 
the courage and capacity of Douglas that there 
is no doubt that freedom won the day under 
his leadership against the now blind and mad 
greed and aggressiveness of the South and 
the truckling policy of Buchanan's adminis- 
tration. In the trial of a masterful states- 
man's character and career it should be 
esteemed a weighty matter that throughout 
his course and after he had compassed "the 
Kansas-Nebraska iniquity" this "subservient 
demagogue" remained the idol of his party in 
the North ; that the confidence of the exacting, 
destructive slave-power of the South was, on 
the other hand, always withheld from him, 
until it finally accomplished his undoing as 
well as that of his party and the Union. 

^^'hile calm and ripened public opinion will 
not hold that Douglas ought to have consid- 
ered uncompromisingly and exclusively the 
welfare of the slave or the immoral quality 
of slavery, where the life of the Union, as 
well as that of his party, was already at stake, 
yet, obviously, he lacked that sentimental 
regard and sympathy for the negroes in bond- 
age which the civilized world now applauds 
in Garrison, Phillips, Sumner, and Chase, but 
which in effect cooperated with the fire-eating 
sentiment of the South in precipitating the 
war which otherwise might have been avoided. 
Perhaps Douglas played a hard-hearted as 
well as a desperate game, not guiltless of 
finesse, with his overbearing, cunning, and 
outnumbering southern party associates ; and 
perhaps he was over-selfish in yielding to the 
preposterous demand of a part of them for 
the repeal of the Compromise. But it would 
be rash as well as unjust to draw the sweep- 
ing conclusion that his ultimate motive was 
not patriotic or that he did not sincerely be- 
lieve that his substitute for the Compromise 
oiTered the most practicable solution of the 
momentous and vexatious question with which 
he was confronted. 

It was apparently not until some years 
after its passage that Nebraska was relegated 
to the rear in the name of the Kansas-Ne- 
braska bill and was thus deprived by its Jay- 
hawker neighbor of its immemorial prece- 



PROPOSED BOUNDARIES 



135 



dence and of the full flame or notoriety of its 
relation to this famous or infamous act. 
Douglas constantly referred to it as the Ne- 
braska bill as late, at least, as the time of his 
debates with Lincoln in 1858; but in his noted 
article in Harper's Magasine, of September. 
1859, he commits the error of stating that 
the act "is now known on the statute book 
as the Kansas-Nebraska act." The act is in 
fact entitled in the statute as "an act to organ- 
ize the territories of Nebraska and Kansas" ; 
but the Illinois democratic convention of 1860 
called the measure by its present name. 'The 
misnomer, and the usurpation by Kansas of 
first place in the name, may probably be cred- 
ited to the fact that it is more easily spoken 
in that form, and that the spectacular and 
tragical political procedure in "bleeding Kan- 
sas" during the years immediately following 
the passage of the bill gave the territory the 
full place in the public eye to the exclusion 
of Nebraska with the comparatively tame 
events of its organization. 

Thus Louisiana territory was conceived by 
the exigencies and on the threshold of a 
mighty international struggle which resulted 
in the annihilation of the greatest and most 
imperious of potentates ; and Nebraska, child 
of Louisiana, was conceived by the exigencies 
and in the beginning of a great national strug- 
gle, in which the no less imperious power of 
human slavery was also to meet its doom. 

The organic acts for Nebraska and Kansas 
which were finally adopted contained a guar- 
antee, not found in the bills offered by Doug- 
las in 1844 and 1848, that the boundaries 
should not "include any territory which by 
treaty with any Indian tribe is not, without 
the consent of said tribe, to be included within 
the territorial limits or jurisdiction of any 
state or territory ; but all such territory shall 
be excepted out of the boundaries and consti- 
tute no part of the territory of Nebraska until 
such tribe shall signify their assent to the 
president of the United States to be included 
within the said territory of Nebraska." This 
clause was inserted in the Indian provisions 
of the Richardson bill, doubtless as a result 
of the strenuous opposition to the organiza- 



tion of the territory on the part of the East 
and Southwest, and it was retained in the 
Dodge bill. 

Proposed Boundaries. The bill of 1844 
provided that "the existing laws of the terri- 
tory of Iowa shall be extended over the said 
territory," but "the governor, secretary, and 
territorial judge, or a majority of them, shall 
have power and authority to repeal such of 
the laws of the territory of Iowa as they may 
consider inapplicable and to adopt in their 
stead such laws of any of the states or other _ 
territories as they may consider necessary," 
subject to the approval of Congress ; thus fol- 
lowing the principle of the original provisions 
of the Ordinance of 1787 for territories of the 
first grade. This bill of 1844 followed the 
Ordinance of 1787 in providing for a second 
grade or representative government : but while 
under the Ordinance five thousand free male 
inhabitants were recjuired as a condition prece- 
dent to legislative government, under the 
Douglas bill the requirement was five thousand 
inhabitants merely, only excepting Indians. 
The Ordinance provided that an elector should 
own fifty acres of land in his representative 
district, and that to be eligible to membership 
in the legislature one should own two hundred 
acres of land within his district ; the Douglas 
bill required no property qualification in either 
case, but that members of the legislature 
should have the same qualifications as voters. 
While the Ordinance did not, specifically at 
least, exclude negroes from the elective fran- 
chise, the Douglas bill limited that right to 
free white male citizens for the first election 
and empowered the legislature to define the 
suffrage qualifications thereafter. 

On the 7th day of January, 1845, A. V. 
Brown of Tennessee, member of the House 
committee on territories, reported a bill 
amendatory to the Douglas bill which required 
that there should be five thousand white 
inhabitants before the territory should be 
entitled to a legislature. This bill also 
changed the provisions of the original bill 
relating to the judiciary system. 

The boundary described in the bill of 1848 
dififered from that of the bill of 18-14 in start- 



136 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ing where the 40th parallel of latitude crosses 
the Missouri river instead of at the confluence 
of the Kansas and Missouri rivers — a little 
above 39° ; in running to the 43d parallel 
instead of the mouth of the Niobrara river, a 
little to the south, and then following the 
river to that parallel; and on the south in 
running along the 40th parallel instead of the 
devious course, ending at the east on the 38th 
parallel as already outlined. The bill of 1848 
followed Brown's amendment in requiring 
five thousand white inhabitants before change 
to legislative government and also in the pro- 
visions for the judiciary, and the bill of 1844 
in requiring the approval of the enactments 
of the legislature by Congress before they 
should become vaHd. In other respects the 
bills in question are all essentially alike. 

The boundary described in the Richardson 
bill of February 2, 1853, differed from its 
predecessor of 1848 in following the summit 
of the Rocky mountains on the west instead 
of a right line south from the point of inter- 
section of the northern line with the moun- 
tains—which did not appreciably alter the 
western boundary of the part of the territory 
included in the bill of 1848 — and in adopting 
the northern line of New Mexico and the 
parallel of 36° 30' instead of the 40th parallel 
as the boundary on the south. 

In the Richardson bill the feature of legis- 
lation by the governor, secretary, and terri- 
torial judge is left out, and legislation bv a 
general assembly from the first is provided 
for ; but all enactments of the legislature must 
be approved by Congress to become effective. 
Only free white male citizens could vote or 
hold office. Since the territory was to pass 
its own laws, the provision of the bill of 1848, 
extending the laws of Iowa over the territory 
except as they might be repealed by the gov- 
ernor, secretary, and judge was dropped. 
With these exceptions the bills were essen- 
tially alike. 

The boundaries in the Dodge bill of De- 
cember 14, 1853, were identical with those of 
the Richardson bill and the bills were other- 
wise alike in all important provisions. The 
boundary of the final organic act differed from 



that of the Richardson and Dodge bills in 
taking in all the remainder of the Louisiana 
Purchase on the north, except that part of 
Minnesota lying west of the Mississippi river, 
instead of running only to the 43d parallel ; 
and on the south in running down to the 37th 
parallel instead of 36° 30'. There are two 
other important points of dift'erence between 
the final organic act and the bills which pre- 
ceded it, namely, that of the famous provision 
with regard to slavery and the dropping of 
the provision that legislation by the territorial 
assembly must be approved by Congress to 
become operative. This proviso was retained 
even in the substitute of January 23, 1854. 
The other bills also provided that the governor 
should act as superintendent of Indian affairs 
in place of those officers stationed at St. Louis, 
but this feature was dropped from the final 
bill. 

The similarity of the main provisions of all 
these bills is explained by the fact that they, 
like the organic acts of all the territories 
which have been organized since 1787, except 
that of Florida, which was patterned after 
the Louisiana act, were constructed upon the 
framework of the immortal Ordinance of the 
Northwest Territory. Nebraska was distin- 
guished in being the first territory with an 
elective legislature whose laws were not re- 
quired to be submitted to Congress for 
approval before becoming effective. This 
submission was not required by the Ordi- 
nance of 1787, presumably because the gov- 
ernor, whose assent to legislative acts was 
required, and the upper house of the legis- 
lature were appointed by the president of the 
United States. There was a departure from 
this principle in the case of the territorial 
government at Orleans — the first government 
established by the Lhiited States within the 
Louisiana Purchase. Though the governor 
and the legislative body, consisting of a coun- 
cil of thirteen members, were appointed by 
the president, yet, as they were residents of 
the territory so lately alien in fact, and still 
so in spirit, it was doubtless deemed discreet 
that Congress should have the power of veto- 
ing their enactments. The organic acts of 



SUFFRAGE QUALIFICATIONS 



137 



the earlier territories, such as Indiana, Mis- 
sissippi, Michigan, IlHnois, and Kentucky and 
Tennessee of the southwest territory followed 
closely the Ordinance of 1787. Missouri, the 
first territory organized after the original divi- 
sion of the Louisiana Purchase into the terri- 
tory of Orleans and the district of Louisiana, 
was at once allowed a legislative assembly, 
though the members of the upper house were 
appointed by the president. 

In the organic act of Indiana, however, 
(1800) the first division of the Northwest Ter- 
ritory, a provision that the terriory might 
have a legislature, "so soon as the governor 
thereof shall be satisfied that it is the desire 
of a majority of the freeholders thereof." was 
substituted for the rigid condition of the Ordi- 
nance of 1787 requiring five thousand free 
male inhabitants. No provision was made for 
a legislature in the organic act of the district 
of Louisiana (1805), and that of Michigan 
passed the same year merely adopted the Ordi- 
nance of 1787. The right of freeholders to 
decide when a legislature should be estab- 
lished was left to lUinois (1809) and Arkan- 
sas (1819). The organic act of IMissouri 
(1812), and all the territories established after 
1809 provided for immediate legislative as- 
semblies. Wisconsin ( 1836), the next terri- 
tory organized — excepting Florida — was the 
first to come in with the right to elect both 
houses of the legislature, but the act con- 
tained the offset that "all the laws of the 
governor and legislative assembly shall be 
submitted to, and, if disapproved by the Con- 
gress of the United States, the same shall be 
null and of no effect." This provision for sub- 



mission of the enactments to Congress was in- 
corporated in the organic acts of all the terri- 
tories organized from that time until Nebraska 
and Kansas were reached. Such undemocratic 
surveillance would have been galling to the 
spirit of populuar sovereignty which pervaded 
the Kansas-Nebraska act, and the two princi- 
ples were quite incompatible. 

Under the Ordinance of 1787 members of 
the legislative council were required to be 
freeholders to the extent of five hundred acres, 
and electors, fifty acres. Members of the coun- 
cil of thirteen of the territory of Orleans were 
required to be holders of real estate. In the 
Missouri territorial act members of the council 
were required to own two hundred acres of 
land, and members of the house were required 
to be freeholders ; only free white males who 
were taxpayers could vote. This provision of 
the Missouri act was applied to Arkansas. 

While the Ordinance of 1787 did not specif- 
ically restrict the suffrage of whites, it did 
provide that appointment should be based upon 
the number of free males. The act of Congress 
(1808) "extending the right of suffrage" in 
Missouri restricted it to free white males, but 
who should also hold fifty acres of land in ac- 
cordance with the Ordinance of 1787. This 
restriction of suffrage to "free white males" is 
found in every subsequent territorial act to 
and including that of Montana passed in 1864, 
excepting those of Oregon and Washington 
in which the term "white male" is used. But, 
beginning with Wisconsin, and until Wyoming 
was reached, the legislative assemblies of the 
territories were left free by the organic acts 
to prescribe the qualifications of voters. 



CHAPTER VI 

The Mormons in Nebraska 



THE religious sect, self-styled Latter Day 
Saints, but commonly known as Mor- 
mons, arose in the state of New York in the 
year 1830. On account of their fanatical reli- 
gious zeal and some of their tenets and prac- 
tices, which were inconsistent or incompatible 
with the civilization surrounding them, this pe- 
culiar people enuilated "Little Jo" in the desire 
or necessity for moving on. The principal body 
of them had drifted as far west as Missouri, 



suiting in the assassination of the prophet, Jo- 
seph Smith, and his brother Hyruni, the 
"Great Patriarch," in January. 1846, the coun- 
cil of the church proclaimed the intention of 
the sect once more to move on, and this time to 
their final retreat at Salt Lake, beyond the 
great range of mountains, which were 
then an vmsurmountable Ijarrier to the advanc- 
ing civilization of the Plains. But 1;)efore this, 
September 9, 1845, it had been determined to 




Eiif^roring from an ml f^tiiiiting i'l llic f^attu'C of Brigliam Vonn^ 

Joseph Smith Hvrum Smith 

Founder of the Mormon clinrch Great Patrinrcli 



where they had settled in comparative isola- 
tion in Caldwell, Clay, and Jackson counties. 
Driven from their locality \)y hostile public 
opinion or prejudice, in 1S40, they were 
at first welcomed to the neighborhood in 
Illinois nearly opposite the mouth of the 
Des ]\Ioines river, where they founded the 
town of Nauvoo. After little more than 
five years spent in this ha\en, the latter 
of which were given to riotous troubles re- 



send at once an advance party to the general 
rendezvous. The first detachment, comprising 
about sixteen hundred men, women and chil- 
dren, and including the principal officers of the 
church, started westward early in Feliruary, 
the main body following in detachments, at 
intervals ; and during the spring months as 
many as 16.000 persons and 2.000 wagons 
were ferried across the Mississi])pi. These 
poorlv equipjied and provisioned unfortunates 



THE MORMONS IN NEBRASKA 



139 



suffered indescribable hardships, which were 
increased by the unusual severity of the winter. 
When spring had fairly opened, scarcely half 
the journey across Iowa had been accomplished. 

Portions of the emigrants settled on the 
lands of the Sac and Fox Indians, where they 
proceeded to develop farms and to erect log 
houses which were to serve as camps for those 
who were to follow the pioneers. Other camps, 
some of them of a permanent character, were 
established along the route — at Sugar Creek, 
Richardson Point, Lost Camp, Locust Creek, 
Sargeants Grove, Campbells Grove, and Indian 
Town. Many remained at these places on ac- 
count of the lack of means for proceeding, and 
some returned to the eastern states. As many 
as 12,000 were at Garden Grove, Mt. Pisgah, 
and in settlements west of these places. Pres- 
ident Brigham Young, "with a number of 
prominent brethren," reached the Missouri 
river on the 14th of June, 1846, at a point 
near the present Council Bluffs. They camped 
in the hills until a ferry boat could be built. 
The boat was launched on the 29th and the 
next day the emigrants began to cross the 
river. The other companies, as they arrived 
from time to time, camped at Council Point, 
Mynster Springs, Rushville, and Traders 
Point. Though all beyond the Missouri was 
"Indian country" and forbidden to settlement 
or invasion by white men, these determined 
pioneers pushed westward, opening roads and 
building bridges across the Papillion and the 
Elkhoni for the passage of the main body. 
Some of these forerunners went as far as the 
Pawnee villages in the fall of 1846, and then 
proceeded to the northward, wintering near 
the mouth of the Niobrara river, where they 
received a friendly welcome from the Indians 
in that locality. They spent the winter in 
improvised shanties, some of cottonwood logs, 
but many of much less substantial and pre- 
tentious construction. 

The main body of the Mormons crossed the 
Missouri river by the ferry at Florence and by 
Sarpy's ferry at Traders Point. The principal 
camp was at Cutler's park to the northwest of 
the last named ferry. Here they entered into 
friendly relations with Big Elk. the noted 



Omaha chief, and obtained permission to re- 
main in that neighborhood for two years. By 
the end of the summer of 1846 upwards of 
12,000 Mormons were in the camps on both 
sides of the Missouri river. 

Soon after the Alexican war broke out Gen- 
eral Kearny gave Captain James Allen au- 
thority to enlist soldiers among the Mormons, 
and he raised, in two weeks, a battalion of five 
companies — "nearly 600 souls" ; but this event 
delayed the start across the plains until the 
next year. At Fort Leavenworth each soldier 
received a bounty of $40, which was largely 
used for relieving the extreme wants of the 
people in the Mormon camps. 

During the summer and fall of 1846 the 
camps were infected by a scrofulous or ma- 
larial disease which had been very fatal among 
the Indians during the previous year. As 
many as 600 of the Mormons died at the Flor- 
ence camp. The pestilence returned each sum- 
mer up to 1851, and invaded the camps on 
both sides of the Missouri river. 

The great camp on the site of the present 
Florence was called "Winter Quarters," and 
there some 3,500 of the emigrants spent the 
severe winter of 1846-1847. By December, 
1846, this magic village counted 538 log and 
83 sod houses, which were symmetrically ar- 
ranged along regularly laid-out streets. Brig- 
ham Young, the masterful director of this 
remarkable enterprise, described the village as 
follows : 

The buildings were generally of logs, from 
twelve to eighteen feet long; a few were split 
and made from linn (linden or basswood) and 
cottonwood timber ; many roofs were made by 
splitting oak timber into boards, called shakes, 
about three feet long and six inches wide, and 
kept in place by weights and poles; others 
were made of willows, straw, and earth, about 
a foot thick. Some of puncheons. Many cab- 
ins had no floors ; there were a few dug-outs 
on the side hills — the fireplace was cut out at 
the upper end. The ridge pole was supported 
by two uprights in the center and roofed with 
straw and earth, with chimneys of prairie sod. 

The doors were made of shakes with wooden 
hinges and a string latch ; the inside of the log 
house was daubed with clay ; a few had stoves. 

Schools, churches, and the ecclesiastical- 



140 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



civic government peculiar to the Mormons 
were established in Winter Quarters. An ex- 
pensive flouring mill was built, the machinery 
for which cost as much as $8,000. During 
the winter the women made large numbers of 
willow baskets ; and for the lack of forage 
several thousand cattle were wintered on the 
Iowa side of the river in Harrison and Monona 
counties, where they fed on the rush bottoms, 
said to have been extensive there at that time. 

Both of the "twin relics of barbarism" were 
planted, though temporarily, in Nebraska. 
The Mormons practiced polygamy, to some 
extent at least, at Winter Quarters ; but the 
statement that Brigham Young's own inven- 
tory of his family counted sixty-six, though 
apologetically the narrator insists that some 
of the children were his only by adoption, 
should be accepted as an illustration of the 
fact that polygamy existed and not as a fact 
itself. In the large octagonal council house 
the revelations concerning the grand march 
to Salt Lake, which Young had received in 
fore-handed season — during the month of 
January — were formally arranged and con- 
firmed. The Cutler's park camp had been 
moved to Winter Quarters in October, and 
the advance guard returned from their win- 
ter's sojourn at Niobrara in the spring of 
1847. 

Heber C. Kimball started six teams west- 
ward on the 5th of April, 1847, and the party 
went into camp on the Elkhorn ; but Kim- 
ball returned to Winter Quarters to attend 
the conference held on the 6th, at which the 
final arrangements were made for the de- 
parture of the pioneer band, which was to 
explore the Rocky mountain basin in search 
of a final rest for the saints. Besides Young 
and Kimball, prominent among those who 
attended this remarkable conference, of 
great social interest and import, were Wil- 
ford Woodruff, Orson Pratt, George A. 
Smith, Willard Richards, Amasa Lyman, 
and Ezra T. Benson. These were of the 
twelve apostles. 

On Wednesday, April 7, 1847, this pioneer 
band moved out of Winter Quarters, and 
after the first dav's inarch thev halted at the 



rendezvous which had been established by 
Kimball on the Elkhorn river two days be- 
fore. Here the final apportionment of goods 
to be carried and other arrangements in de- 
tail were made. On the 8th another party 
started for the rendezvous ; and on the 9th 
still another, including Brigham Young and 
Heber C. Kimball. This party joined others 
who had assembled at Cutler's park, and 
they camped the first night four miles east 
of Papillion creek. The main body of the 
pioneer band reached the Elkhorn river on 
the nth. The leaders returned from these 
outposts from time to time to Winter Quar- 
ters ; but on the 14th the final departure 
took place, the last wagons leaving at two 
o'clock in the afternoon. Brigham Young 
and other prominent leaders were in this 
party. They traveled nineteen miles that 
day and camped near Papillion creek, and 
reached the Elkhorn the next day half an 
hour before noon. The river was crossed 
on a raft which had been constructed by the 
advance band. On the 23d a part of the 
teams forded "the dangerous Loup Fork of 
the Platte." It was then decided that it was 
necessary to build a raft to assist in the 
crossing. On the 28th the party camped 
near the present site of Grand Island. They 
kept along the north side of the Platte river 
and reached Scotts Bluff, not far from the 
present Wyoming boundary, on the 27th of 
May. They entered Salt Lake valley July 
2ist, and on the 22d selected a camping 
ground on the present site of Salt Lake City. 
This pioneer band of Mormon emigrants 
comprised 149 people, including three 
women — Harriet Page Wheeler Young, 
wife of Lorenzo D. Young; Clara Decker 
Young, wife of Brigham Young; and Kllen 
Saunders Kimball, wife of Heber C. Kim- 
Ijall — 247 animals and 72 wagons. These 
were loaded with provisions and farm ma- 
chinery. This itinerary is from the record 
of the journal kept by Apostle Orson Pratt, 
who measured the distance from Winter 
Quarters to the eighth ward square. Salt 
Lake City, as i,o54''4 miles. 



THE MORMONS IN NEBRASKA 



141 



Brigham Young started back to Winter 
Quarters on the 26th of August with a party 
of 107 persons, arriving October 31st. 

After the departure of the pioneer band 
from Winter Quarters, the others who were 
able to travel organized a company called 
the First Immigration. It comprised 1,553 
people, with about 560 wagons with a large 
amount of live stock and poultry. This ex- 
pedition was under command of Parley P. 
Pratt and John Taylor, and it reached Salt 
Lake valley in several divisions during the 
fall of 1847. The consummate organizing 
ability of Brigham Young, if not of others 
of the Mormon leaders, was shown in this 
great exodus from Nebraska. Young, who 
went with the pioneer band, was chosen 
lieutenant-general. The subsequent expedi- 
tions were organized and conducted with 
military precision, being divided into com- 
panies of 100 each, subdivided into bands of 
50 and squads of 10, each of the companies 
being commanded by a captain, and all 
under the authority and command of the 
high council of the church. Outriders se- 
lected each camp on the day preceding, and 
formed a skirmish line. The wagons pro- 
ceeded in a double column and at every im- 
portant halting place were formed in two 
arcs of circles, openings being left between 
the sections ; the tongues of the wagons 
pointed outward, each front wheel lapping 
the hind wheel of the next wagon. The 
cattle were confined inside this efifective cor- 
ral and fortification, and guards were sta- 
tioned at the two openings. The people, 
for the reason presumably that they were 
not, like the cattle, subject to stampede, 
took their chances in tents pitched outside 
the ramparts. When the camp abutted on 
a large stream, the wagons were arranged 
in a semicircle, each extremity resting upon 
the river, which answered for a defense on 
that side. Overlapping extensions widened 
the wagon beds to six feet, and they were 
laden with farm machinery, grains for seed 
and provender, and the familiar coops of 
chickens. The larger prairie schooners 
were drawn by six oxen ; but there were all 



sizes and grades of vehicles between this 
king' of emigrant travel and a cart drawn 
by a single cow. The wily and wary In-- 
dians soon discovered the perfect armed 
organization of the Mormons, and with the 
exception of occasional attempts to stam- 
pede the cattle, they traversed the country of 
the hostiles without serious attempts at de- 
predation or attack. 

In May, 1848, Brigham Young headed an 
expedition from Winter Quarters, compris- 
ing 1,229 people and 397 wagons; Heber C. 
Kimball headed another in July, comprising 
662 people and 226 wagons ; and Willard 




Brigh.^m Young 
Richards, following not long after with 526 
persons and 169 wagons, left Winter Quar- 
ters a deserted camp. The general Mormon 
emigration over this route continued to be 
extensive, though gradually falling ofif, till 
as late as 1852. The route of emigration 
from Great Britain was by way of New 
Orleans up the Mississippi and Missouri 
rivers to Independence, and thence by the 
Oregon trail, or for those who preferred it, 
the old route to Council Point near Kanes- 
ville. The principal crossing was at Beth- 
lehem, opposite the mouth of the Platte 



142 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



river. Old Fort Kearney, and subsequent 
to 1856, Wyoming, Otoe county, shared this 
northern Mormon travel. It now followed 
along the south side of the Platte to New 
Fort Kearney. "The trail officially recog- 
nized and directed was along the north 
bank of the Platte, leaving Kanesville by 
way of Crescent, making a rendezvous at 
Boyer Lake or Ferryville, crossing the river 
to the abandoned Winter Quarters, then to 
the Elkhorn rendezvous, with ferries ovei 
the Elkhorn and Loup. All the sunflower 
trails converged at Fort Laramie. The 
North Plate route was deemed the more 
healthful, and was thus constantly urged and 
recommended by the church authorities at 
Kanesville. Orson Hyde counted 500 graves 
on the trail south of the Platte and but 
three north of the Platte, from the Missouri 
to Fort Laramie." 

Several thousand Mormons, through dis- 
affection or lack of means for traveling, re- 
mained in the Missouri valley — in south- 
western Iowa; and as late as 1853 Potta- 
wattamie county was under their complete 
political control, which was exercised in the 
choice of political officers, including mem- 



bers of the legislature, with the same rigid 
exclusiveness that has characterized their 
governinent in L'tah, and which is charac- 
teristic of all combinations of religious 
zealots. 

The inevitable depredations of the ag- 
gressive Mormons upon the groves of tim- 
ber adjacent to their camps west of the 
Missouri caused serious trouble with the In- 
dians within a year after the settlement on 
that side ; and those who had not emigrated 
westward were obliged to settle on the 
eastern side of the river by permission of 
the Pottawattomies to remain there for five 
years. They settled in the Indian creek 
valley, in the heart of the present site of 
Council Bluffs, gathering around an old 
block house there which belonged to the 
United States. The settlement was at first 
called "Miller's Hollow," after the Mormon 
bishop, Miller; Colonel Thomas L. Kane, 
brother of Elisha Kent Kane, the arctic ex- 
plorer, was possessed of a dominant spirit, 
and though a gentile was friendly to the 
Mormons ; so Kanesville supplanted the 
original name bestowed by or in honor of 
their own bishop. 



CHAPTER VII 



The First Governor- 



- RivAE Towns — Oet-anization — Election Precincts 
Capital Controvbrsv — First Election 



First 



GOV ERN OR BURT- Francis -Burt 
was already a man of mark in the 
nation when, at the age of forty-seven 
years, he was appointed by President 
FrankHn Pierce,.Jh.e.. first governor of Ne- 
braska.^ His previous training and expe- 
rience in political public service excelled 
that of any governor^9f the state. He was a 
lawyer'^Py" profession, but at an early age 
began to take an active part in politics. He 
was a member of the famous nullification 
convention of South Carolina — his native 
state — in 1832, and then, at the age of 
twenty-five, began a career of nearly con- 
tinuous membership in the state legislature, 
initil in 1844 he was elected state treasurer. 
From 1847 to 185 1 he was editor of the 
Pendleton Messenger. In 1852 he sat as a 
member of the constitutional convention of 
his state, and was then again elected a mem- 
ber of the legislature. In 1853, soon after 
the inauguration of President Pierce, he 
was appointed third auditor of the treasury 
of the United States, and it is said that his 
executive services in that department until 
he was relieved by the appointment as gov- 
ernor were unusually efficient. 

A glance at the famous nullification con- 
vention and the conditions out of which it 
grew, reveals in an interesting way the po- 
litical character of the first governor of Ne- 
braska and political conditions in the coun- 
try when the territory started on its organ- 
ized career. Roughly speaking, the north- 
ern states in the first quarter of the nine- 
teenth century were looking mainly to 
manufactures, while the southern states 
were looking to agriculture. As a growing 



sentiment against slavery became manifest 
in the North about this time, alarm for its 
safety had begun in the South. While the 
sentiment of the people of the South was, 
for economic reasons, naturally against a 
protective tariff which, while it taxed their 
importations, could not benefit them, since 
they had no expectations of developing 
manufactures, yet the doctrine of rigid con- 
struction of powers of the Constitution, 
which they began to advocate about this 
time, was intended primarily as a defense 
against congressional interference with 
slavery. 

But these economic conditions were the 
immediate occasion, if they were not the 
prime cause of the attempt to nullify the 
protective tariff acts of 1828 and 1832. South 
Carolina had cast her industrial fortunes 
upon agriculture alone, and upon a single 
Ijranch of agriculture, namely, cotton grow- 
ing. Cotton was therefore the only impor- 
tant domestic product which the people of 
South Carolina had to exchange for the 
manufactured necessaries and luxuries then 
imported from European countries, and they 
felt and resented the high tariff of 1828 and 
1832 as a direct and heavy burden upon 
their means of subsistence. And so they 
then and there began the rebellion which 
ripened in i860 and ended in 1S65. 

In his message to the special session of 
the legislature which had been called to pro- 
vide for the convention. Governor James 
Hamilton, Jr., insisted that the Union was 
"a confederacy composed of coequal and 

1 William O. Butler of Kentucky had been previ- 
ously appointed governor of Nebraska territorv, but 
declined the office. Harper's Monthly, vol. i.x. p. 398. 



144 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



The resolutions 
which the convention adopted declared that 
the objectionable tariff laws "are unauthor- 
ized by the Constitution of the United 
States, and violate the true meaning and 
intent thereof, and are null, void and no law, 
not binding upon the state, its officers or 
citizens" ; that it was the duty of the legis- 



Court, and that any attempt by federal 
authority to enforce the tariff laws would 
absolve the state from the Union.- Twenty- 
six members of the convention had the 
courage to vote against the adoption of the 
ordinance, but Governor Burt was not of 
them. He was one of the 136 voting aye.^ 
And yet when we consider times and con- 




From a photosraph owned by the Nebraska State Historical Society 

Francis Burt 
First governor of Nebraska territory 



lature to adopt measures to enforce the or- 
dinance and prevent the enforcement and 
arrest the operation of the acts annulled ; 
that no suits brought in the state courts in- 
volving the validity of the ordinance or leg- 
islative enactments to enforce it should be 
appealed to the United States Supreme 



ditions, this drastic and revolutionary act 
should not excite our wonder. We may not 
affirm that Massachusetts would not then 
have acted similarly under similar serious 
provocation. There was as yet no strong 

- Niles' Register, vol. xliii, p. 219. 
^Ibid., p. 277. 



THE FIRST GOVERNOR 



145 



or distinct comprehension of the importance 
or sacredness or inviolability of the union ; 
and an adequate sentiment of this sort 
could only be awakened by a shock. The 
first awakening shock came with the clash 
of Jackson's imperious championship of a 
real union against this very South Carolina 
doctrine of the rope of sand — of nullifica- 
tion. The final shock did not come till the 
day of Appomattox. In 1854, as in 1832, 
the South dominated the Union, South ■ 
Carolina dominated the South, and the Burt 
family were to the South Carolina manner 
born, and were of influential standing in 
that turbulent, intractable, and irrepressible 
commonwealth. 

Armistead Burt was even more promi- 
nent in public affairs than his younger 
brother, our Nebraska governor. He was 
a member of the House of Representatives 
for five consecutive terms, from 1843 to 
1853, and was temporary speaker of the 
Thirtieth Congress for a short time during the 
illness of the speaker. He survived, the 
Civil war, politically as well as physically, 
and was a member of the South Carolina 
legislature of 1865 which enacted the "black 
code," and in 1876 assisted General Wade 
Hampton in the revolutionary political 
movement which rid the state of the carpet- 
bag regime. Episodes in his career in Con- 
gress, at the time when Douglas was first 
undertaking the political organization of the 
vast northwest territory known as Ne- 
braska, indicate the short-sighted, imperi- 
ous presumption and narrow provincialism 
of the pro-slavery sentiment, which was to 
overreach itself in the repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise by the Nebraska bill — the first 
step toward its self-destruction, secession 
being the second, and war the third and 
last. On the 21st of February, 1844, there 
was a sharp debate in the House over an 
attempt on the part of anti-slavery members 
to ignore or set aside the rule made by the 
Twenty-fifth Congress excluding petitions for 
the abolition of slavery, and Mr. Burt, answer- 
ing Eeardsley of New York, uttered the 
following fiery speech: 

Language is impotent to express the in- 



tensity of scorn and contempt with which 
South Carolina regards the miserable, up- 
start morality of the North which attempts 
to hold up her domestic institutions to the 
odium of the world. . . The gentleman 
from Maine (Severance) has told the House 
that that class of petitions will never cease 
until Congress does its duty by abolishing 
slavery in the District of Columbia ; but I 
beg permission to say that whenever that 
discussion is raised in this hall it will be the 
last subject that an American Congress will 
ever discuss here. The South would re- 
gard it as a declaration of war, and she 
would act accordingly. She would not al- 
low that government to which she had sur- 
rendered certain attributes of her sov- 
ereignty for the protection of this property 
to be permitted in any form to invade it.' 

It must have been obvious at the time 
that the settlers of Nebraska would be 
strongly anti-slavery in sentiment, and it is 
indicative of the subservient spirit of Mr. 
Pierce's administration that a man so widely 
distant in both sentiment and location 
should be sent to rule over them. Our 
wonder is increased by the reflection that 
the great hardships incident to traversing 
the vast physical distance cost the first gov- 
ernor his life. 

With the exception of the short beginning 
of the Milwaukee & Mississippi railroad — 
from Milwaukee, the Chicago & Rock Is- 
land to the Mississippi, and a few spurs or 
beginnings in Illinois, no railways had been 
built west of a line drawn north and south 
through Chicago. Most of the railways of 
the country were confined to southern 
Michigan, Ohio, and the northeastern and 
southeastern states. 

Governor Burt was commissioned Au- 
gust 2, 1854, and on the 11th of September 
following he left his home — Pendleton, 
South Carolina — for Nebraska, accompa- 
nied by his young son, Armistead, and sev- 
eral neighbors who intended to settle in the 
new territory. The party traveled by fre- 
quent alternations of private conveyance, 
"stage," railway, and steamboat. The ex- 
treme isolation of Nebraska and the pro- 
gress of railways toward the west at that 
time are illustrated in an interesting man- 



* Cong. Globe, vol. xiii, pp. 303-304. 



146 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ner Ijy the account of this journey given in 
a recent letter to the editor from Dr. Armi- 
stead Burt at his home in New Mexico. 

From Chicago they might have gone by 
the Chicago and Rock Island railroad, which 
had been completed to the Mississippi river 
earlier in the year 1854, but since they could 
go part of the way to St. Louis by railroad 
and the rest of the journey by steamboat 
they preferred that route rather than to 
cross the unsettled plains of Iowa by 
wagon. 

This very complicated and difficult guber- 
natorial journey was suggestive of the con- 
temporary condition of politics and of the 
hard road over which Douglas, with his 
new whip of popular sovereignty, as em- 
bodied in the Nebraska bill, was attempt- 
ing to drive the democratic, party. And 
yet, though the course of the governor and 
that of the intrepid leader of the democracy 
alike led to tragic disaster, it is doubtful 
that either could have chosen a better or 
wiser one. Comparison of the material and 
political condition of the country at that 
time, as illustrated by these aims and strug- 
gles of Burt and of Douglas, with present 
conditions reveals the miracle that has been 
wrought within the memory of living men. 
Governor Burt was very ill when he 
reached St. Louis and was obliged to stop 
over there several days, confined to his bed. 
By the time he reached Bellevue, on the 
7th of October, he had grown still worse, 
and he continued to sink until his death, 
which occurred October i8th. He took the 
oath of office on the i6th, before Chief Jus- 
tice Ferguson, and so was governor two 
days. 

Correspondence between Mrs. Burt and 
her husband shows that she repined over 
his absence at his post in Washington, and 
when he submitted to her the question of 
his acceptance of the governorship of Ne- 
braska she replied eagerly that she would 
go anywhere if they could only be together. 
These letters show that it was the govern- 
or's intention to live permanently in Ne- 
braska, and his wife urged tenderlv that he 



deserved a wider field for his abilities than 
was afforded by the little isolated town of 
Pendleton. It appears also that before the 
Nebraska appointment came they bitterly 
resented the failure of President Pierce to 
appoint Mr. Burt governor of Kansas ac- 
cording to a promise which they under- 
stood he had made. The story of the gov- 
ernor's funeral journey back to Pendleton 
and to the wife is in pathetic contrast to the 
eager hope and solicitude she had expressed 
for a permanent family home, though in an 
unknown and immeasurably distant coun- 
try. 

On the 19th of October, Acting Governor 
Cuming appointed Barton Green, Col. Ward 
B. Howard, James Doyle, and W. R. Jones 
as an escort for the body of Governor Burt 
to his South Carolina home. They were al- 
lowed from the contingent fund $2 a day and 
actual traveling expenses, and the boy, Ar- 
mistead Burt, was allowed traveling ex- 
penses to Pendleton. 

It has already been pointed out that west- 
ern border lowans were the self-constituted 
but logical "next friends'' of prospective 
Nebraska, and the following picture of con- 
ditions and prospects of the coming terri- 
tor}- drawn by Mr. Henn, representative 
from western Iowa, in a speech in the House 
of Representatives, March 3, 1854, already 
quoted from, should be regarded as fairly 
true to nature : 

Ten years ago we looked for a further 
west, and for a time when Iowa was to be 
a frontier state no longer. Step by step 
that emigrating spirit, which first breathed 
.\merican air on Plymouth Rock, was look- 
ing forward to the beautiful valleys of the 
Platte and the Kansas. Nebraska, a name 
familiar only to Indian ears, was in a few 
short months becoming a watchword for the 
frontier settlers. The year 1846 found not 
a few on the banks of the Missouri await- 
ing legal authority to cross and occupy 
"those green meadows prepared by nature's 
hand." In the summer of 1853 not less than 
3,000 souls had assembled on the frontiers 
of Iowa ready to make their future home on. 
that soil.^ 

' -Appendix Cong. Globe, vol. xxi.x, p. 88S. 



RIVAL TOWNS 



147 



He then goes on to say that he had voted 
against the measure for territorial organi- 
zation a year ago to save the rights of the 
Indians, but in favor of appropriations for 
securing treaties since made. According 
to rehable estimates, he said, there were now 
in Nebraska 9,000,000 acres of land ob- 
tained from the Indians by purchase and 
treaty, and 12,133,120 acres heretofore 
owned by the United States — in all, 21,- 
133,120 acres open for settlement. 

Replying to the objection raised by op- 
ponents of the bill that "there are no peo- 
ple in the country proposed to be organized 
except Indians, half-breeds, traders, soldiers, 
and those in the employ of the Indian 



Rival Towns. But in numbers, aspira- 
tions, and hopes the carpet-bag politicians 
and other promoters of the infant territory 
were as great as its actual population was 
small, and the townsites did not fall below 
them in any of the qualities named. The 
first number of the Arrozv makes a round- 
up of those worthy of notice. 

These pioneers attached great impor- 
tance to the esthetic quality of the sites of 
the future cities, and it was exploited to the 
utmost in the acrimonious controversies 
over the respective merits of Omaha and 
Bellevue. To the Palladium's observation 
that "Belleview is admitted by every im- 
portant observer to be the most command- 




From drawing by Geo. Simons, in the frontier sketch book of N. P. Dodge 

First Claim Cabin in Nebr.^ska 
Built by Daniel Norton, between Omaha and Bellevue, in 1853 



bureau," Mr. Henn said that a few months 
ago this was no doubt the case, because the 
people of the frontier were law-abiding and 
unwilling to interfere with the regulations 
of the government which forbade their oc- 
cupancy of the country. Yet an intelligent 
citizen had informed him that two months 
since there were between five hundred and 
six hundred whites within that territory by 
permission of officers of the government — 
three hundred at Fort Laramie, two hundred 
at Fort Kearney, and feeventy-five scattered 
at other points. Within three days after 
the passage of the bill, he asserted, there 
would be not less than three thousand peo- 
ple in Nebraska ; and the same conditions 
existed in Kansas. 



ing and beautiful location," the Arrow re- 
plies that Omaha "is nevertheless a hand- 
some place"; and in detail: "It occupies a 
beautiful plateau, sloping well to the river. 
The view is extensive and pic- 
turesque, taking in a .long reach of the river 
both up and down, the broad, rich bottom 
lands dotted over with fields, houses and 
cattle, and a strange, romantic, and be- 
wildering background of indented and 
variously formed bluffs." 

Nor was the industrious promulgation of 
this early "Iowa idea" confined to the local 
field. In the same issue of the Arrozv is 
copied correspondence of the old Ohio State 
Journal which tells the old, old story : 

But the site which seems to me to contain 



148 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



the most advantages is that of the city of 
Omaha. . . The plat is most beautiful 
and attractive. . . Several gentlemen 
of capital and great influence are interested 
in this new city and a regular survey and 
platting of premises is now going on. Be- 
ing so near Council Bluft's, the only town 
of any size in western Iowa, it has many ad- 
vantages as the seat of government, and a 
vigorous efifort is being made by those hav- 
ing influence in the right quarter to secure 
that object. A public square and a state 
house will be donated by the company for 
this purpose. If it succeeds Omaha will at 
once take rank as the first city in Nebraska, 
and if the roads come to Council Bluffs it 
will, whether it becomes the capital or not, 
assume an important position. 



his reckoning. He could with some safety 
discount the influences around him which, 
about two years later, diverted the Rock 
Island down the Mosquito to Council Bluffs 
from its intended route down Pigeon creek 
to a terminus at the rock-bottom crossing 
opposite Florence. And while this reason 
was not free from the hit-or-miss element 
and the influence of the wish over the 
thought, yet it foreshadowed a great eco- 
nomic fact. Here the railway was to pre- 
cede occupancy and growth, and so, during 
an exceptionally long period of commercial 
and political dominance was to receive, if 
not to exact, from its creatures recognition. 




Drazvtng by Sunoiis, froui .V. i-'. Dodge skctcii booi: 

BellevuE. Nebraska, 1856 
No. 1 (near center), old home of Peter A. Sarpy; No. 2 (in fore- 
ground), Sarpy's new home; No. 3, Indian mission; hill on extreme 
right, present site of Bellevue College. 



We may well believe that these esthetic 
conceits would be much less obtruded in a 
contest for the choice of a site of a capital 
in the face of the more dominant commer- 
cial spirit of the present. But our beauty- 
struck pioneers did not, after all, miss the 
main chance ; for in the same article the 
Arroiv significantly observes that, "in full 
view, and due east, is Council Bluft's City. 
the great and well known local point of the 
Iowa railroads." 

While this mouthpiece of Council Bluft's 
spoke wide of the fact — for that place had 
not been fixed upon then as the objective of 
any railroad — yet he did not speak without 



and obeisance as the creator of the com- 
monw-ealth. 

At the beginning Nebraska was a state 
without people, and it remained so, vir- 
tually, until their forerunners, the railroads, 
opened the way for and brought them. This 
phenomenon distinguishes the settlement 
of the trans-Missouri plains from that of 
the country eastward of them. There the 
railways followed the people. Here they 
preceded the people, and hither, as self- 
created immigration bureaus, they both 
persuaded and carried them. It was when 
the railways, having" crossed Illinois and 
having been projected across Iowa, pointed 



RI\'AL TOWNS 



149 



the way to the occupancy of the Plains that 
the people collected on the eastern bank 
of the Missouri river barrier and cast a 
wistful eye to the Nebraska Canaan. 

On these Plains, in their isolated state, 
the industrial arts were impracticable ; 
there was only the soil capable of produc- 
ing; staple foods. Until the railways came 
to carry the staple products of the soil to 
the far eastern market, and to bring back in 
exchange all the other necessities of life, in- 
cluding, besides the indispensable fuel, the 
very tools and material for cultivating the 
soil, the erection of shelter for man and 
beast and for all other improvements, life 
could be endurable only along the Missouri 
river, and comfortable nowhere. So great 
was the extremity in this beginning of civil- 
ized utilization of these Plains that even 
statesmen, usually the most ubiquitous of 
all ov:r animals, were wanting, necessitating 
the importation of members of Congress 
and even of the local legislature. 

The pleasantries and sarcasms of the 
mouthpieces of the two principal and rival 
towns lay bare, like searchlights, the ex- 
treme slenderness of the foundations on 
which the political beginning was to rest. 
The Arrozv of October 13, 1854, referring 
to a reception at Bellevue prepared for 
Governor Burt on his arrival, says it was 
reported that there were fifteen persons 
present — -"all the citizens and some neigh- 
bors." The Palladium of the week before 
had a sarcastic account of the editor's visit 
to Omaha. He tells us that after landing 
from the steam ferry-boat: 

We expected the beauty of the location 
would manifest itself at first glance, and 
then the commanding features we had often 
read of in the Arrozv, would at once claim 
our attention. But, instead of this we 
looked around wondering which way to go 
to find the city. We were at a loss at first 
to satisfy ourselves that it was actually 
spread out before us, and much more to 
identify the locality of its commanding 
point — -the focus of business. 

And then the outraged Arrozv lets fly in 
this spirited fashion, and though we are 
thankful for the information about Omaha 



which is disclosed by the retort, we cannot 
but feel that it is relatively blunt: 

Focus of business indeed ! Four months 
ago there was not a family upon this spot 
nor a house reared. Now there are two 
stores and some twenty houses, with a score 
more in progress. Query : Where is the 
"focus of business" at Belleview? When 
there has been one house reared upon the 
commanding site we shall not farther in- 
trude so impertinent an inquiry. The city 
of Belleview is easily found, not a building 
nor a pile of material obstructs the vision. 

The same number of the Arrozv an- 
nounced that arrangements had been made 




Charles H. Dow.\s 
Pioneer of Omaha, Nebraska 

at Omaha for a reception to Governor Burt 
"in a style which would have done credit to 
many an older place." The committee of 
reception were Charles B. Smith, Alfred 
D. Jones, William R. Rogers, Robert B, 
Whitted, Michael Murphy, William Clancy, 
Samuel A. Lewis, Charles H. Downs, Wil- 
liam N. Byers, and William Wright. The 
committee of arrangements were T. Allen, 
Charles B. Smith, David Lindley, Alexan- 
der Davis, and Charles H. Downs. "Both 
committees will continue in their respective 
stations until such time as the governor's 
health will justify their action." But the 
committees continued in their respective 
stations till, one by one, so far as is known. 



150 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



with the single exceptiun of Charles H. 
Downs, they have been summoned to fol- 
low the ruler they were to honor to the 
other shore where mayhap the long pre- 
|)ared reception has at last been held. 

Though Secretary Cuming, who, by the 
death of Governor Burt and the provision of 
the organic act, became acting governor, 
was to be architect of the organic begin- 
ning of Nebraska, yet in a deeper and 
broader sense the beginning had taken place 




First chief justice of the supreme court of the terri- 
tory of Nebraska 



in the summer and fall of 1854, on the ad- 
vent of the settlers who came filled with the 
anticipations and hopes, accustomed to the 
asperities, inured to the hardships, and con- 
scious of the constructive responsibilities 
and duties of pioneer life. For fifty-one 
years after its acquisition the land these 
l)ioneers had come to possess had been an 
unorganized ])rairie wilderness. During all 
that time the geographers had described it 



as a part of the Great American Desert, un- 
fit for agriculture — of too arid a climate 
and too lean a soil to attract or sustain any 
considerable permanent civilized population. 
Organization. There were neither laws 
nor political organization. The bare and 
ill-defined territorial boundary was the only 
finger-mark of civilization or sign of civil- 
ized control. Writer and reader are able to 
remember that the nearest railway was yet 
three hundred miles from our borders. Re- 
liable estimates that property values, real 
and personal, are over three thousand mil- 
lion dollars in 1917 show the miracle 
wrought by these beginners whose creed 
has' been faith and good works. And this 
enormous and almost incomprehensible sum 
vested in the farms, homes, manufactories, 
railroads, and other belongings of Nebraska 
has been accumulated almost wholly by the 
tillage of its fecund soil. The homely art 
of plowing and the faithful labor of plant- 
ing, fused with domestic economy and good 
management by individual citizens, have popu- 
lated, organized, and developed the resources 
of the ninety-three counties, caused all 
the beautiful homes, the fruitful orchards, 
the bountiful crops, the thriving plants of 
manufacture, and the prosperous towns and 
cities to arise like exhalations upon the 
jjrairies. Then the most hopeful and pro- 
Ijhetic hardly expected to see any acre of Ne- 
braska land sold for agricultural purposes 
during his life for more than twenty-five 
dollars, or thought that improvement was 
practicable more than forty to sixty miles 
beyond our eastern border. Land in and 
of itself has no more exchangeable value 
than air and water; it depends for its value 
on human efTort put forth upon it, or in re- 
lation to it. As lately as 1866 one could 
get agricultural college scrip for fifty to 
seventy cents an acre. The value of lands 
then expressed in cents must be now ex- 
pressed in like luimbers of dollars. 

I offered to sell to some parties in New 
York City twenty thousand acres of Otoe 
county land for twenty thousand dollars. 
The proposition was based upon an option 



ORGANIZATION 



131 



of twenty thousand acres of college scrip, 
belonging to the state of Maryland, which a 
friend had secured for me. Elated at the 
prospect of making forty cents an acre I 
went in great haste to the city of New York, 
and there for two weeks labored to impress 
upon the minds of possible purchasers my 
faith that the land would be worth five or 
ten dollars an acre in ten or fifteen years. 
But, while they listened to my descrip- 
tions of the soil, its possibilities in produc- • 
tiveness, and my forecasts of future values, 
not a man of the wealthy financiers with 
whom I labored, and all of them had idle 
money, would buy an acre. The scheme fell 
through because, in the judgment of the 
New Yorkers, we were too remote from 
means of transportation." 

No railroad touched the east bank of the 
INIissouri opposite Nebraska until 1867. 
Then the Northwestern reached Council 
Bluits, and offered the farmers of this state 
their first rail connection with Chicago and 
the markets of the east. Those rails were 
laid in relation to Nebraska lands. The 
Rock Island and the Burlington soon fol- 
lowed, and, together with the Union Pacific 
and other railrc>ad lines on the west bank 
of the Missouri, contributed to establish 
land values from the river to the foothills 
of the mountains. 

The acting governor of Nebraska, Thomas 
B. Cuming, ostensibly lived on the town- 
site of Omaha, but he really abode at Coun- 
cil Bluft's. The city of Omaha had a popu- 
lation not e-xceeding one hundred and fifty. 
It had no hotel, only a half dozen finished 
cabins, a few shanties, and a tavern in pro- 
cess of erection to be called the Douglas 
House ; and neither man nor beast could yet 
find comfort there in the way of board and 
lodging. Of tawny autumnal color, the un- 
broken plains stretched from that hamlet to 
the Rocky mountains like a gigantic can- 
vas awaiting only the touch of intelligent 
industry to make it glow with all the vivid 
shades and colorings of modern civilization. 
But precedent to all enterprise and develop- 
ment was required the establishment of 
order, civil organization, and law. The 
organic act provided for that. The United 



States had authorized the president to ap- 
point for the territory a governor, a secre- 
tary, three district judges, a district attor- 
ney, and a marshal. President Franklin 
Pierce had named, and the Senate had con- 
firmed, Francis Burt of South Carolina, gov- 
ernor; Thomas B. Cuming of Iowa, secre- 
tary; Experience Estabrook of Wisconsin, 
United States district attornev ; Fenner Fer- 




J.\MIiS Br.'KDLEY 

Associate justice of the first supreme court of 
the territory of Nebraska 

guson of Michigan, chief justice; E. R. Har- 
den of Georgia and James Bradley of In- 
diana, associate justices of the supreme 
court ; and Mark W. Izard of Arkansas, 
United States marshal. Each of the judges 
of the supreme court was judge also of one 
of the three judicial districts. 

It will be seen that the carpet-bag system 
had full sway in that early day ; and under 
it the unfortunate territories, during their 
existence as such, continued to be the 
eleemosynary asylum for superannuated or 
superfluous politicians. In considering the 
question as to who should succeed Governor 

^ Personal recollections of J. Sterling Morton. 



152 



HISTORY Ol' NEBRASKA 



Burt, the Umalia Arroiv furnishes us at 
once a strong and discriminating character- 
ization of the pioneers — the more forceful 
and interesting because "written on the 
spot," and by one of them — and an at- 
tacl< on the carpet-bag system : 

It is with heartfelt gratitication that we 
witness the degree of patriotism and self- 
sacrifice manifested of late by persons 
throughout the territory desirous of serving 
the "dear people" in the capacity of your 
humble servant, in the small number of of- 
fices within the gift of an honest pioneer 
constituency. Cosily seated as we are in 
our prairie sanctum, we can watch the 
whole field with a degree of pleasure, an 
interest unappreciated by the aspiring pa- 
triots or, genteelly termed, Nebraska state 
office seekers. . . 

We see around us and all over our terri- 
tory needy aspirants for the forty represen- 
tative offices within the gift of a constitu- 
ency who have led the van in opening one 
of the loveliest countries the sun ever shone 
upon. We see persons anxious, eager, 
striving for the votes of a people upon 
whom the old fogy sobriquet of squatters 
has often been applied, yet a people as hon- 
est, as noble, as generous, as hospitable, as 
practically and theoretically democratic as 
any in this broad land of ours. They 
are our friends and we are emphati- 
call)^ theirs. They have come here, not as 
aspirants for political favors, or under out- 
side pressure for patronage, but have come 
like us, to rear a home on the frontier, and 
freed from the anti-progressive customs of 
old states, act and feel as God in His wis- 
dom intended man to act and feel. 

In selecting those, therefore, who are to 
represent and make laws, to govern and 
protect us, we want practical, honest men ; 
we want men who are even above the sus- 
picion of being influenced by motives of 
pecuniary interest ; men who know the 
country and people whom they represent, 
who have been identified with their inter- 
ests, who have worked and will continue to 
work for those interests. . . We are 
half inclined to believe that every battle- 
riddled politician, every boaster of bold 
I)oliticaI deeds of days gone by, every rant- 
ing politician should be left to pursue any 
other avocation than to serve the "dear peo- 
ple," and plain, practical, progressive men 
be allowed to act for us in the legislative 
halls. Of all the creatures that roam this 



fair land of ours, whom we really most pity, 
and whom we hold in supreme contempt 
that species of greedy aspirants that always 
hurry to a new country to court public 
favor, without basing their claims upon the 
shadow of a right, stand in the superlative 
degree. We have no faith in their prom- 
ises, no faith in their actions. They cannot 
pass the ordeal among Nebraska voters. 

But our editor, like all of them who perch 
upon the tripod of the "organ," is no fool 
to make a stumbling block of his consis- 
tency, and does not hesitate to mock that 
bauble jewel. On the same page with his 
settler of carpet-bagism he declares that the 
appointment of Izard from the alien Arkan- 
sas country "would meet with the hearty 
concurrence of the people," and he reen- 
forces a puf? of Secretary Cuming of the 
foreign state of Iowa for the same office, 
which he has clipped from an Iowa paper, 
with the assurance that "his many friends 
here would heartily rejoice at such a de- 
served promotion." 

And then in the next column our editor, 
giving full vent to his innate sentiment and 
fancy, answers the question at the head of 
his article, "'Who will be appointed gov- 
ernor of Nebraska?" in- this strain: 

This is a question of no little importance 
and one that we often hear asked. 

Although we were born and reared in the 
East and all our early associations are bound 
up in the hills, valleys, hemlock slopes and 
clay soils of the East, still we do not the 
less appreciate the energy, spirit, talent, use- 
fulness, and real perceptiveness of the 
pioneers of the West. We love them be- 
cause we know there is the real stuff in 
them that constitutes all that is excellent, 
noble, brave, exalted, and statesmanlike. We 
SDcak not of the mass, but of many of the 
choice spirits that compose that industrious 
and excellent class of society. 

Thejr leave the quiet firesides of home, 
often strewed with the luxuries to which 
their lives will in future be strangers, to the 
occupation and use of those who are less 
able to make a name and fortune for them- 
selves, or who are less ambitions to do a 
work that shall signalize them among those 
who are benefactors of their fellow crea- 
tures. 

Thev are those who retreat from the 



ORGANIZATION 



153 



pleasant haunts of youth, often sundering 
ties dearer than life to become an humble 
citizen of the great, the unbounded, the 
glorious West. Such heed not labor, toil, 
or privation, they are ever ready to meet 
the disappointment or success, and in this 
great school every day they receive a new 
lesson, and early become the true judges of 
human nature, the real philosophers of hu- 
man phenomena. Such a class of men can 
never be oppressed or borne down with 
servility or tyranny in any form, and of 
such are and will be the most intelligent and 
exalted statesmen of this continent. 

For 20 years have we been on the trail of 
the frontiers-men ; and for that time have 
we ever noticed that among the early set- 
tlers may be found the men who will dare 
anything and who are capable of everything. 
Such men, tho' as tame as a summer flower, 
and as submissive to right as is the ox to his 
owner ; still no men are better judges of 
right than themselves. They know the 
country, the locality, the wants and neces- 
sities of the people in their rude manners 
and customs, and there are no other class 
of men more capable of making laws or 
governing a country. 

We have noticed with some degree of in- 
terest the seldom failing practice by the 
chief executives of our Nation, of appoint- 
ing for the new territories men from coun- 
tries far removed, that know little or noth- 
ing of the people over which they are to 
exercise a brief authority. Men whose 
tastes, habits, peculiarities, predilections, 
and views have been directed in a channel 
far different, and altho' they may be num- 
bered among the best of men, they may be 
quite unfit for the position assigned them 
and unable to bear up physicially under the 
great changes they are forced to undergo. 

No, we assert it boldly and with a firm 
conviction of the correctness of our position. 
The Pioneers should for their Governor 
have a good, plain, practical, frontier man, 
one who is not afraid of the heat of sum- 
mer or the frosts of winter, that can sup 
from a prairie dog and still be a statesman. 
One whose talent and good sense is as dis- 
cernible in the rude cabin as the princely 
mansion. One who knows the people over 
which he is placed, as well as their wants 
and necessities. 

Give us such a man for Governor, and to 
such a one the people, the hardy pioneer, 
the energetic squatter, will subscribe with 
all their heart and soul. We look not at 



the outside; the roughest covering often 
hides the most brilliant gem, or the mine of 
wealth. Give us the men schooled in 
storms, or opposed by hurricanes of ad- 
versity. Such men are firm and unwaver- 
ing in purpose and are worth a thousand 
band-box or silk stocking gentry. 

On the i8th of October the death of Gov- 
ernor Burt, at the mission house in Belle- 
vue, was officially announced by Acting 
Governor Cuming. The proclamation of 
that death was the first executive act.' Thus 
the beginning of the life of a state which is 
indestructible was the official announce- 
ment of the death of its principal citizen, 
who saw only possibilities where others of 
his time and generation are permitted to 
experience great realities. 

Acting Governor Cuming was thirty years 
of age, a swarthy, compactly built man, 
with a head and features that plainly be- 
spoke power of will, sagacity, and courage. 
He was about five feet eight inches in 
height, and weighed perhaps one hundred 
and thirty pounds. His hair was dark and 
as straight as that of an Indian. His black 
eyes, flashing energy and determination, 
possessed also that charm which sturdy and 
intellectual training so largely contribute. 
He was a thoroughly educated man, a grad- 
uate of the University of Michigan, for en- 
tering which he had been carefully and 
rigorously prepared in Latin, Greek, and 
mathematics by his father, the Rev. Dr. 
Cuming, a distinguished clergyman of the 
Episcopal church in the Peninsular state. 
With a fine aptitude and versatility, Gov- 
ernor Cuming had entered journalism zeal- 
ously for his life calling, and was, when ap- 
pointed secretary, editing the Dispatch at 
Keokuk, Iowa.* No executive of the terri- 
tory or state perhaps has equaled him in 
ability; and no documents from the execu- 
tive ofifice have been couched in better Eng- 
lish than those he put forth. 

Mr. Cuming's appointment as secretary 
of the territory was doubtless due to the 
potent influence of Iowa politicians added 

■! Laws of Nebraska, 1855-1857. p. 41. 

8 Personal recollections of J. Sterling Morton. 



154 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



to that of Lewis Cass of his native state. His 
oath of office as secretary was adminis- 
tered August 3, 1854, by Peter V. Daniel, 
associate justice of the Supreme Court of 
the United States, and he arrived in the 
territory on the 8th of the same month. To 
the task of evoking political order from the 
chaos he found, he was quite equal — his 
enemies said more than equal. In few of 
our commonwealths has the framing of the 
state fallen to men of such large ability as 
were the framers of political Nebraska ; and 
in point of abiHty Thomas B. Cuming should 
doubtless be named with the half dozen or 




Thomas B. Cuming 
First secretary and twice acting governor of Ne- 
braska territory 

less of tile first class. In executive capacity 
and aggressive force, in the judgment of 
some of his ablest contemporaries, he ex- 
celled them all. Two of those conteinpor- 
aries have expressed the opinion, independ- 
ently of each other, that if Cuming had 
gone to the Civil war he would have become 
a distinguished general.'' In audacity, and 
in his methods in general, he was Na- 
poleonic. The dift'icult knot in which he 



found the question of temporarily locating 
the capital of the territory, which an ordi- 
nary man would have striven in perplexity 
to untie, he cut with an Alexandrian stroke, 
and his generalship in the campaign for 
formally and legally fixing the seat of gov- 
ernment at Omaha was of the same order. 
By like methods he went about the task of 
organizing orderly government out of the 
chaotic material he found. 

Bribery and other forms of corruption 
in the settlement of the capital question 
were freely and vociferously charged, and 
are credited as a matter of course by the 
survivors of those strenuous times. The 
partisans of Bellevue pushed as her supe- 
rior claims seniority and the intent of Gov- 
ernor Burt, the real executive. At the third 
session of the legislature a well-distributed 
committee of the council, composed of 
Jacob Saftord " of Cass, Dodge, and Otoe 
counties, Samuel M. Kirkpatrick of Cass, 
and William Clancy of Washington, in their 
unanimous report in favor of relocating the 
capital, said : 

When the first governor arrived in this 
territory he found but one place entitled 
to the name of village, even, anywhere 
north of the Platte river. The town of 
Bellevue, the first town-site north of the 
Platte, w^as the place where it was known 
it was his intention to locate the capital. 
His death, however, left the matter in 
other hands, and the capital was located at 
its present site. Your committee are loth 
to say what influences are universally be- 
lieved to have been brought to bear in in- 
ducing the present location. It is suffi- 
cient for them to say that the people of the 
territory are by no means satisfied with the 
location or with the means by which it was 
located, and still less by the means by 
which it has been kept there." 

Omaha was exactly midway between the 
north and south limits of population at that 
time, and nearer the center of the north and 
south limits of the prospective and now 
actual state than Bellevue. Distances east 
and w-est were of little consequence because 

" Personal recollections of James M. Wcolworth 
and Dr. George L. Miller. 

1" Safiford was a resident of Otoe county. 
" Council Journal, 1855-1857, p. 25. 



ORGANIZATION 



1: 



it was thought that for an indefinite time 
to come the country would not be settled 
more than forty miles westward from the 
river. Regard for the sentiment of the 
people and for superior eligibility as a site 
for a city and as a point for a railroad cross- 
ing certain!}' would have made Bellevue 
the capital. But the population was so 
small and so shifting that this consideration 
was of little consequence. The new order 
of man-made cities was soon to be illus- 
trated in Omaha herself, so that the pri- 
ority argument for Bellevue had little 
weight. 

It is a truth or abstraction of small practi- 
cal consequence to say that Acting Gov- 
ernor Cuming should have convened the 
first legislature at Bellevue in accordance 
with the decision of Governor Burt, though 
there was at most none other than a moral 
obligation to do so. It would be more to 
the purpose to say that Acting Governor 
Cuming should have fairly apportioned the 
members of the first legislature, so that the 
South Platte, or anti-Omaha settlers would 
have had the majority to which they were 
entitled. In that case the legislature would 
perhaps have located the capital at Belle- 
vue where it would have remained, not xxn- 
likely, to the present time, and where the 
Union Pacific bridge and terminals would 
have followed it. In other words, Bellevue 
would have taken the place of Omaha as 
the commercial capital of Nebraska, but 
more than that, for an indefinite time would 
have been the political capital also. But 
we say "perhaps," because the same potent 
Iowa influence, focused at Council Blufifs, 
which after A'ears of effort had compassed 
territorial organization and made Nebraska 
a separate territory, might have prevailed 
in spite of any adverse initiative of the gov- 
ernor. To contemplate this might-have- 
been, to conjure in the mind the splendid 
dual capital which might have adorned the 
beautiful site — the most beautiful as well 
as the most eligible of the available sites — 
of the now deserted village is perhaps idle 



speculation, or at most a fascinating fancy. 
But to relate the facts and interpret the 
motives which contributed to this important 
incident in the beginning of a common- 
wealth is legitimate history. 

On Saturday, October 21st, the governor 
issued the second proclamation which an- 
noiinced that an enumeration of the inhab- 
itants of the territory would begin October 
24th, the purpose of the notice being to en- 
able persons who were temporarily absent 
from the territory to return in time for the 
census. The third proclamation, dated Oc- 
tober 26th, gave instructions as to the duties 
of the six deputy marshals who were to 
take the census in the six districts into 
which the territory had been divided for 
that purpose — the first three lying north 
and the last three south of the Platte river. 
According to the instructions the work was 
to be completed by the 20th of the following 
November and returns to be made to Mr. 
Lindley, postmaster, Omaha City, or to the 
governor, at the mission house, Bellevue. 
The governor appointed as enumerators 
Joseph L. Sharp, first district; Charles B. 
Smith, second district ; Michael Murphy, 
third district; Eli R. Doyle and F. W. 
Symmes, fourth district; Munson H. Clark, 
fifth district; Charles W. Pierce, sixth dis- 
trict. 

The fourth proclamation, made Novem- 
ber 18, 1854, appointed Thursday, Novem- 
ber 30, as a day of thanksgiving. The fifth, 
dated November 23, 1854, promulgated 
rules for the elections. The sixth executive 
document, pertaining to territorial organi- 
zation, issued November 23, 1854, pro- 
claimed that elections should be held De- 
cember 12. 1854, to choose a delegate to 
Congress and members of a legislature 
which was to meet January 8, 1855. The 
seventh proclamation, issued December 15. 
1854, authorized a special election at Ne- 
braska City on the 21st of that month to fill 
the vacancy in the council left by a tie vote 
cast at the regular election. On the 20th 
day of December the last two proclamations 



156 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



pertaining to territorial organization were 
issued, one convening the legislature at 
Omaha, and on the i6th instead of the 8th 
of January, 1855 ; the other announcing the 
organization of the judiciary system, and 
designating judges of probate, justices of 
the peace, sheriffs, constables, and clerks 
for the several counties, and in the same 
proclamation the three judges were placed. 
Chief Justice Fenner Ferguson was as- 
signed to the first district, comprising Doug- 
las and Dodge counties; Justice Harden to 




Judge Edward R. Harden 

the second, cmlM-acing all of the counties 
south of the Platte river; and Justice Brad- 
ley to the third district, comprising the 
counties of Burt and Washington. Judge 
Ferguson arrived in the territory October 
II, 1854. and the next day took the oath of 
office before Secretary Cuming ''at the town 
of Bellevue." Judge Bradley arrived Octo- 
ber 14th, and took the oath before Judge 
Ferguson at Omaha City, October 28th ; 
Judge Harden arrived December ist, and 
took the oath before Judge Ferguson at 
Bellevue, December 4th. Attorney General 
Estabrook arrived at Omaha City, January 
22, 1855, and took the oath before Secre- 
tary Cuming. Marshal Izard arrived Octo- 
ber 20th, and took the oath before Judge 
Ferguson at Bellevue, October 24th. The 



Palladium of December 6th gives this ac- 
count of Judge Harden : 

Hon. Edward R. Harden, one of the as- 
sociate judges of Nebraska, accompanied by 
the clerk of his court, M. W. Riden, and J. 
H. White, Esq., of Georgia, arrived at 
Belleview, December 4. The judge is a 
middle-aged man, spare in person and to 
appearance quite feeble in constitution — 
his manners, dress and equipage all bear the 
stamp of democratic simplicity and econ- 
omy. He is courteous in manner, agree- 
able and affable in conversation. 

On the 23d of December the governor 
called for two volunteer regiments for de- 
fense against the Indians. 

The date marks of these state papers show 
that the executive office was wherever the 
governor happened to be when he desired to 
perform an executive act; and they faintly 
suggest that the aspirations and hopes of 
each hamlet to become the capital were 
delicately nurtured, or at least not incon- 
siderately or prematurely blighted. 

Giving a strict construction to the pro- 
vision of the organic act that nothing 
therein contained "shall be construed to im- 
pair the rights of person or property now 
pertaining to the Indians in said territory 
so long as such rights shall remain unex- 
tinguished by treaty between the United 
States and such Indians, or to include any 
territory, which by treaty with any Indian 
tribe, is not without the consent of said 
tribe, to be included within the territorial 
limits or jurisdiction of any state or terri- 
tory," he had aimed to include in these dis- 
tricts only such territory as had been actu- 
ally relinquished by the Indians. But 
doubt as to the scope of this restriction hav- 
ing arisen, on the 1st of November Gov- 
ernor Cuming addressed a letter to the com- 
missioner of Indian affairs asking whether 
he had done right to restrict election privi- 
leges to those actually within the Otoe and 
Omaha cessions and to exclude "the traders 
and others northward of the Blackbird 
Hills, who by the intercourse act of 1834 
have been given special privileges, or those 
in any other part of the territory who are 



ELECTION PRECINCTS 



157 



living on Indian lands not yet ceded, but to 
restrict all election control within the 
Omaha and Otoe cessions, reaching north 
to the Aoway river, south to the little Ne- 
maha river, and west to the lands of the 
Pawnees." 

"Some of the territorial officers and many 
of the citizens," he said, "contend that elec- 
tion precincts should be established over 
all the territory wherever white men (trad- 
ers and others) reside — comprising the 
Sioux, Blackfeet, Crows, and other tribes. 
Others are of the opinion that such election 
privileges should only be enjoyed by the 
settlers within the Omaha and Otoe ces- 
sions where it is now understood that the 
wliites have the authority of the govern- 
ment to make a permanent residence." The 
commissioner was asked to "state also 
whether there is any neutral or United 
States ground south of the Platte river, 
south and west of the Otoe and Missouri 
cession, where an election precinct may be 
made." 

The commissioner, Mr. George W. Many- 
penny, answered that, 

\A''here there has been no cession made by 
an Lidian tribe, as has not been done bj 
the Sioux, the Blackfeet, the Crows, the 
Poncas, and some others, any exercise of 
authority for[ territorial purposes by the 
government would be in niy opinion in con- 
travention of the proviso of the act organ- 
izing the territory. 

To Governor Cuming's second question 
the commissioner replied: 

The country west of the half-breeds and 
south of the Platte river west of the Otoe 
and Missouri cession and bounded on the 
north by the Platte river as far back as 
loi degrees west longitude, and from that 
point in a southwesterly direction to the 
line dividing Kansas and Nebraska near the 
103d degree is of such character. 

In accordance with the commissioner's 
opinion the governor sent Deputy Marshal 
Jesse Lowe to spy out this "United States 
ground" to the southwest. The only rec- 
ord we have of the object and result of this 
investigation is contained in Marshal 
Lowe's report of December 10, 1854: 



To Acting Governor T. B. Cuming : 

Sir: Having been sent by you to estab- 
lish what is called Jones county, bounded as 
follows, commencing 60 miles west from the 
Missouri river at the north corner of Rich- 
ardson county ; thence west along the south 
bank of the Platte river to the loist degree 
of west longitude ; thence southwesterly to 
the boundary between Kansas and Nebraska 
at the 103d degree of west longitude ; thence 
along said boundary to the southwest corner 
of Richardson county; and thence to the 
place of beginning, and instructed to appor- 
tion to said county one representative or 
more as the number of inhabitants should 
require, (I) respectfully report that by ascer- 
taining from satisfactory information that 
there are no voters in said county unless a 
few living in the neighborhood of Belews 
precinct in Richardson county, and who 
would naturally vote at said precinct, and 
believing furthermore from satisfactory in- 
formation, that Richardson county has been 
given more than her just representation, I 
am of opinion that no apportionment should 
be made for Jones county. 

Very respectfully, 

Mark W. Izard, marshal. 
By Jesse Lowe, deputy. 

Governor Cuming sent the following 
curious announcement : 

Omaha City, Nov. 30, 1854. 
To Editors Neivspapers : 

Dear Sir: The deputy territorial marshal 
has been sent below the "Platte" in the 
neighborhood of "the Blues" to establish a 
new county. 

The notices of election in the census dis- 
trict above the Platte, (Belleview and 
Omaha) will not be circulated until he can 
be heard from as it will be impossible until 
then to correctly fix the apportionment, 
which is limited by law to a certain number 
for the whole territory. 

It will be well to make this announcement 
public. The other counties have received 
their apportionment and this is the only dis- 
trict in the territory where this course will 
be pursued, it being the most compact and 
least subject to injury by delay. 
Respectfully yours, 

T. B. Cuming, 
Acting Governor of Nebraska. 

EJECTION Precincts. The inference from 
this communication is that the governor in- 
tended to cut the Douglas county represen- 



158 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




General William Orlando Butler 

The first white man to be appointed to official position in the govern- 
ment of Nebraska territory 



THE FIRST CAPITAL CONTROVERSY 



159 



tation cloth to suit the whole garment after 
it should be completed by the attachment of 
that part on "the Blues," just as he evidently 
entirely disregarded Mr. Sharp's compre- 
hensive count of Richardson county, quite in 
accordance with the suggestion or warning 
of Deputy Marshal Lowe. 

It was at once freely and forcibly charged 
by the enemies of Governor Cuming, who 
appear to have been nearly identical with 
those who opposed the location of the cap- 
ital at Omaha, that this first census was doc- 
tored, with fraudulent intent, in the interest 
of Omaha. Though at the beginning of the 
session the governor, in compliance with a 
resolution of the house, moved by Mr. 
Decker of Nebraska City, had furnished 
copies of the census returns to that body, 
they are not now in existence. That there 
were gross falsifications and other irregular- 
ities in this census there is no doubt. These 
legislative districts were gerrymandered by 
Governor Cuming in the interest of Omaha, 
and there is only one motive that may be 
assigned therefor. The interests of a coterie 
of enterprising Iowa speculators who had 
gathered in Council Bluffs, and some of 
whom were camping in expectation on the 
site of Omaha, required that the capital 
should be located there, and they set 
about to reach their end by much the 
same means and methods as always have 
been employed for like purposes. They 
won, as was inevitable, on account of 
the great superiority of their resources. 
If (jovernor Burt, who, being a south- 
ern gentleman of the old school, would 
have been proof against these means and 
averse to these methods, had lived, his initi- 
ative might have drawn this Iowa influence 
to Bellevue. As governors of new terri- 
tories go, Burt was the exception and Cum- 
ing the rule ; more of them act as Cuming 
acted than as- Burt would have acted — 
though few would act in like circumstances 
with a vigor so naturally effective and so 
little impaired by nicety of moral scruple 
or conventional restraints. 

The First C.xpital Controversy. The 



story of the proceedings in the capital con- 
test rests mainly upon personal recollection 
and tradition. It is doubtless true that Gov- 
ernor Cuming demanded of "Father" Ham- 
ilton one hundred acres of the section of 
mission land at Bellevue as the price for 
designating that place as the capital. It 
would doubtless have been difificult to 
alienate this land at all, since the board of 
missions did not receive a patent for it until 
1858. "Father" Hamilton seemed to be 
filled more with the fear of the Lord than of 
losing the capital, and the reader of the 
Palladium gains an impression that its 
editor, Mr. Reed, was too much possessed 
by a sense of the righteousness of Bellevue's 
cause to be willing or able to meet her op- 
ponents on their own morally less defensible 
but practically far stronger grounds. The 
moral suasion of these good people of Belle- 
vue was not backed up with material argu- 
ments sufficient to meet those of the Council 
Bluffs and Nebraska Ferry company, which 
not onl)' represented but constituted Omaha's 
interests. 

Under authorit}' of the organic law 
Governor Cuming had divided the inhabited 
portion of the territory into eight counties, 
and after the census had been taken he ap- 
portioned the several counties into legisla- 
tive districts. 

Friends of Bellevue read in this appor- 
tionment the doom of their hopes for the 
capital, and it was the first overt act of the 
bitter war between the North Platte and 
South Platte sections which lasted until the 
chief cause of the quarrel was removed by 
the removal of the capital to Lincoln in 
1867.. It is seen that twenty-one members 
were awarded to the counties north of the 
Platte and eighteen to those south of that 
river. It was strongly contended by the 
people south of the Platte that their section 
was the most populous, and the governor's 
own census gave it 1,818 inhabitants as 
against 914 in the northern section. The 
census showed 516 voters — that is, males 
over twenty-one years of age — south, and 
413 north of the Platte. But during the final 



160 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



debate in the house on the 25th of January, 
in which, for some reason, Governor Cum- 
ing was allowed to speak, he said that there 
had been some misrepresentation regarding 
his acts which he wished to correct ; that he 
had found, after careful examination of all 
the census returns, that the greatest popu- 
lation was north of the Platte, and he had 
given that section representation accord- 
ingly. He said the poll books and census ' 
returns were free for investigation by mem- 
bers. But the abstract which he certifies 
flatly contradicts him. In the same debate 
Mr. Poppleton also alleged that the census 
returns gave the North Platte the greater 
population. 

Deductions from the figures of the first 
census and the abstract of votes of the first 
election are contradictory, and according to 
the vote the governor's apportionment as 
afifecting the two sections was not grossly 
inequitable. 

The following table gives the actual ap- 
portionment of representation to the several 
counties as made by Governor Cuming — 
the apportionment as it should have been, 
based upon population, and as it should have 
been, based upon the votes actually cast. The 
counties which are grouped together corre- 
spond approximately to the census districts 
in which they were situated. The vote taken 
is that cast for candidates for delegate to 
Congress : 

AN.A.LYSIS OF APPORTIONMENT 





s 


a 

0. 



a 


> 


COL'XCIl| 


HOUSE 




f artiinl 




■s 

c 


g 

< 


c 
> 



'7. 

re 

C 



D. t 

0. 
«^- 
\ 

•2o 

Sr 
Ss 
a = 
o - 


3S 



s > 

:: 
:; -r 

^ S 

c E 

CO 


a 



Is 

a 3 



apportionment 
to vote 


COUNTY 


'a 
C » 



u 


1 

5 


Ricliartlson 

Pierce / 


851 
614 

353 
645 
106 
163 

914 

1818 


38 
188 
42 
13' 
297 
14 
34 
57 

402 

398 


7 
6 


s 

1 

2 
5 


4 
3 
2 
S 


2 1 
5 6 
2 1 
» 4 
810 
2 1 
2 1 
2 2 

414 

813 


8 
6 

S 

6 
1 

1 
1 


I to 38 
1 to 63 
1 to 42 
1 to 13(1 
1 to 74 
1 to 14 
1 to 34 
1 to 57 


1 to 19 
1 to .17 


Forney s 

Ca-is 

DoUBhis 

Dod;;e 


1 to 21 
1 to 65 
1 to 37 
1 to 7 


Washington ) 


1 
1 

7 

6 


.... 

41 
91 


1 to 17 


Burt S 




Totals North Platte. 
Totals South Platte. 


9 
17 


1 to 57 
1 to 68 


1 to 28 
1 to 36 



By the census of 1855, taken about ten 



months after the first one, the population 
was found to be 4,494, with 1,549 north and 
2.945 south of the Platte river. It is prob- 
able that in the meantime the relative in- 
crease of the North Platte section had been 
greater than that of the South Platte, on 
account of the drawing influence of the 
newly made capital ; so that the contention 
of Governor Cuming that the North Platte 
section had a greater population than the 
South Platte not only involved the utter 
repudiation of his own census, but seems 
to be inconsistent with the weight of the 
evidence upon that point. There is no doubt 
that the vote of Burt county was largely 
"colonized," since it was known that there 
was no bona fide population there. And the 
same machinery that so successfully im- 
ported voters into Burt was, not unlikely, 
quite as eiifective in the case of Washington 
and Douglas counties. Governor Cuming 
disregarded the palpable overcount in Rich- 
ardson county, and apparently the basis of 
his apportionment there was not far from 
correct, since the county showed a popula- 
tion of 299 by the regular census of 1855. 
If he had eliminated the population of Rich- 
ardson by the first census — 851 — the South 
Platte would still have been in the lead, ac- 
cording to his census, by about 100. 

The Bugle of Council Bluffs, mouthpiece 
of the Iowa exploiters of Omaha, in an 
article scolding the Palladium for its chronic 
squealing, ofifers the following justification 
of Cuming's course : 

We have been a quiet looker-on whilst the 
struggle for the capital has been going on 
between four land companies, each sure that 
their special point was designed by nature 
for the great western mart, and the capital 
of a new and important state. Foremost 
upon this list was Belleview, the proprietors 
of which loudly claimed the right by prece- 
dence, being the earliest settled place, etc. 
Nebraska City claimed it from being hand- 
somely located, and Winter Quarters by its 
most central position, whilst Omaha claimed 
the capital by right of her early industry in 
making by far the greatest amount of im- 
provements, from being the most populous 
and convenient place, and as ofifering the 



THE FIRST CAPITAL CONTROVERSY 



161 



most conveniences for the coming session 
of the legislature. Although as yet there 
has been no improvements or buildings go- 
ing on at Belleview the town owners have 
constantly claimed all the advantages, merit 
and consideration, leaving nothing for 
Omaha or any other place. Before Mr. 
Cuming arrived here we knew that he was 
prepossessed with a conviction that Omaha 
must be the place for the present seat of 
government, and at the death of the la- 
mented Governor Burt he had not changed 
his mind. Consequently he could not have 
been influenced by unworthy motives in se- 
lecting Omaha as the present capital. Find- 
ing congenial and equally disappointed 
parties south of the Platte they have leagued 
to slander, villify and misrepresent Mr. 
Cuming abroad, and are making strenuous 
exertions for his removal from office, by pe- 
titions and private letters. 

But the Palladium had pointed out that : 

The doors of the Mission are open to re- 
ceive the legislature, if it is called here, and 
we hazard our reputation upon the assertion 
that equal accommodations can not be of- 
fered elsewhere in Nebraska before the 8th 
day of January, 1855. This house was built 
under difficulties such as had disappeared 
long before Omaha was thought of ; most of 
the lumber having been sawed by no other 
aid than hand labor. Now according to the 
principles upon which our anxious neighbor 
thinks ought to control the location of the 
capitol, it would be located here. 

Governor Cuming did not issue his procla- 
mation convening the legislature at Omaha 
until December 20th, but the Bellevue con- 
tingent had anticipated his recreancy to 
their cause some time before, and a gather- 
ing of citizens there on the 9th of that 
month to further the interests of Bellevue in 
the capital contest, which Cuming attended, 
was turned into an indignation meeting. At 
this meeting Governor Cuming is quoted as 
saying that he had made up his mind two 
weeks previously to locate the capital at 
Omaha, but owing to attempts improperly 
to influence him in favor of that place he had 
changed his mind and was then in doubt. 
But if Bellevue would nominate a candidate 
for the council and two for the house, 
pledged to sustain his administration and 



not to attempt to remove the capital from 
the place of his selection, he would give 
Bellevue a district by itself, otherwise that 
nervous aspirant would be included in the 
Omaha district and be swallowed up by it. 
The Omaha Arroiv, published at Council 
Bluffs by residents of that place, and which 
was also the actual residence of Governor 
Cuming, announces, November 3d, that 
"the work on the State House here goes 
briskly on. It will be ready for the accom- 
modation of the body for which it was in- 
tended before the middle of next month" ; 
and on the 10th of November that, "the con- 
tractor of the State House assures us the 
building will be ready by the first of Decem- 
ber." Even if Governor Cuming himself, at 
Bellevue, had lost faith in his intention to 
locate the capital at Omaha, his Council 
Bluffs neighbors had not, and they kept 
pushing their preparation for it to perfec- 
tion. 

These Bellevue people either considered 
that they had no chance, and could afford to 
play the role of indignant virtue, or they 
were very poor generals; for by responding 
to the governor's finesse they might have 
had three militant members directly repre- 
senting them in the contest in the legislature. 
But they threw dissimulation to the winds, 
and Mr. A. W. Hollister insisted that he had 
seen the original of a compromising letter, 
apparently written by Cuming, and which in 
some unexplained way had come into pos- 
session of his enemies, and he was certain 
of its authenticity. 

At this juncture Governor Cuming, in a 
fierce passion left the meeting and thereby 
placed upon Bellevue the perpetual seal of 
"the deserted village." Mr. Hollister then 
proceeded to aver that Major Hepner, In- 
dian agent, would swear to the genuineness 
of the signature to the letter, and to spurn 
with contempt the propitiatory offering of 
the governor. Stephen Decatur and Silas A. 
Strickland followed in a like intense and 
grandiloquent strain of indignant patriotism 
and offended virtue, in which rather more 
than due rhetorical justice was done to "the 



162 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 





'>^e. 




a-'-T-^ <2>-^ 



[XoTF. — Fred Renard was an early farmer and miller of Burt county, Nebraska] 



THE FIRST CAPITAL CONTROVERSY 



163 



tyrant Charles the First" and to "the great 
charter of our own liberties." 

Soon followed mass meetings in many 
places in the South Platte district for the 
purpose of denouncing Governor Cuming. 
The meeting for Pierce county was held 
December 15th, at Nebraska City, and it 
passed resolutions charging Cuming with 
"seeking only his own aggrandizement, with 
neglecting to reside within the limits of the 
territory but keeping the actual seat of 
government in a foreign city," and that he 
"is no longer worthy or capable of discharg- 
ing the duties that have accidentally de- 
volved upon him, and his longer continuance 
in office would be an insult to the people -of 
the territory." The resolutions invited the 
citizens of the territorj' to meet in delegate 
convention at Nebraska City, December 
30th, "to select some suitable person to rec- 
ommend to the president of the United 
States for appointment to the governorship 
of this territory." The climax of the pro- 
ceedings of the convention was a resolution 
commending the people of Bellevue "for 
their Christian forbearance toward Gov- 
ernor Cuming in not offering him personal 
violence for as gross an insult by him as 
could be offered by a tyrant to a free people, 
in refusing to give them a separate district 
and allowing them to elect members of the 
legislature, unless they would pledge them- 
selves to elect such men as he should dic- 
tate." 

A meeting for a like purpose was held at 
Brownville in Forney county, December 
I2th, and another at Bellevue, December 
28th. In this meeting the two Mortons, des- 
tined to long careers in the territory and 
state, took important parts. Thomas Mor- 
ton was chosen chairman, and J. Sterling 
Morton, one of the three delegates to the 
territorial convention. Here the latter per- 
formed his first public act in the common- 
wealth which was to be distinguished as the 
scene of his public activity for near half a 
century, and where his personality was to be 
impressed on the institutions and the life of 
the people. Mr. Morton was as prompt in 



taking this active part in public affairs as he 
was afterwards ceaseless in pursuing it. 
Only three weeks before this meeting the 
Palladium contained the following modest 
but, in the light of subsequent events, im- 
portant notice : 

J. S. MORTON 
This gentleman, formerly associate editor 
of the Detroit Free Press, and lady arrived 
at Belleview on the 30th ult., where they 
intend to settle. Mr. Morton is a man of 
ability and an able writer, and having had 
the good sense to select one of the most 
beautiful locations for his residence as well 
as one of the most strongly fortified points, 
in a political view — he will no doubt be an 
important acquisition to the territory and 
to this community. 

Nevertheless, within only two months, 
this most strongly fortified political point 
yielded to the siege of the Omaha forces, 
and was so completely razed that Mr. Mor- 
ton was prompt to evacuate it and take a 
new position at Nebraska City, which he 
occupied with distinguished courage, enter- 
prise, and honor for forty-seven years. 

By a previous notice in the Palladium it 
appears that Mr. Morton himself had visited 
Bellevue on the 13th of November. The old 
settler is only able now to point out the ap- 
proximate site of the log cabin which was 
the home of the young couple, married 
somewhat less than a year, when they left 
with the ebbtide of Bellevue's fortunes for 
the more promising location. 

In the delegate convention at Nebraska 
City, held December 30th, five counties — 
Cass, Douglas, Forney, Pierce, and Richard- 
son — were represented by nineteen dele- 
gates; and of course the Douglas county 
delegates, Stephen Decatur, J. Sterling Mor- 
ton, and Geo. W. Hollister, were all from 
Bellevue. J. H. Decker of Pierce county 
(speaker of the house in the legislature 
which retreated from Omaha to Florence 
in a subsequent capital controversy), was 
chairman, and Geo. W. Hollister of Bellevue 
and A. M. Rose of Pierce county were sec- 
retaries. Mr. Morton was chairman of the 
committee on resolutions, and this first of- 



164 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




THE FIRST CAPITAL CONTROVERSY 



165 




|XoTE — W. p. Snowden was for six years an early city marshal of Omaha] 



166 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ficial function in territorial affairs in Ne- 
braksa we may be sure he performed with- 
out dissimulation or self-repression. The 
resolutions went straight to the mark — his 
mark — which, in the nature of the men, 
Cuming had already become: 

Whereas, we believe that, in order to at- 
tain the ends of just government, the ex- 
ecutive power should be vested in upright 
and honorable men ; and whereas, we believe 
that that power, when confided to unprin- 




From ail ztnpiiblishcd copy of a daguerreotype taken 
in 1S54. and now in the possession of Miss Emma Mor- 
ton. This was taken on Mr. Morton's wedding day 
and just before he started for Nebraska to settle. 



J. Sterling Morton 
At 22 years of age 

cipled knaves, who seek rather to control 
than to consult the people (whom we recog- 
nize as the only true American sovereigns) 
is always used to the advantage of the few 
and the oppression of the many ; therefore. 

Resolved, 1st, That Acting Governor Cum- 
ing is neither an upright, honest nor honor- 
able man. 

Resolved, 2d, That he, the aforesaid Act- 



ing Governor Cuming, is an unprincipled 
knave, and that he seeks rather to control 
than consult the people. 

Resolved, 3d, That he, the said acting gov- 
ernor has, by his own acts, secret ones now 
exposed, as well as those which he has 
openly avowed, convinced us of the truth of, 
and invited us to pass the above resolutions. 

Resolved, 4th, That, recognizing the right 
of petition as the prerogative of all free cit- 
izens of the LTnited States, we do hereby 
petition His Excellencv, Franklin Pierce, 
President of the United States, to immedi- 
ately remove the said Cuming from the act- 
ing governorship. 

Resolved, That we, also, because of the 
reasons hereinbefore stated, petition for his 
removal from the secretaryship of this terri- 
tory. 

Resolved, That the secretaries of this con- 
vention forward a copy of these proceedings 
to every newspaper in Nebraska for publica- 
tion, and every paper containing them, with 
a written copy, to the president of the 
United States. 

On motion. 

Resolved, That we recommend Gen'l Bela 
M. Hughes of Missouri, for the office of 
governor, and Dr. P. J- McMahon of Iowa, 
for the office of secretary. 

"After a long and spirited discussion," we 
are told, the resolutions were unanimously 
adopted. 

The following letter from Acting Gov- 
ernor Cuming to President Pierce, dated 
December 13, 1854, illustrates the turmoil 
in which these territorial organizers were 
plunged: 

Dear Sir: 

I understand that petitions are in circula- 
tion asking my removal from the office of 
governor. These petitions have been pre- 
pared and are being distributed by specu- 
lators whose fortunes have been marred by 
the location of the capitol. My only request 
is that if any charges shall be made I may 
not be dealt with without the opportunity 
of answering them. 

You are aware that I have never sought 
my present position ; but being called to it 
by the interposition of Providence I have 
not felt at liberty to neglect or postpone the 
organization of the territory. The protracted 
illness and unexpected decease of the late la- 
mented governor left but a short interval 
for the decision of the vexed questions con- 



FIRST ELECTION 



167 



nected with that organization. Hence some 
errors may have been committed ; but I es- 
pecially solicit that my conduct may be sub- 
jected to the test of the most rigid scrutiny. 

Great fortunes have been invested in rival 
points for the capitol, and the exasperation 
expressed and desperate persecution resorted 
to by the disappointed are not unnatural, 
and were not unexpected. I am prepared, 
however, to prove by letters and certificates 
that I have refused bribes and relinquished 
gratuities, and have located the capitol 
where my pecuniary interests were least 
considered, at a point which I believed 
would give satisfaction to the people and 
stability to the territorial organization. 

My enemies expect to have a governor 
appointed whom they can influence to veto 
an act establishing the capitol at that point. 
I am writing to you. General, with frankness 
and confidence, and I desire to say that ever 
since the death of Gov. Burt I have hoped 
that someone might be appointed who would 
relieve me of the responsibility and risk con- 
fronting so many opposite and threatening 
interests. This has not been the case, and I 
have no alternative but to meet the storm 
and abide its results. Should another indi- 
vidual be chosen after those embarrassments 
have been surmounted, their unpopularity in- 
curred, I trust that his appointment will not 
be permitted to be construed into a condem- 
nation of my course, and shall be glad (if so 
requested) to present to you facts and cer- 
tificates to overthrow the allegations of my 
enemies. 

Trusting that your administration may 
continue to be crowned (as I believe it will) 
with success and the approval of the people, 
and that the strength which it has added to 
the republic may be fortified by the upright- 
ness and efficiency of your officers, I remain, 

Very truly and sincerely, 

T. B. Cuming. 

On the 9th of January, 1855, another anti- 
Cuming convention was held at Bellevue 
which contained at least three delegates 
from the North Platte country, E. R. Doyle 
of Fontenelle, Dr. B. Y. Shelley of Black- 
bird Hills, and J. C. Mitchell of Florence. 
The resolutions of the convention charged, 
among other things, that the acting gov- 
ernor was a non-resident of the territory, 
that his apportionment of representation 
was unjust, and demanded that the census 



be taken again and that the territory be re- 
districted. 

Mr. Mitchell, who was afterwards molli- 
fied by appointment as sole commissioner 
to locate the capitol in Omaha, made "a very 
interesting speech." He said that there was 
not population sufficient in Florence or in 
Burt or Dodge counties to entitle them to 
designation as an election precinct, so the 
governor made it up by causing certificates 
to be made up and signed by loafers in 
Council Blufifs. "The officer who took the 
census in Dodge county enrolled numbers in 
the grog shops of Council Blufifs. Omaha 
was supplied in the same way." On the 
other hand, he said, census officers on the 
south side of the Platte were required to cut 
down their returns so that, notwithstand- 
ing that this section had the greater popula- 
tion, the majority of the representatives 
should be from the north side. But this pre- 
caution or basis for consistency with which 
Mr. Mitchell credits Cuming seems incon- 
sistent with the facts as well as with our 
estimate of Cuming's characteristics and our 
knowledge of his methods. 

First ElSction. According to the Ne- 
braska City Press of December 1, 1859, the 
following somewhat hackneyed story was 
still going the rounds of the eastern press. 
It is likely that it is a substantial statement 
of fact, and in any event it is typically true : 
"Mr. Purple, formerly conductor on the 
Western railroad and a member of the first. 
Nebraska legislature, tells his experience in 
western politics as follows : 'Secretary T. B. 
Cuming said to me one morning: "Purple, 
we want a member from Burt county." So I 
harnessed up and took nine fellows with me 
from Iowa, and we started for the woods, 
and when we tliought we had got far enough 
for Burt county we unpacked our ballot box, 
and held an election (in Washington 
county), canvassed the vote, and it was as- 
tonishing to observe how great was the 
unanimity at the first election held in Burt 
county.' " Purple had every vote and was 
declared duly elected. 

There were four candidates for the office 



168 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



of delegate to Congress: Hadley D. John- 
son of Council Bluffs — but by proxy of 
Omaha City — who, we have seen, had gone 
across the river to Bellevue in 1853, to be 
elected provisional delegate to Congress; 
Bird B. Chapman, just arrived from Elyria, 
Ohio, in search of a political career; Napo- 
leon B. Giddings of Savannah, Missouri, 
who, it is alleged by contemporaries never 
even pretended citizenship in Nebraska ; and 
Joseph Dyson, who strove to create a wave 
of public sentiment which should carry him 




Napoleon B. Giddings 

First delegate to Congress from the organized 

territory of Nebraska 

into the coveted office by exploiting more 
advantageous land laws. The abstract of the 
vote illustrates the early sectional align- 
ment of voters, and also the fact that it did 
no harm to a candidate in our border coun- 
ties to hail from Missouri. 

To refute the charge that Judge Kinney 
was ineligible to the office of delegate to 
Congress because he was not a resident of 
the territory, the Nebraska City Nezvs calls 
attention to the fact that the organic act re- 
quired only that a delegate should be a citi- 



zen of the United States. The Nczvs then 
makes the following statement as to the 
residence of Chapman and Giddings when 
they were candidates for the office in question : 

The "oldest inhabitants" of the territory 
will doubtless recollect that two delegates 
from this territory had no other qualifica- 
tion. N. B. Giddings, the first delegate, was 
a citizen of Missouri, and came into the ter- 
ritory only about two weeks before the elec- 
tion, and then brought no other property 
with him except a carpet-bag. Bird B. Chap- 
man, the second representative of the terri- 
tory, was at the time of his election a citizen 
of Elyria, Ohio. He never resided here at 
all. As far as citizenship here was con- 
cerned he had none ; he represented us en- 
tirely on the strength of being a citizen of 
the United States. 

A contemporaneous account of the 
"Quincy colony" — the first name of the set- 
tlement at Fontenelle — incidentally ex- 
plains the curiously solid vote of Dodge 
county for Abner W. Hollister; and at the 
same time illustrates the isolation of the 
various early settlements : 

To the credit, of the interesting colony 
their election was carried on without the 
aid of intoxicating drinks and hence the una- 
nimity that prevailed. The good people of 
Fontenelle, not having heard of the with- 
drawal of Mr. Hollister from the canvas, 
voted for him as a representative of the in- 
terest which they are laboring to secure. 

Our Puritan editor characterized these 
colonists as "enlightened and influential men, 
and above all, men of high moral endow- 
ment." Governor Cuming gave this solid 
fourteen a representation in the legislature 
of one councilman and two members of the 
house. It may be doubted that our censor 
of the Palladium would have made his cer- 
tificate of character quite so sweeping after 
two of the three members from Fontanelle 
had voted to locate the capital at Omaha. 
He was justified, however, to the extent that 
J. W. Richardson, the secretary of the col- 
ony, and who, we may assume, was repre- 
sentative of its peculiar virtue, voted against 
Omaha and so against his section. 

The editor of the first newspaper printed 
in Nebraska was temperamentally fitted for 



FIRST ELECTION 



169 



feeling that he carried the full weight of 
responsibility for the task of properly laying 
the foundations of the new state. This is 
shown in his account of the coming and 
pathetic leaving of the first chief magistrate. 
The governor and his party arrived at Belle- 
vue on the 6th of October. 

Governor Burt's Personal Appearance. 
His arrival was unheralded and unosten- 
tatious — his dress, equipage, manner and ap- 
pearance indicated a disposition to respect 
those fundamental principles of republican 
simplicity which constitute the groundwork, 
strength and beauty of our political and 
social system. 

The governor is apparently nearly fifty 
years of age- — -a little above the medium 
height, well proportioned, simple and easy 
in his manners and expression. His coun- 
tenance indicates the possession of those 
peculiar traits of character needed to secure 
the confidence and respect of the people who 
come to build up the institutions of liberty, 
harmony and Christianity upon this virgin 
soil, for so many ages past held in undisputed 
possession by its aboriginal owners — the 
children of the forest. 

The governor was hospitably entertained 
by I. H. Bennet, Esq., of this place. The 
governor took lodgings at the oflfice of the 
Indian Agency.^- 

The fact that the entertainer of the gov- 
ernor of the commonwealth was the black- 
smith of the Omaha agency must have satis- 
fied the editor's exacting democracy. 

A meeting of the citizens of which George 
W. Hollister was chairman and Stephen 
Decatur secretary, was convened, and Lieut. 
Hiram P. Downs, Isaiah H. Bennet, and 
Stephen Decatur were appointed a com- 
mittee to tender the governor a hearty wel- 
come. The committee soon reported that 
the governor would be pleased to meet his 
friends on the following Monday. At the 
second meeting, on Monday, Abner W. Hol- 
lister reported that the governor was too ill 
to attend, whereupon Col. Joseph L. Sharp, 
"of Iowa," Hiram P. Bennet, also "of Iowa," 
the Rev. William Hamilton, and Majoi 
George Hepner made appropriate speeches. 

The same issue of the Palladium gives 
this information : 

The governor reached Belleview in an en- 



feebled condition, . . . his complaint be- 
ing a derangement of the bilious system. 
After his arrival his complaint continued to 
increase in malignancy, until it was thought 
advisable to call for medical aid. Accord- 
ingly a messenger was dispatched to Messrs. 
McMahon & Williams, of Blufif City, who 
immediately sent for Dr. A. B. Malcolm, an 
accomplished physician, connected with them 
in his profession. . . The governor is 
now convalescent and it is hoped will soon 
recover from his prostration. 







Dr. Charles A. Henry 

On the 18th of October the Palladium an- 
r.ounces that "the governor was slowly re- 
covering from his prostration until the I2th 
instant when from improper annoyance 
from visitors, and perhaps imnecessary ex- 
|)0sure of himself while in his enfeebled con- 
dition, his fever returned with an aspect suf- 
ficiently threatening to make it necessary to 
send for his physician." The public is as- 
sured that "the governor is comfortably sit- 
uated at the Otoe and Omaha mission." On 
the 25th of October the Palladium gives an 
account of the governor's funeral. After 
the singing of an appropriate h3'mn Secre- 



1- Nebraska Pallnilini: 



170 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



tary Cuming, "evidentl_\" under the deepest 
emotions of grief," made some appropriate 
remarks, and he was followed by Chief Jus- 
tice Ferguson and the Rev. William Ham- 
ilton, who conducted the services. C)n the 
20th an escort started with the body "for 
burial at the family residence in South 
Carolina." 

Unappreciated Heroism . Thus were com- 
pleted the preliminaries for lodging local 
civil government in a vast and unex- 
plored region, upon a soil that had been un- 
tested b}^ tillage, and in a climate untried 
as to healthfulness through permanent occu- 
pancy by civilized man. And now in the 
crucible of these conditions the courage and 
constructive capacity of the pioneers are to 
be put to test, and though never so severe 
it is not to find them wanting. Many, or 
most of them, had surrendered good homes 
and the associations of endearments of kin- 
dred and friends in other communities. The 
privations of frontier life were voluntarily 
sought only by men and women who had 
the courage, spirit, and ambition to give up 
agreeable environments in an old home for 
the purpose of founding a new one. From 
the days of the colonies in Virginia, New 
England, and New York, the best types of 
mankind, physically and mentally, and tlie 
strongest individuals of those types — those 
gifted with self-reliance and inspired by the 
spirit of self-denial — have penetrated new 
countries and opened them to the institu- 
tions of civilization. The dependent, the 
liabitually gregarious, never strike out from 
parents, kindred, and the comfortable cir- 
cumstances of settled social life to challenge 
the hardships of the wilderness. Only that 
civilization and those breeds of men capable 
of developing strong individuality and self- 
reliance can establish and maintain settle- 
ments remote from population centers. Self- 
reliance, self-control, and stability among 
savages are merely sporadic ; consequently 
we find no traces of voluntary migrations for 
establishing permanent sovereignty and 
settlements by the Indians who preceded us 
upon these Plains. The strong characteris- 
tic of the pioneer is his ambition and zeal- 



ous, enthusiastic work for tomorrow, his 
willingness cheerfully to endure hardships 
in the present that others may enjoy consum- 
mate satisfactions in future — satisfactions 
which he himself may never experience. 
There were genuine heroes among the 
openers and testers of the vast crust of soil 
which stretched from the river to the moun- 
tains. They worked tirelessly, with intelli- 
gence and directness, to demonstrate the 
value of constant productivity. Already the 
great majority of that peaceful and heroic band 
who first planted these prairies have folded 
their tired arms and lain down to everlast- 
ing rest. The story of their humble lives, 
tlieir useful labors, their sacrifices, and their 
achievements has perished with their gener- 
ation, and will iiot be told. As their cabins 
have been replaced by the mansions of fol- 
lowers, and the smoke of their chimneys has 
faded away into unknown skies, so have 
tliey gone from sight and remembrance. But 
their sticcesses, achieved in that primitive 
and frugal Past, are the foundations of all 
the industrial and commercial superstruc- 
tures which our Present proudly enjoys. As 
we walk the streets of a thronged metrop- 
olis we look in wonder and with admiration 
upon the splendid triumphs of modern arch- 
itecture. Magnificent palaces of industry, 
reaching into the clouds and embellished 
with all the symmetry and grace which skill 
and taste can evolve, attract and entrance 
the eye. But we seldom give a moment's 
thought to the broad and strong foundations 
laid and hidden deep in the earth, which, 
with unquaking and stupendous strength, up- 
lift and sustain all. The citizen of this pros- 
perous commonwealth today beholds the su- 
perstructure of a state, but very infrequently 
are the foimders and the foimdations upon 
which it is erected ever brought to mind. De- 
sire and ambition for achievements, instead of 
vital gratitude and reverential memory, occupy 
the mind and absorb the energy of the pres- 
ent generation. The pioneers in their graves 
are recalled only now and then by some 
contemporary who, perchance lingering be- 
vond his time, tells stories of their courage 
and of their character. 



CHAPTER VIII 

First Legislature — Administration of Governor Izard — Location oe the Capital - 
Laws of the First Session — United States Surveys — Claim Clubs — Incorpor- 
ation Laws — Nebraska's Peculiarity — First Independence Day — Judicial 

Organization 



FIRST Legislature. In accordance with 
the proclamation of Acting Governor 
Cuming, the first legislature of Nebraska terri- 
tory convened at Omaha, Tuesday, January 
i6, 1855, at ten o'clock in the morning, in 
the building which had been erected for the 
purpose by the Council Bluffs & Nebraska 
Ferry Company. This company was incorpor- 



seat of government contrary to the wishes 
of its real residents. It was fitting that 
Iowa capital and enterprise, which were to 
fix the seat of the government, should also 
temporarily house it. "This whole arrange- 
ment," we are told by the Arrozv, printed in 
Council Bluffs, "is made without a cost of 
one single dollar to the government." 




First Territorial Capitol Building of Nebraska at Omaha, 
33 X 75 Feet. Cost About $3,000.00 



ated under the laws of Iowa, and Enos Lowe 
was its president. This Iowa corporation em- 
bodied or represented the Omaha that was 
to be ; for the future metropolis then ex- 
isted only in the imagination, the hope, and the 
ambition of its Iowa promoters. Iowa men 
had procured the incorporation of the terri- 
tory and shaped it to their wishes ; and an 
Iowa man had organized it into political 
form and arbitrarily located its temporary 



This first tenement of organized Ne- 
braska government was located on lot 7, in 
block 124, as platted by A. D. Jones, front- 
ing east on Ninth street between Farnam and 
Douglas. The structure was known as 
"the brick building at Omaha City," indi- 
cating that it was the first building of brick 
in the town. It was occupied by the legis- 
lature for the first two sessions, and was 
afterwards used as the first general offices 



i; 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



of the Union Pacific Railway Company, un- 
til, in the fall of 1869, they were transferred 
to other quarters/ 

The first meeting house of the legislature is 
thus described by the disappointed but no 
doubt faithful contemporary chronicler of the 
Pallad'mm: 

First Capital Building. The building in 
which the session is to be held is a plain, 
substantial, two-story brick edifice, which 
we should judge was about 30 by 45 feet. 




Joseph L. Sharp 
President of the first territorial council 



The entrance to the building is on the east 
side into a hall, from which the various 
state apartments above and below are 
reached. 

As you enter the hall below, the repre- 
sentatives' room will be found on the left, 
and the governor's apartment on the right. 
A winding staircase leads to the hall 
above, at the head of which, upon the left, 
you enter the council chamber and the 
committee rooms on the right. The build- 
ine is a neat and substantial one, but alto- 



gether too siuall for the purpose intended. 

The speaker's desk is elevated two or 
three steps above the level of the floor, and 
likewise that of the president of the council. 
The desks are well proportioned and taste- 
full}' finished. 

The desks for; the representatives and 
councilmen are designed to accommodate 
two members, each having a small drawer 
to himself, and a plain Windsor chair for a 
seat. The furniture, including the secre- 
taries' and speaker's desks and chairs, is of 
the plainest character, and yet well suited to 
the purpose for which they were designed. 

The size of the legislative rooms are so 
small that but very few spectators can gain 
admittance at one time. 

We were struck with the singularity of 
taste displayed in the curtain furniture of 
the different rooms, which consisted of two 
folds of plain calico, the one green and the 
other red, which we took to be symbolic of 
jealousy and war — which inonsters, we 
fear, will make their appearance before 
right is enthroned and peace established. 

On the 13th day of October the Arroiv 
tells us that, "But a few short months ago 
and not a sign of a habitation was visible 
upon the site where now are constantly in 
progress and will be completed, within an- 
other month, a town numbering some 175 
or 200 inhabitants." 

The legislature was composed of a council 
of thirteen and a house of twenty-si.x mem- 
Ijers. It cannot be said that a single mem- 
ijer of this first legislature had a permanent 
footing in the territory, and many of them 
had not even "declared their intentions." 
But the men from Iowa were there in full 
force. Mr. J. L. Sharp, the president of the 
council, nominally from Richardson county, 
lived at Glenwood, Iowa, and never became 
a resident of Nebraska. Out of a total 
membership of thirty-nine at least five, 
namely. Sharp, Nuckolls, Kempton, Latham, 
and Purple never were actual residents 
of the territory, and many of the rest 
were mere sojourners — driftwood, tempo- 
rarily stranded on this farther shore of the 
westward stream of population, but des- 
tined soon to be caught by its constant on- 



' Memorabilia. .Andrew J. Poppleton. 



FIRST LEGISLATURE 



173 



ward flow and carried off to the boundless 
country beyond. 

The members of the first territorial coun- 
cil were Benjamin R. Folsom of Burt 
county, Lafayette Nuckolls of Cass county, 
Munson H. Clark of Dodge county, Taylor 
G. Goodwill, Alfred D. Jones, Origen D. 
Richardson, Samuel E. Rogers of Douglas 
count}^ Richard Brown of Forney county, 
Hiram P. Bennet, Henry Bradford, Charles 
H. Cowles of Pierce county, Joseph L. 
Sharp of Richardson county, James C. 
Mitchell of Washington county. 

The first territorial house of representa- 
tives was comprised as follows: Burt county, 
Hascall C. Purple, John B. Robertson; Cass 
county, William Kempton, John McNeal 
Latham, Joseph D. N. Thompson ; Dodge 
county, Eli R. Doyle, J. W. Richardson; 
Douglas county, William N. Byers, William 
Clancy, Fleming Davidson, Thomas Davis, 
Alfred D. Goyer, Andrew J. Hanscom, An- 
drew J. Poppleton. Robert B. Whitted; For- 
ney county, William A. Finney, Joel M. 
Wood ; Pierce count}-, Gideon Bennet, James 
H. Cowles, James H. Decker, William B. 
Hail, Wilson M. Maddox; Richardson 
county, David M. N. Johnston, John A. Sin- 
gleton ; Washington county, Anselum Ar- 
nold, Andrew J. Smith. 

It does not require the full spelling of 
these Christian names in the record to safely 
conclude that there were three "Andrew 
Jacksons" in the house. The circumstance 
that this representation of strenuous names 
from the North Platte outnumbered that of 
the South Platte, two to one, might have had 
much to do with the success of the first- 
named section in achieving its heart's desire. 

Hiram P. Bennet of Pierce county was 
chosen temperary president of the council, 
and it is his recollection that J. C. Mitchell 
of Florence nominated him for that ofifice 
and put the question to the council. After 
temporary organization the council pro- 
ceeded to the chamber of the house where 
the governor delivered the first message to 
the joint assembly. With characteristic im- 
periousness he first undertook to administer 



the oath of office to the members. Mr. Ben- 
net thinks that he required as a condition for 
taking the oath that members should have 
received certificates of election from him. 
At any rate three South Platte members, 
Bennet, Bradford, and Nuckolls, refused to 
take the solemn vow by the governor's sanc- 
tion, and after the reading of the message 
both council and house acknowledged the 
irregularity of the proceeding by going 
through the ceremony before Judge Fergu- 
son and Judge Harden respectively. This 




Hiram P. Bennet 

President pro tem. of the first territorial 

council 

is the Palladiimi's unfortunately meager ac- 
count of the first actual skirmish of the ir- 
repressible and endless conflict between the 
North Platte and South Platte factions : 

The acting governor made an attempt to 
get control of the council, but was peremp- 
torily denied the privilege by the president 
(Mr. Bennet), by whom he was told that he 
had no business to do what he was attempt- 
ing to do, and that he was not needed, and 
not wanted there, that he was not set in 
authority over that body, and that his pre- 
tensions could not be recognized by it.^ 

At the afternoon session ]\Ir. Bennet, hav- 
ing become convinced that Mr. Sharp had 

- Nebraska PaUadiiiiii, January I", 18.^5. 



174 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



been playing both sides, and had agreed 
to transfer his support to the North Platte, 
refused to act as temporary president, and 
Benjamin R. Folsom of Burt county was 
elected in his place. 

Messrs. J. L. Sharp and Hiram P. Bennet 
of the council were advertised as lawyers of 
Glenwood in the Palladium, during and 
after the legislative session, and that faith- 
ful chronicler of the doubtful deeds of all 
whom it classed among the wicked says that 
immediately after final adjournment the 
president of council "led ofT for Glenwood, 
Iowa, at about 2:40 on the first quarter." 
The ordinary restraints to the game of grab 
for the capital, which was organized at 
Council BlulTs soon after if not before the 
passage of the organic act, were lacking. 
These restraints are a settled interest in the 
community or state which the non-resident 
does not have, and the pride and fear of 
reputation which are invoked in public rep- 
resentatives only by the knowledge and fear 
that the eye of a real and responsible citi- 
zenship, with moral standards by which it 
will reach moral judgments, is upon them. 
It was to be expected, therefore, that the 
preparation for, and the first step in law- 
making should do violence to moral law. 

Omaha promoters intended to make that 
place the capital, and with well-founded 
confidence they relied upon the Napoleonic 
Cuming to carry out their intention. The 
citizens of Bellevue had insisted that their 
settlement should constitute a separate leg- 
islative district. It far exceeded in numbers 
any other settlement excepting Omaha and 
Nebraska City. "There were two points in 
the county though lying side by side were 
actually heaven-wide apart in interest and 
feeling. No union existed between them 
any more than if an ocean rolled between. 
If there were any points in the territory 
needing a district representation, these were 
the ones." 

I\Ir. Decatur, in arguing his case as con- 
testant for the seat of Mr. Poppleton in the 
house January 31st, is quoted as saying that 
"In the original organization of Omaha 



county, now recognized as Douglas county, 
there were two separate and distinct dis- 
tricts." The inference from this is that dur- 
ing the negotiations, or cross-bidding be- 
tween Bellevue and Omaha, conducted bj' 
Governor Cuming, he had at first intimated 
or agreed that in the first organization 
Omaha City and Bellevue should be kept 
apart in distinct districts, and the county 
was to be named Omaha instead of Doug- 
las. And so Mr. Decatur charges that, 
while the Nebraska bill makes it obligatory 
upon the acting governor to so district the 
county that each neighborhood should be 
represented, Bellevue is unrepresented. 

By the governor's tactics, however, Belle- 
vue was thrown into the Omaha district 
wliere her hostile vote was safely swallowed. 
But Bellevue voted for a distinct set of leg- 
islative candidates, and the tabulated vote 
is an interesting page in history. 

Bellevue, determined to emphasize to the 
utmost her distance from her northern rival, 
threw most of her vote for delegate to Con- 
gress to a resident of the far South, Savan- 
nah, Missouri — Napoleon B. Giddings — 
while Omaha voted for Hadley D. Johnson, 
actually of Council Bluffs but constructively 
of Omaha. 

The Bellevue candidates contested, or 
rather attempted to contest the seats of the 
Omaha candidates — who had of course re- 
ceived certificates of election from Governor 
Cuming. In the council they made a test 
of A. W. Hollister's claims. On the second 
(lay of the session, by a close vote of 7 to 6, 
Dr. Geo. L. Miller of Omaha was chosen 
chief clerk over Mr. Isaac R. Alden, the 
temporary clerk, who, being from Wash- 
ington county and Florence, presumably, 
was not sound on the capital question ; O. 
F. Lake was chosen assistant clerk, S. A. 
Lewis, sergeant-at-arms, and N. R. Folsom, 
doorkeeper. Then Mr. Mitchell ofifered a 
resolution "that a committee of three be 
appointed to investigate the claims of A. W. 
HoUister of Douglas county to a seat in this 
body," which on motion of Richardson of 
Douglas was tabled. A similar resolution 



FIRST LEGISLATURE 



175 



on behalf of B. Y. Shelley of Burt county 
who, according to the returns, had received 
25 votes against 32 for Folsom, the sitting 
member, met with similar treatment. An 
attempt of the anti-Omaha forces to take up 
these resolutions on the following day was 
unsuccessful. On the 24th a resolution by 
]\Ir. Folsom to inquire into the right of Mr. 
JMitchell to a seat, on the ground "that he is 
not now and never has been a citizen of Ne- 
braska, but that he is a citizen of Iowa," 
was met by another from the other side 
making similar charges of non-residence 
against Folsom, Richardson, and Sharp, the 
president ; and then came a resolution by 
Mitchell that Goodwill of Douglas was in- 
eligible because he was a resident of New 
York, and another by Goodwill charging 
that Nuckolls of Cass was a minor. These 
resolutions were all referred to the com- 
mittee on elections from which they were 
never reported, probably on the ground that 
it was not worth while, since the reasons 
for the investigation were admitted on all 
hands and could not be denied. Resolutions 
calling on the governor to furnish the coun- 
cil with the original census returns and his 
instructions to census takers were referred 
with safety to the same committee, since 
two of its members were from Douglas 
county. 

On the 6th of February this committee re- 
ported that it was "inexpedient" to further 
investigate the subject of contested seats; a 
word fitly chosen, considering the peculiar 
character of the objections raised to the 
claimants of seats and the impartiality of 
their application. As Mr. Shelley had at 
least a plausible case against Mr. Folsom, 
based upon the number of votes he received 
and not upon the delicate one of non-resi- 
dence, he was allowed the pay of a mem- 
ber up to February 6. 

In the house, on Mr. Poppleton's motion, 
Mr. Latham of Cass was chosen temporary 
presiding officer, and Joseph W. Paddock 
was appointed temporary chief clerk, 
George S. Eayre, assistant clerk, Samuel A. 
Lewis, sergeant-at-arms. and Benjamin B. 



Thompson, doorkeeper. As in the council, 
those members were recognized who held 
certificates of election from the governor. 
In the joint session, Doyle of Dodge and 
Decker and Maddox of Pierce refused to 
receive the official oath from Governor 
Cuming. 

On the second day Andrew J. Hanscom of 
Douglas was elected speaker over John B. 
Robertson of Burt by a vote of 18 to 7 ; 
Joseph W. Paddock of Douglas was elected 
chief clerk over Mastin W. Riden bv a like 




Benjamin R. Folsom 
Member of the first territorial assembly 



vote ; George S. Eayre, assistant clerk, over 
Mastin W. Riden by a vote of 19 to 7, and 
Isaac L. Gibbs doorkeeper without opposi- 
tion. The Rev. Joel M. Wood, member from 
Forney county, seems to have acted as 
chaplain of the house for the first week of 
the session, although the Rev. W. D. Gage 
of Nebraska City had been formerly elected 
to this office. The council took no action 
for the selection of a chaplain until the fifth 
day of the session when, by resolution, the 
president was authorized to invite the Rev. 



176 



[ISTfjRV OF XEHRASKA 




[Note — Jacob King was an early and well-known resident of the Platte valley] 



FIRST LEGISLATURE 



17; 



William Hamilton of the Otoe and Omaha 
mission to act in that office. It does not ap- 
pear, however, that "Father" Hamilton ever 
served as chaplain, but the record shows 
that Mr. Gage actually served a part of the 
time in the council and also in the house. 

A determined fight was at once begun by 
the anti-Omaha members in favor of con- 
testants, against those who had received cer- 
tificates of election from the governor. 
Archie Handley of Forney county contested 
the seat of Wood, Benjamin Winchester of 




NiLES Rathbone Folsom 
Santa Monica, California, doorkeeper first ter- 
ritorial council 



Washington contested against Arnold, and 
J. Sterling Morton and Stephen Decatur of 
Bellevue against A. J. Poppleton and Will- 
iam Clancy of Omaha. 

On the 17th, Decker of Pierce offered a 
resolution for the appointment of a com- 
mittee of three "to examine the certificates 
of members of the house, and to investigate 
the claims of those contesting seats," which 
was rejected. On the 24th Mr. Poppleton 
moved to amend rule 53, which was similar 
to Decker's resolution, so as to restrict the 



duty of the committee on privileges and 
elections "to examine and report upon the 
certificates of election of the members re- 
turned to serve in this house." The opposi- 
tion exhausted all their parlimentary re- 
sources against the passage of the rule, but 
it was finally adopted by a vote of 13 to 12. 
This was an approximate division of the 
Omaha and anti-Omaha forces on the cap- 
ital question. It is interesting to note that 
this violent measure was supported by the 
same members, who, with the addition of 
Robertson of Burt, two days later, passed 
the bill locating the capital at Omaha. The 
Palladium sounds this note of disgust and 
despair: 

Governor Cuming's appointees having the 
majority and being reluctant to have their 
claims investigated, yesterday they made it a 
rule of the House that Cuming's certificates 
were the only evidence which had a right to 
come before the House in the matter ! ! ! 
And this in Nebraska, and enacted by the 
very men who are so loud in their praises of 
popular sovereignty! Oh! Shame! where is 
thy blush? 

Poppleton and Richardson of Douglas and 
Latham and Thompson of Cass argued that 
under the organic law the possession of the 
governor's certificate was conclusive, and 
that there could be no appeal or contest but 
to him. Decker of Pierce, Wood of Forney, 
and Doyle of Dodge insisted that the well- 
settled principle that legislative bodies have 
the right to pass upon the qualifications of 
their members applied to this case. The 
Palladium admits that "Poppleton, the 
mover, closed the debate in a tolerably able 
vindication of the amendment." Even then 
Poppleton must have been a tolerably good 
jurist; and he must have laughed in his 
sleeve as his defense of his novel doctrine 
rolled out in plausible phrase and with 
unctuous smoothness. 

Nebraska, we believe, is unique in the dis- 
covery and application of this principle of 
parlimentary procedure. The provision of 
the organic act bearing on this question is as 
follows : "The person having the highest 
number of legal votes in each of said coun- 



178 



HTSTORV OF XERRASKA 




[XoTE — J. B. Kuony established the first store at Fort Calhoun, Nebraska f 



FIRST LEGISLATL'RE 



179 




180 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



cil" — or the house, as the case may be — 
"shall be declared by the governor to be 
duly elected" ; and this wording is found 
substantially in the organic acts of all the 
northwestern territories. We find a like lack 
of restraint in the organization of the first 
legislatures of other territories, though under 
the usual parlimentary rule. The first legis- 
lature of Kansas, at the first, arbitrarily un- 
seated nine free-soil members who held cer- 
tificates, and because they were free-soilers, 
the other two having resigned partly 
through disgust and partly through the 
"moral suasion" of the pro-slavery members. 
In Wisconsin, the first house unseated a 




Benjamin B. Thompson 

Doorkeeper, first territorial house 

of representatives 

certificated member and seated the con- 
testant, according to the general, but against 
the Nebraska parlimentary principle; and 
the first house of Indiana, whose first act was 
to consider the qualifications of its mem- 
bers, arbitrarily unseated the regular mem- 
l)er from St. Clair county. 

On the first day of the session it appears 
that two of the contestants from Bellevue, J. 
Sterling Morton and Stephen Decatur, were 
admitted into the house and participated in 
the discussion about Cuming's credentials 
or certificates, and from what we of the 
present know of Morton we may be sure 
that the discussion was not lacking in ag- 



gressive vigor. The sardonic answer of the 
report of the committee on privileges and 
elections to the editor's hope and prayer for 
righteousness was that "Mr. Decatur ad- 
vanced his claim on the ground that Doug- 
las county is separate and distinct from 
Omaha, and that he is the representative 
from Douglas county, having received a 
greater number of votes in that county than 
Mr. Poppleton"; but "Mr. Poppleton in de- 
fense produced a certificate from the gov- 
ernor of Nebraska declaring him duly elected 
a representative from Douglas county." 

It did not matter that the conclusion of 
the committee violated immemorial parlia- 
mentary usage and renounced all spirit of 
fairness ; it was backed by a majority as 
resolute as it was oblivious of any such nice 
considerations. The finding was brief and 
to the point, as it could afl'ord to be : 

After considering the evidence of each 
party your committee are of the opinion 
that A. J. Poppleton is entitled to a seat in 
this House according to the organic lazv and 
rules adopted bv this House." 

Of the five members of the committee, four 
had voted for the obnoxious rule and after- 
ward consistently voted to locate the capita! 
at Omaha. It is a barren formality to add 
that every member to whom Governor Cum- 
ing had given his certificate held his seat. 
This was the beginning of the end of the most 
important act of the first legislature. 

The council or upper house, the equivalent 
of a state senate, contained some men of re- 
markably good intellect, and several of pre- 
vious experience in legislative bodies. Colonel 
Joseph L. Sharp, nominally of Richardson 
county, who was elected president of the coun- 
cil over his bitter political and personal rival, 
James C. Mitchell of Florence, had formerly 
been a member of the legislature of Illinois 
and also of the legislature of Iowa. He was a 
disciplined and ready parliamentarian. He 
knew and could apply with quick decision, the 
rules governing deliberative bodies. Down to 
this day no one has presided over the senate,, 
or any other deliberative body of the state. 

'^ House Journal, 1855, p. 144. 



FIRST LEGISLATURE 



181 



with more skill or dignity. He was a man of 
italic individuality. His person was angular 
and his height six feet three. His hair was 
abundant and iron gray, and it covered a 
leonine head. His eye was a bright steel-blue, 
his chin square, his mouth tight-shut and firm. 
In the little council chamber where these 
primitive lawmakers were laying the footings 
for the walls of the civic edifice since built, 
there was but small space for spectators ; but 
they drifted in from the curious East, now and 
then, and, standing against the railing which 
fenced them out from the members, took notes 
and made whispered observations among 
themselves upon the proceedings of the coun- 
cil and the demeanor of its president. It was 
the misfortune of Colonel Sharp to have been 
fearfully scarred, indented, and pitted with 
smallpox. That dreadful disease had bleared, 
glazed over, and destroyed the sight of his 
left eye, and at the same time had twisted and 
deeply indented his prominent nose, which 
looked somewhat awry ; so that, altogether, 
the victim's facial expression was rather repel- 
lant. Right against the lobby rail was the 
desk and seat of his spiteful and malignant 
competitor, Jim Mitchell, as he was called. 
Mitchell was a lithe, slender, small man, about 
sixty years of age, not more than five feet six 
inches tall and weighing not more than one 
hundred and twenty pounds. He was quick 
of mind, had a hairtrigger temper, and his 
courage was unquestioned. He had justi- 
fiably killed his man at Jackson, Iowa, had 
been tried and honorably acquitted. There- 
fore no bully presumed to insult him, though 
his features were mild, gentle, and pallid as 
those of a studious orthodox clergyman, and 
his manners were refined and quiet. His 
hatred of Sharp was deep and relentless. One 
day a couple of visitors from "down east" 
were leaning against the railing by Mitchell's 
desk, watching President Sharp and listening 
to his rapid decisions and rulings, and finally 
one said to the other, in an undertone which 
reached the alert ear of Mitchell: "That 
president knows his business. He is able and 
impartial, quick and correct, but certainly the 
homliest man I ever looked at" ; and Mitch- 



ell, with a cynical smile and tranquil irony, 
remarked : "Hell ! You should have seen 
him before he was improved by the small- 
pox." Possibly state senators of this day 
keep sarcasm in stock sharper and more 
spontaneous than that, but they seldom exer- 
cise it. 

The other law-maker of experience in the 
council was Origen D. Richardson of Doug- 
las county. He had served in the Michigan 
senate and had also been governor of that 
state. He was a native of Vermont, level- 




Origen D. Richardson 

Oldest member of the first territorial 

assembly 

lieaded, honest, and of sound judgment. More 
than any other individual, Richardson deter- 
mined the character and quality of the legis- 
lation of that first assembly. As chairman of 
the permanent committee on the judiciary, in 
the council, he did an enormus amount of 
thoughtful, diligent, and eiificient labor. He 
no doubt planned, formed, and shaped more 
statutes than any other member of either 
house, not excepting Andrew J. Poppleton, 
who was the most capable, industrious, and 
painstaking member of the house committee 
on judiciary, the superior of any lawyer then 



182 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



in Nebraska, and the peer, perhaps, of any 
who have since practiced in the courts of this 
state. In those earlier days Mr. Poppleton 
was almost passionately fond of public speak- 
ing, for which he was well equipped with an 
unusual share of personal magnetism, reason- 
ing power, and a plausible and persuasive ad- 
dress. He manifested a keen interest in poli- 
tical affairs up to the time of the segregation 
of his services in the office of the Union 
Pacific railway company, which was a distinct 
loss to the commonwealth. 

Among the most far-sighted law-makers of 



the future of such a road, and in concluding 
declares that if it could be built. 

The millions of Europe would be brought 
in contact with the hundreds of millions ot 
Asia, and their line for quick transit would 
be, to a great extent, across our continent. 
Their mails, their ministers, their most costly 
and interesting travel and trade, would take 
this route, and augment our business and mul- 
tiply our resources. In view of the compara^ 
tive cost, to the wonderful changes that will 
result, your committee can not believe the 
period remote when this work will be accom- 
plished ; and with liberal encouragement to 
capital, which your committee are disposed to 




E>^gra^■ing from j-m .;.';,' .;■ ,' '■;,'; I'x S:.:ri Lis IT. )'. Schyincmsky, oziltcd by Mrs. Jatncs T. Alhiu, Onialui, Xchriijka. 

The Presbvteeiax ^Mission at Bellevue, Completed ix 18+8 
This, and its companion pieces, are the only pictures extant of the Mission building as it appeared in 1854 



that first council was Dr. M. H. Clark, mem 
ber from Fontenelle, Dodge county. He was 
a type of the vigorous frontiersman in form 
and mind. He was an enthusiast as to the 
commercial future of Nebraska. As chairman 
of the committee on corporations he made a 
report to the council on the 16th of February, 
1855, which was a prophecy of remarkable ac- 
curacy, and which has been completely veri- 
fied. 

The report in its advocacy of the charter- 
ing of a transcontinental railroad forecasts 



grant, it is their belief that before fifteen 
years have transpired the route to India will 
be open, and the way across this continent 
will be the common way of the world. Enter- 
taining these views, your committee report 
the bill for the Platte Valley and Pacific Rail- 
road, feeling assured that it will become not 
only a basis for branches within Nebraska, 
but for surrounding states and territories. 

The report begins with this sentence: "It 
is generally conceded that the portion of the 
territory of Nebraska which will first seek 
organization as a state is that which lies be- 



ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR IZARD 



183 



tween the parallels of 40 degrees and 43 de- 
grees, extending west to the Rocky moun- 
tains." 

That this discerning pioneer should thus 
have foretold the future northern and south- 
ern boundaries of the state is more significant 
than remarkable for prescience when we con- 
sider that it is simply a reflection of the orig- 
inal Iowa idea. This was the original and 
persistently proposed northern boundary for 
the territory until, at the last moment, all that 
remained of the unorganized part of the Pur- 
chase was included. It was the boundary in 
the bills introduced by Douglas in 1844 and 
1848, and of the bill of the Iowa senator 
(Dodge) in 1853 — the bill which, as amended, 
was finally passed — and the 40th parallel was 
the southern boundary in the bill of 1848. 
This boundary had been fixed by the united 
desire or judgment of the bordering promo- 
ters of organization, and in accordance willi 
the reasons given by the Iowa statesman al- 
ready freely quoted. This forecast indicates 
that Mr. Clark was, to some extent, familiar 
with what had gone before; and his judgment 
as to the desirable and probable location of 
the coming state was confirmed by its pro- 
jectors. 

That report, written and published before 
civil government in Nebraska was six months 
old, and when most of the people of the United 
States who had thought about the subject at 
all believed that the construction of a railroad 
from the Missouri river across the Plains and 
through the Rocky mountains to the Pacific 
coast was an impossibility, is a notable piece of 
economic and industrial faith, if not of fore- 
sight. 

Acting Governor Cuming delivered the first 
executive message to a joint meeting of the 
two houses in the chamber of the house of rep- 
resentatives at three o'clock in the afternoon 
of the first day's session.* As might be ex- 
pected of a man so able and of such positive 
parts, the message was comprehensive and well 
composed, and for the greater part direct, con- 
cise, and incisive ; and as might be expected in 
one so young — he was only twenty-six — it 
not only had the unnecessary and at least now 



quite unusual appendage of a peroration, but 
this peroration was grandiloquent indeed. 
When it is considered that no other executive 
message since delivered in this commonwealth, 
except that of the ripe statesman, Governor 
Richardson, equals this first one — the com- 
position of an inexperienced boy — in point 
of saying what should be said and saying it 
well, we readily overlook the final efflorescence. 

The temporary governor bespeaks for the 
expected permanent executive, Governor 
Izard, the blending of "a dignified disinter- 
estedness with an appreciated efficiency 
well befitting the chief magistrate of the largest 
commonwealth of freemen within the limits of 
the Union or the world." Our appreciation 
of the unerring western apotheosis of mere 
size is heightened by the reflection that this 
physically greatest of all the territories, past 
or present, was the least of all in population. 
It is significant that the first recommendation 
of this first Nebraska message was in favor 
of a memorial to Congress in behalf of the 
construction of the Pacific railway up the 
valley of the Platte. The governor suggested 
that the legislature in its memorial should 
"urgently if not principally ask" for a prelim- 
inary provision for telegraphic and letter mail 
communication with the Pacific, and that for 
its jjrotection parties of twenty dragoons 
should be stationed at stockades twenty or 
thirty miles apart. Councilman Clark's commit- 
tee report in favor of a Pacific railway and by 
the Platte route was an elaboration of the 
governor's recommendation. The legislature 
was reminded that in the enactment of a code 
of laws and the establishment of public insti- 
tutions, it had the benefit of an ample fund 
of experience treasured by neighboring states. 
The recommendation of the enactment of gen- 
eral incorporation laws was wise but unheeded. 
The governor also recommended that volun- 
tary military companies be organized for pro- 
tection against the Sioux, Ponca, and other 
Indians. 

Administration of Governor Iz.\rd. Mr. 
Izard, United States marshal, who had been 
in Washington, we may believe with an eye to 

* Records Nebraska Territory, p. 40. 



184 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



promotion to the governorship, returned to 
Omaha on the 20th of February, and his ar- 
rival was formally announced to the two 
houses of the legislature by Secretary Cuming 
on that day, and on the same day the secre- 
tary presented him to a joint meeting of the 
houses, when he delivered a passable speech, 
as governor's speeches go, and which might 



sociate justice of the Supreme Court of the 
United States. He resided at Mt. Vernon, St. 
Francis county, Arkansas, and his appoint- 
ment was due to the influence of Senator 
Sebastian of that state. The Helena (Arkan- 
sas) .T/ar in noticing his appointment admitted 
that he was "not endowed with shining tal- 
ents," and the governor's Nebraska contem- 




M.\RK W. Izard 
First United States marshal and second governor of Nebraska 

territory 



be excused for its lack of much else by its 
plethora of reference to "sovereigns," "the 
principles of popular sovereignty," and "the 
sovereignty of the people." 

The new governor had taken the oath of 
oftice December 23, 1854, in the city of Wash- 
ington, before Judge John A. Campbell, as- 



jioraries still living are not heard to dissent 
from the adinission. He was doubtless a fair 
sample of the overplus of the mass of aspi- 
rants for place with which southern dispensers 
of patronage must have been infested, and for 
whom, in the einergency, such long-distance 
provision must be made. Since Secretary 



LOCATION OF THE CAPITAL 



185 



Cuming, a quasi-resident, was himself an as- 
pirant for the office in question, we may pre- 
sume that his sympathetic reference — in in- 
troducing his successful rival to the legisla- 
ture — to the carpet-bagger's "long and toil- 
some journey" in reaching Nebraska was not 
innocent of malicious irony. Izard was 
scarcely competent to properly perform the 
duties of his office. His short career gave 
evidence of this, no less than the implied ad- 
mission of his friends when they said he 
"meant well." 

Governor Izard was not inclined to miss a 
chance to distinguish himself as a maker of 
state papers ; so he gave himself the benefit 
of the doubt whether a second message was 
called for, and delivered one to the two houses 
February 27th. He had discovered his lack of 
discretion and sense of propriety in his address 
of the 20th in saying that "in the discharge of 
my official duties as your chief executive I 
shall endeavor to carry out the wishes of the 
national administration." In his message to 
the all but sovereign legislature he betrayed 
his ignorance of the limitations of the pro- 
vince of the executive by expressing regret 
that he was not "sufficiently familiar with the 
progress already made to indicate a course of 
policy for the government of your future 
action." He recommended in the message the 
adoption of the code of Iowa for temporary 
purposes, "as a large portion of our citizens at 
present are from that state, and are more or 
less familiar with its system" ; that provision 
be made for all local officers to be elected by 
the people ; that the interest of settlers on 
lands they had occupied, not yet surveyed 
under the act of Congress of July 22, 1854, be 
treated as taxable property ; and he followed 
Acting Governor Cuming in wisely urging 
general instead of special legislation as far as 
possible. These first legislators were true to 
their type in that practical politics was their 
first care; and house file No. 1, offered Jan- 
uary 18th, by Robertson of Burt county, was a 
joint resolution as follows : 

Resolved, That we herewith endorse the 
principles enunciated in the bill organizing 
the territories of Kansas and Nebraska ; that 



we rejoice that the geographical line between 
the northern and southern states has been 
erased, leaving the people of every state and 
territory free to control their domestic insti- 
tutions ; and that we commend the firm and 
patriotic course of the men, without distinc- 
tion of party, who have aided in establishing 
the sound constitutional principles of the com- 
promise of 1850, and 

Resolved, furthermore, that we pledge our- 
selves to oppose any unfair discriminations, 
such as those of the late Missouri compro- 
mise, but to protect and defend the rights of 
the states and the union of states, and to ad- 
vance and perpetuate the doctrine of popular 
sovereignty. 

Location of the Capital. The momen- 
tous contest of the session was opened by the 
introduction of bills for the location of the 
seat of government. The contest has raged 
at intervals from that time to this. On the 
24th of January a bill was introduced in the 
council by Richardson of Douglas county, and 
the following day Latham of Cass introduced 
a similar bill in the house. A motion by 
Nuckolls to insert the words "Plattsmouth of 
Cass county" in the council bill carried 7 to 6. 
A motion by Clark of Dodge to insert the 
name of Bellevue lost. Richardson succeeded 
in having the bill referred to the committee 
on public buildings. The Latham bill left 
blanks in the bill to be filled in relative to the 
location. A motion by Kempton, to insert 
Plattsmouth, lost, as did a motion to insert 
Brownsville, and a similar motion to name 
Omaha. Latham later renewed his motion to 
name Plattsmouth, but the motion lost by a 
tie vote, and Poppleton, the general in the 
house for Omaha, finally renewed his motion 
which carried, and the bill was sent to the 
coimcil. 

In the council Mitchell moved to insert 
Plattsmouth instead of Omaha, but Richardson 
procured its reference to the committee of the 
whole as a substitute by a vote of 7 to 6, and 
then secured its postponement for two days. 
In the meantime, Mitchell had seen a sign 
and withdrew, upon the first opportunity, his 
motion to name Plattsmouth, and moved to 
locate the capital about two and one-half 
miles north of Omaha ; then Richardson gave 



186 



HISTORY OF -NEBRASKA 



notice that upon some future day he would 
make Mitchell sole commissioner to locate the 
capital buildings, and Mitchell withdrew his 
last amendment. Richardson's task was now 
easy and, in spite of Rennet's dilatory tactics, 
the bill was passed by a vote of 7 to 6, Mitch- 
ell's vote having changed from Plattsmouth to 
Omaha. 

After the location had finally been made, 
charges of bribery were frequent in the press 
of that day. The Palladium did not fail to 
credit Mr. Poppleton with efficiently follow- 
ing up Cuming's primary work. Nevertheless 
the governor had virtually located the capital, 
and was to be a very great factor in locating 
it actually. And thus it occurred that Thomas 
B. Cuming was the founder of Omaha. 

The Bellevue of today, in size and condi- 
tion, illustrates the truth that mere righteous- 
ness and beauty are not in the reckoning 
against western hustle with all that it implies. 
The original missionary's residence and the 
building which was occupied by the Indian 
agency are still standing ; the first on the edge 
of the plateau immediately overlooking the 
river. The walls are a concrete of mortar and 
small stones, and the house is rectangular in 
shape, two stories in height with a veranda ex- 
tending between the two stories along the en- 
tire eastern or river front, thus commanding a 
magnificent view of the river valley and the 
distant bluffs and groves on the Iowa side. A 
hall extends from east to west across the mid- 
dle of the house. The mission house itself 
was long since removed. The first church 
(Presbyterian) and the residences of Chief 
Justices Fenner Ferguson and Augustus Hall 
are still standing and in use. The natural 
tovi'nsite of Bellevue comprises a level plateau 
of about three thousand acres in the angle be- 
tween the Missouri river and Papillion creek. 
It rises on the north to a high hill which seems 
to have been especially designed by nature foi 
the capitol of the commonwealth; but though 
selfish and shortsighted man has disposed 
where God so magnificently proposed, still the 
eminence is fittingly crowned by the main 
Iniilding of Bellevue college. 

The journal of the council tells us that "Mr. 



Richardson (of Douglas county) nominated 
Mr. Sharp of Richardson county for presi- 
dent of the council, whereupon, on motion of 
Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Sharp was declared duly 
elected." This is suggestive that both sides 
in the capital contest depended upon Sharp, 
and that he ■ was ready to disappoint either. 
Surviving contemporaries of these men and 
times insist that Sharp agreed for a valuable 
consideration to support Omaha in the capital 
struggle, and that, mistrusting him, the con- 
sideration was recovered through strategy by 
an emissary of Omaha (A. J. Hanscom). 
Though Sharp appears to have favored Omaha 
interests in the appointment of committees of 
the council, he for some reason lost interest in 
the cause of Omaha, and afterward voted 
against locating the capital there. 

On the 5th of February, after the capital 
campaign had ended in triumph for Omaha, 
friends and beneficiaries in the council moved 
resolutions vouching for the uprightness and 
purity of motive, and commending the effi- 
ciency of the Napoleonic leader in so rapidly 
organizing the territory • — the first, doubtless 
because it was felt that he needed it, and the 
second because he really deserved it. A reso- 
lution declaring the right of the council to in- 
quire into the acts of public officers, and 
another declaring explicitly that the several 
acts of Acting Governor Cuming in the organi- 
zation of the territory were proper subjects of 
investigation by a committee, had been re- 
jected January 24th. Mr. Bennet now insisted 
that the vote of confidence could not be prop- 
erly awarded in the face of the denial of the 
investigation ; but after a fierce fight the reso- 
lution was carried by a vote of 8 to 5. Those 
voting nay were Bennet, Bradford, and Cowles 
of Pierce, Mitchell of Washington, and Nuck- 
olls of Cass. We find Mitchell's eimiity or 
conviction unabated by his capital commis- 
sionership, and the Palladium's perfidious 
Sharp, in this instance, in the enemy's camp. 

L-'^ws OF THE First Session. Council file 
No. 1 was a joint resolution by Richardson 
providing that the st\de of the laws should be 
as follows : "Be it enacted by the council and 
house of representatives of the territory of 



LAWS OF THE FIRST SESSION 



187 



Nebraska." Mr. Rogers would have it 
amended into this more democratic fashion : 
"Be it enacted by the people of the territory 
of Nebraska in general assembly convened," 
but his amendment failed and both houses 
passed Richardson's resolution. 

The enactments of the first legislature were 
classified in eight parts. The first part was 
intended as a complete civil code, and was ap- 
propriated from the code of Iowa. The sec- 
ond comprised laws of a general nature pre- 
pared by the legislature itself. The third was 
the criminal code, also appropriated from the 
Iowa code. The fourth located and estab- 
lished territorial roads. The fifth defined the 
boundaries and located, or provided for the lo- 
cation of county seats. The sixth incorporated 
industrial companies and towns, or cities 
rather. The seventh incorporated bridge and 
ferry companies, and authorized the keeping 
of ferries and the erection of bridges. The 
eighth consisted of joint resolutions adopted 
at the session. 

The first enactment, in part second, as ar- 
ranged in the statute, provided for taking 
another census to be completed by October 
11, 1855, for a new apportionment of members 
of the house of representatives, and the time 
when annual elections should be held and the 
legislature should convene. The second pro- 
hibited the manufacture or sale of intoxicating 
liquors in the territory. H. P. Downs of 
Nebraska City took the first step in a prohibi- 
tion movement in Nebraska when he obtained 
eighty signatures, besides his own, of people 
of the town named, to a petition for a "pro- 
hibitory liquor law," and lodged it in the 
council. The petition was presented by Mr. 
Bradford on the 6th of February, and was re- 
ferred to the judiciary committee. On the 
9th of February Mr. Rogers of that commit- 
tee made the following unique report : 

Your committee, to whom was referred the 
petition of H. P. Downs and eighty others, 
praying for a prohibitory law against trafific 
in intoxicating drinks, and against licensing 
dram shops and other drinking houses, report : 

That in their opinion, where the people are 
prepared and public sentiment sufficiently in 
favor of a prohibitory law to fully sustain and 



enforce it, such a law would be productive of 
the best results to the community. 

That in the opinion of this committee, the 
traffic in intoxicating drinks is a crime, ana 
they would be unwilling to legalize this crime 
by the solemn sanction of a law granting li- 
cense for its commission. They are unwilling 
to elevate to respectability by legal sanction 
any trade or traffic that tends to demoralize 
[the] community, retard the progress of edu- 
cation, impoverish the people, and impose on 
the sober and industrious part of [the] com- 
munity, without their consent, a tax which 
must necessarily be incurred to take care of 
paupers and criminals manufactured by the 
traffic. 

They are unwilling to make a traffic credit- 
able the evil effects of which do not stop by 
besotting and bankrupting the heads of fam- 
ilies, but which cause hunger, shame, distress 
and poverty to be imposed with tenfold sever- 
ity upon the innocent wife and children of 
their families. As much, however, as we may 
be in favor of a prohibitory law until [the] 
community by petition or otherwise may fully 
manifest their determination to sustain such a 
law ^ S. E. Rogers. 

Some Features of the Nen' Linvs. The 
revenue law required the auditor to distribute 
the territorial expense authorized to be paid 
out of the territorial treasury according to the 
assessment rolls, which were to be transmitted 
to him by the judges of probate of the several 
counties. The probate judges levied the taxes, 
and the sheriffs were at once the assessors 
and tax. collectors. The sheriff was also 
coroner of his county. A register of deeds was 
provided. 

The supreme court consisted of a chief jus- 
tice and two associates, who were to hold a 
term annually at the seat of government. In 
accordance with the organic act, the legisla- 
ture divided the territory into three districts, 
and fixed the times and places of holding court 
therein. A judge of the supreme court pre- 
sided over each of these districts. 

The act regulating elections named the first 
Tuesday in November, 1855, and on the same 
day thereafter every second year, as the 
time for the election of a delegate to 

^ Here the report, Council Journal, p. 52, breaks 
off short. Thus prohibition in Nebraska was born 
in Nebraska City, and was afterwards legitimized 
and was a law of Nebraska, though httle enforced, 
until 1858, when it was repealed by a license act. 



188 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Congress, and county officers consisting 
of a probate judge, register, sheriff, treas- 
urer and surveyor ; also a territorial treasurer, 
auditor, and librarian, a district attorney for 
each judicial district, two justices of the peace, 
and two constables for each district. 

A law exempting the property of married 
women from liability for the debts of husbands 
was passed, but no general exemption of home- 
steads or other property was made. An in- 
terest rate of ten per cent was fixed where no 
other rate was provided in the contract, and 
the contract rate was left without limitation. 
. The law "to establish the common school 
system" conferred upon the librarian the du- 
ties of territorial superintendent of public in- 
struction at a salary of $200 per year, and 
provided for the organization and support of 
the common or district schools. The county 
superintendent reported to the territorial su- 
perintendent all essential facts reported to him 
from the several districts in his county, 
examined and granted certificates to teachers, 
and apportioned the puJilic school tax and paid 
it over to the districts of his county. The 
district boards managed the affairs of the dis- 
tricts, and before employing teachers, were re- 
quired to examine them in the subjects taught 
in the common schools. 

United States Surveys. An act entitled 
"Claims on public lands," passed by the first 
legislature, undertook to legalize neighborhood 
regulations as to claims and improvements on 
public lands, and provided for their registry in 
the office of the register of deeds of the 
county as the law of each neighborhood. A 
valid claim was limited in extent to 320 acres, 
and each claim was to conform "as near as 
may be to the lines of subdivision of the United 
States surveys," and the boundaries were re- 
quired to be "marked, staked, or blazed." The 
act provided that the resident claim holders 
of each neighborhood should define its boun- 
daries and record them in llie office of the reg- 
ister of deeds. It is an interesting fact, which 
must be borne in mind for a proper under- 
standing of the claims bill, that at the time it 
was passed no part of Nebraska had been sur- 
veyed, and therefore no lands had been offered 
for sale or formally opened to settlement. We 



find Mr. Joseph Dyson urging, in support of 
his candidacy as a delegate to Congress in 
1854, that he is in favor of a law which will 
"secure to actfial settlers a temporary right to 
the lands they have improved until such time 
as they can dig out of the soil the amount of 
money necessary to enter them" ; and that "it 
is a conceded point that the preemption law 
of 1841, in a great majority of cases, has been 
destructive to the interests of the preemptor." 
because, "as soon as a person who has no 
capital files on a piece of land some individual 
who has more money than good principles will 
lay his money on the same land" in the hope 
that the preemptor will not be able to pay for 
it at the time specified by law. In order to 
protect himself from this menace he must bor- 
row money "at forty or fifty per cent per an- 
num, which are the usual rates of interest in 
such cases." 

By the law of Congress approved July 22, 
1854, the President of the United States was 
authorized to appoint a surveyor-general for 
the territories of Nebraska and Kansas, and 
his office was to be located as the President 
should from time to time direct. This law 
provided that "all public lands to which the 
Indian title has or shall be extinguished" 
should be subject to the preemption act of 
1841 ; also that Nebraska should constitute the 
"Omaha district" and Kansas the "Pawnee dis- 
trict." The first surveyor-general appointed 
under this act was John Calhoun, and his of- 
fice was first located at Leavenworth, Kansas. 
It was removed from Kansas to Nebraska City 
about June 1, 1858. 

The second party to the first surveying con- 
tract for Nebraska undertook to establish the 
principal base line in the territories of Kansas 
and Nebraska, which was to begin at "the 
point where the 40th degree of latitude (the 
boundary line between Nebraska and Kansas) 
intersects the right bank of the Missouri 
river," and to run west 108 miles to the sixth 
principal meridian, which was the western bor- 
der of the Omaha cession, and is now the 
western boundary of Jeft'erson, Saline, Seward 
and Butler counties. The parties to this con- 
tract were the surveyor-general and J. P. John- 
son of Bond county, Illinois ; it was dated No- 



CLALA[ CLUBS 



189 



vember 2, 1854, and the work was to be com- 
pleted by January 20, 1855. The next contract 
was made April 26, 1855, with Chas. A. Man- 
ners of Christian county, Illinois, for estab- 
lishing the guide meridian between ranges 8 
and 9 — the west line of Pawnee, Johnson, 
Otoe, and Cass counties — and the Missouri 
river, and also to establish the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 
5th, 6th, and 7th parallel lines. The third con- 
tract, dated September 26, 1855, with Bennet 
Burnam, was for subdividing townships 1, 2, 
3, 4, north, range 12 east — the east tier of 
townships of Pawnee county, and the south- 
east corner of Johnson, and the southwest cor- 
ner of Nemaha county. This contract was to 
he completed by December 1, 1855. Contracts 
for the first subdivision in Douglas county — ■ 
including Omaha City and Florence — and in 
Otoe county were made October 31, 1855, to 
be completed by June, 1856- 

The Council Bluffs Chronotype quotes the 
Nebraska City News of January 19, 1856, 
which reports rapid progress of the survey, 
saying that "early in the spring all of Nebraska 
between the guide meridian and the Missouri 
river will be surveyed and in the market." 
Major J. D. White had just returned to the 
city from the field, having completed a con- 
tract in the first division, and several com- 
panies were at work on the first, second, third, 
and fourth divisions. 

Claim Clubs. From this account of the 
first surveys it will be seen that all claimants 
of lands before the organization of the terri- 
tory and for about two years after were mere- 
ly scjuatters, without titles or surveyed boun- 
daries of their landed possessions. But neces- 
sity had become the mother of invention of a 
practicable and efficient substitute for statutory 
rule or measure. The primary government of 
the territory was a pure democracy. The first 
formal territorial laws were those passed by 
the claim clubs. Though the earliest of these 
laws antedated the legislature, and had no con- 
stitutional origin or sanction, they were none 
the less actual or effective. This system was 
doubtless borrowed directly from Iowa, where 
it had been in vogue in a similar form. There 
is contemporary evidence that the rules of 
these clubs were enforced with equity and 



firmness — sometimes with the utmost sever- 
ity — and that the settler who came into this 
voluntary court of equity was protected in his 
substantial rights from the time he squatted 
on his claim until he made good his title when 
the lands were put on sale by authority of the 
federal law. The constitution and rules of the 
several clubs did not greatly differ in sub- 
stance. The first claim association of Ne- 
braska of which we have any record was or- 
ganized at a meeting held under the "lone 
tree" — the western terminus of the Council 
Bluffs and Nebraska Ferry — on the 22d of 
July, 1854. Samuel A. Lewis was chairman 
and M. C. Gaylord, secretary. In the pre- 
amble of a set of resolutions passed at the 
meeting is an interesting account of the rela- 
tion of the ferry company to the projected 
town of Omaha as early as 1853. 

NEBRASKA CLAIM MEETING 

Pursuant to notice given, a large and re- 
.spectable number of the claimants upon the 
public lands in the vicinity of Omaha City met 
at that place on the 22d day of July, 1854. S. 
Lewis [Samuel A. Lewis] was called to the 
chair, and M. C. Gaylord appointed secretary. 
The following claim laws were then enacted, 
viz. : 

CLAIM LAWS 

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Omaha Town- 
ship Claim Association, that we unite ourselves 
under the above title for mutual protection in 
holding claims upon the public lands in the ter- 
ritory of Nebraska and be governed by these 
claim laws. 

Sec. 2. That all persons who have families 
to support or who are acting for themselves 
will have protection from this association pro- 
viding they become a member of it and act in 
conjunction with the majority of its members. 

Sec. 3. No person can become a member 
unless he resides in Nebraska territory or dis- 
claims a residence elsewhere. 

Sec. 4. All claims must be marked, staked 
and blazed so the lines can be traced and the 
quantity known by persons accustomed to trac- 
ing lines. 

Sec. 5. No person will be protected in hold- 
ing more than three hundred and twenty acres 
of land, but that may be in two separate par- 
cels to suit the convenience of the holder. 

Sec. 6. Marking the claim and building a 
claim pen four rounds high in a conspicuous 
place shall hold the claim for thirty days. 

Sec. 7. At the expiration of thirty days as 



190 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



in section six the claimants sliall erect a house 
thereon. 

Sec. 8. All dilTerences respecting claims if 
they cannot be settled amicably between the 
proper claimants, shall be settled by arbitra- 
tors, each claimant shall select one arbitrator 
and those selected shall choose a third. 

Sec. 9. The arbitrators shall investigate all 
the claim difficulties between said claimants by 
hearing testimony and argument, and decide 
as the right and justice of the case to them may 
appear, and give to the party in whose favor 
the decision has been made a written certificate 
of the settlement of the differences between 
them and file a copy with the recorder of the 
association for the future reference if required. 
Sec. 10. When claims are sold or exchanged, 
Quit Claim Deeds shall be given as evidence 
of the contract in which the boundaries of the 
claim shall be amply set forth. 

Sec. 11. The jurisdiction of the association 
shall extend north and south of the grade sec- 
tion line in Omaha City 3 miles and west from 
the Missouri river 6 miles. 

Sec. 12. No person shall hold more than 
eighty acres of timber but that may be in two 
separate parcels. 

Sec." 13. When claimants of different claim 
townships come in conflict a committee of 
conference shall be appointed by the Judge to 
hold a council with a similar committee se- 
lected by the proper authorities of the claim 
township of which the other interested person 
is a member, which committees when acting 
together shall determine which claimant is en- 
titled to the matter in dispute. 

Sec. 14. After the adoption of the fore- 
going resolutions the following preamble and 
resolutions were submitted to the meeting and 
unanimously adopted : 

Whereas, the Council Bluff's and Nebraska 
Ferry Company obtained the consent and ap- 
probation of the Indian Agent in July last, 
now one year ago, to establish and put in op- 
eration a steam ferry at and between Council 
Bluff's and the point where we are now as- 
sembled, now known as Omaha City, 

And whereas said company has expended 
large sums of money in the purchase of a 
steam ferry boat, and in keeping it in regular 
operation, in making roads, and in starting 
the first brick yard in the territory for making 
pressed and other superior bricks, 

And whereas said company is about erect- 
ing a substantial and commodious brick edi- 
fice, suitable for legislative, judicial and other 
public purposes ; as well as other buildings and 
improvements on their ferry claim, now 
Omaha City, 

Therefore, resolved, that we recognize and 
confirm the claim of said company as staked 



out, surveyed and platted recently into lots, 
blocks, streets, alleys and out lots, and 
bounded on the East by the Missouri river, on 
the North by [Thomas] Jeffrey's claim, on the 
West by [M. C] Gaylord and [Hadley D.] 
Johnson's claim, and on the South by [Alfred 
D.] Jones' claim; and that we will counte- 
nance and encourage the building of a city on 
said claim. 

Sec. 15. The officers of the association 
shall consist of a judge, clerk, recorder, and 
sheriff', who shall hold their offices for six 
months, and until their successors are elected. 

Sec. 16. The judge shall preside at all meet- 
ings of the association and with the other of- 
ficers call its meetings whenever he may deem 
it necessary and perform such other duties as 
may be assigned him by the association. 

Sec. 17. The clerk shall keep a journal of 
the proceedings of the association when in 
session assembled. 

vSec. 18. The recorder shall record all quit 
claim deeds, boundaries of claims, decisions of 
arbitrators, &c., which may be presented to him 
for that purpose, for which he shall receive 
fifty cents each from the person desiring the 
service rendered. 

Sec. 19. The .sheriff' shall execute and put 
in force all judgments of arbitrators and shall 
have power to call to his aid therefor the en- 
tire association and should any member refuse 
without good cause shown before the judge, he 
shall forfeit all his right to protection from 
the association. 

Sec. 20. These laws shall not be altered or 
amended except by a public meeting of which 
due notice shall be given by order of the of- 
ficers of the association. 

After the passage of the above laws the as- 
sociation proceeded to the election of its of- 
ficers, which resulted, viz. : A. D. Jones, 
Tudge ; S. Lewis, Clerk ; M. C. Gaylord, Re- 
corder ; R. B. Whitted, Sheriff. 

On motion the assembly adjourned. 

S. Lewis, Chairman. 
M. C. Gaylord, Sec." 

John M. Thayer was president of the 
Omaha Claims Association, and Lyman Rich- 
ardson was secretary. The fundamental reso- 
lutions, after reciting that "it has been found 
necessary in all new countries to league to- 
gether to prevent lands being taken by specu- 
lators abroad or at home," and that "during 
the coming season lands will be greatly sought 
for by newcomers and land sharks," commit 
the club to the meting out of justice in this ad- 

e Omaha Arro'ic. July 28. 1854. 



CLAIM CLUBS 



191 



mirably direct, determined, and unmistakable 
manner : 

We whose names are hereto subscribed, 
claimants upon the public lands, do hereby 
agree with each other, and bind ourselves upon 
our honors that we will protect every lawful 
claimant in the peaceable possession of his 
claim, and that in case of his claim being 
jumped we will, when called upon by the 
Captain of the Regulators, turn out and pro- 
ceed to the claim jumped, and there endeavor 
to have the matter settled amicably by an ar- 
bitration on the spot, each party to choose one 
arbitrator, and if they can not agree they shall 
choose a third ; but if it cannot be so settled 
then we will obey the captain in carefully and 
quietly putting the jumper out of possession 
and the claimant in. 

We further agree with each other that when 
the surveys have been made and the land of- 
fered for sale by the United States we will at- 
tend said sales and protect each other in en- 
tering our respective claims, each claimant fur- 
nishing the money for his said entry. 

After the sales we are to deed and re-deed 
to each other so as to secure to each claimant 
the land each has claimed, according to the 
lines now existing. 

The burden was on the jumper of any part 
of a claim in different tracts to show the ex- 
cess over 320 acres in the total claim by the 
regular survey. 

Alfred D. Goyer, who had been a member 
from Douglas county of the first house of rep- 
resentatives, was unanimously awarded the 
formidable, if not dangerous title of captain of 
the regulators. The several associations in 
Douglas county were invited to meet the 
Omaha association in joint convention to es- 
tablish more accurately the division lines, and 
for other purposes. Andrew J- Poppleton 
was an active member of this meeting, and 
Harrison Johnson, O. D. Richardson, Samuel 
E. Rogers, L Shoemaker, and A. D. Goyer 
were the committee on resolutions. 

The N ebraskian of March 26, 1856, copies 
laws and boundaries of the club formed by the 
residents of the south part of Washington 
county. These laws provided that any person 
above sixteen years of age might hold a claim. 
The same journal of May 21, 1856, states that 
at a meeting of the Omaha Claims Association 
a resolution was passed requiring claimants to 
make improvements worth $50, and "begin to- 
morrow," in order to hold their claims. At 



Secretary Cuming's instance a resolution was 
passed directing that a copy of the resolutions 
of February 5th be left with the register of the 
county, and every claimholder be required to 
sign them in order to come under their pro- 
tection. This paper also contains an account 
of a summary eviction by the Omaha club. 
Four men had erected a cabin and prepared 
the foundations for three more on the "upper 
end of the town site," on the previous Satur- 
day night. The "captain" had the work de- 
molished promptly. It is stated that the jump- 
ers intended to claim one hundred and sixty 
acres each, "worth in all at least $15,000." 

From the N ebraskian of July 2, 1856, we 
learn that at a meeting of the claim club of 
Omaha, of which J. W. Paddock was now 
president and Dr. Geo. L. Miller, secretary, 
Mr. Poppleton, for the committee, reported 
resolutions, the preamble of which recited that 
it had come to the knowledge of the club "that 
divers evil-disposed persons will attempt by a 
secret preemption to steal from their neigh- 
bors lands assured and pledged to them by the 
laws of this association." They therefore re- 
solved that : 

Whereas, if any person shall file a decla- 
ration of intention to preempt, or take any 
other step to secure a preemption upon lands 
not his own according to the laws and regu- 
lations of this association, this association, at 
the call of the Captain of the Regulators, will 
proceed to the premises on which such a state- 
ment has been filed or such steps shall have 
been taken, investigate the matter, and if such 
shall appear to be the fact, compel the party 
filing such statement to enter into bonds to 
deed by warranty deed to the respective own- 
ers all lands not his own included within the 
limits of such preemption or leave the coun- 
try. 

The federal principle of these claim clubs 
is illustrated by the proceedings of a county 
convention held in Omaha which was com- 
posed of delegates from Bellevue, Florence, 
and Omaha. Andrew J. Hanscom was chair- 
man and Silas A. Strickland, secretary, of the 
convention, which resolved that. 

When the lands are offered for sale each 
association shall elect its own bidder for bid- 
ding in lands comprised within its limits for 
the respective owners ; and at such sale we 
hereby agree to attend en masse, and there 



192 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



remain from the opening of the same until 
the close thereof, and protect said bidder, to 
any extremity if necessary, in securing said 
lands at $1.25 per acre. 

The convention further declared "that we 
will not hereafter recognize suits at law rela- 
tive to claim matters." 

The preemption act of 1841, which was in 
force at this time, limited its application to 
citizens, and those who had declared their in- 
tention to become citizens of the United States, 
and in particular to heads of families, widows, 
and single men over the age of twenty-one 
years. Any one of these classes might settle 
on a tract of land, not exceeding one hundred 
and sixty acres, the Indian title to which had 
been extinguished, and which had been sur- 
veyed, and afterward by a proper showing he 
would be entitled to enter the land. Some of 
the claim clubs referred to were in operation 
from one to two years before the lands their 
members claimed had been surveyed, and 
doubtless the Indian title had not been ex- 
tinguished in all cases. The act of the legisla- 
ture validating the acts of the claim clubs con- 
travened the federal statute, and no doubt its 
attempt to invest the clubs with legislative 
powers was without constitutional warrant. In 
turn the Douglas county convention of clubs, 
by the resolution just quoted, sought to over- 
ride or annul that part of the legislative act 
which provided that, "Any claimant may pro- 
tect and defend his possession by the proper 
civil action." Iowa had gone before Nebraska 
in this bold and original adoption of means to 
immediate ends and local wants : 

This occupation of land which had been 
recorded by the association was declared to be 
legal by the territorial legislature. But this 
decision was clearly contrary to the intent of 
the act of 1807. It was sanctioned, however, 
by a decision of the supreme court of the ter- 
ritory in a test case during the year 1840. 
Iowa, by this virtual annulment of the United 
States statute showed that independence char- 
acteristic of the commonwealth by which it 
became a state. 

It is interesting to note that these claim clubs 
were in operation at Burlington, Iowa, before 
there was any government, except by voluntary 
local organization, as well as before the lands 
had been surveyed; and, besides, occupation of 



these lands was in violation of the federal acts 
of 1807 and 1833. "On their way to the 
western prairies settlers did not pause to read 
the United States statutes at large. They out- 
ran the public surveyors. Soon after the close 
of the Revolutionary war they began to violate 
the ordinance of 1785 by settling on the public 
lands without obtaining titles. Later they ig- 
nored the act of 1807; and it is doubtful that 
the early settlers of Iowa ever heard of the act 
of March 2, 1833. Some were bold enough to 
cross the Mississippi and put in crops before 
the Indian title had expired. . . Hun- 
dreds of thousands of settlers from every part 
of the Union thus squatted on the national 
commons, all without the least vestige of legal 
right or title." 

In both Nebraska and Iowa the squatters on 
lands were fully protected by the unauthorized, 
if not positively illegal rules and promises of 
the claim clubs. Mr. James M. Woolworth 
was able to write in 1857 : "These regulations 
afford pretty safe possession to the actual set- 
tler; although it can hardly be doubted, that 
the law of the territory conferring legislative 
authority on the clubs is unconstitutional." 

The testimony from Iowa is more emphatic : 
"When the land was placed on the market by 
congressional authority the decrees of the as- 
sociations were completely enforced. No dif- 
ficulty was experienced on the part of the 
original claimants in securing, through their 
special delegates, at a nominal rate, the lands 
which they had taken." 

Incorporation Laws. Part sixth is de- 
voted to thirty-two special acts of incorpora- 
tion. Two of the companies were incorporated 
for the manufacture of salt ; one of them to 
carry on business "at a place they may select 
within five miles of a saline spring in Otoe 
county," the name of the place to be Nesuma ; 
the other to manufacture salt "from the salt 
springs near Salt creek." The Platte Valley 
& Pacific railroad ccmpany^was incorporated 
for the purpose of building a railroad and tele- 
graph liiie from the Missouri river at Omaha 
City, Bellevue, and Florence up the north side 
of the Platte river to the west line of the ter- 
ritory, with power to connect with other roads 
or extend its own line where the laws of other 



CLALM CLUBS 



193 



states and territories should permit. The Mis- 
souri River & Platte Valley railroad company 
was empowered to construct a road from 
Plattsmouth by way of Fort Kearney and 
Fort Laramie to the western limits of the ter- 
ritory. 

The Nebraska Medical Society was incor- 
porated with Dr. George L. Miller — who was, 
however, destined to an important career in the 
wider field of jornalism and politics — at the 
head of the list of incorporators. Three edu- 
cational institutions were also chartered, name- 
ly, Nebraska University, at Fontenelle, Simp- 
son University, at Omaha City, and the Ne- 
braska City Collegiate and Preparatorv' Insti- 
tute at Nebraska City. The extreme paucity 
of the real resources of these institution-build- 
ers doubtless stimulated a more or less un- 
conscious attempt to make up for the serious 
deficiency with imposing and pretentious 
names. The first named university was the 
only one actually put in operation ; but, as if 
predestined, after an almost vain continuous 
struggle, creditable only to the courage and 
fortitude of its abettors, it yielded its life in 
1873. 

Of the fourteen hamlets — and some of 
these not actual but merely potential — which 
under this division were awarded municipal 
charters, only three, Margaretta (named after 
Governor Cuming's wife) of Lancaster, 
Brownville of Nemaha, and Elizabeth "of the 
counties of Dodge and Loupe" were abased 
with the title of town — all the rest were 
styled "city," and some of these first municipal 
blooms were born to blush unseen. 

Of the thirty-seven bridge and ferry char- 
ters under part seven, twenty-two are for fer- 
ries across the Missouri river, and two of 
these charters confer the right to construct 
bridges, also. Of the remaining fifteen, five 
are for bridges, two for bridges and ferries, 
three for bridges or ferries, and five for fer- 
ries alone across the important inland streams. 

Whatever difference of opinion may be en- 
tertained as to the virtue and abilities of the 
first Nebraska legislators, their individual pru- 
dence and thrift are beyond question. They 
bestowed on one another and their relatives 
the privileges and potential emoluments of 



these special corpora'.ions without stint and 
with apparent generous impartiality, so that 
their patronymics appear almost as regularly 
as beneficiaries of these special privileges as 
in the ordinary proceedings of the legislature. 
They lost no chance to "cast an anchor to 
windward." With remarkable disregard of 
the law of environment these denizens of the 
desert with one accord conceived a passion for 
navigation. Not less than twenty-one of the 
thirty-nine members were actually named in 
these transportation charters. We are not 
surprised that Mitchell, whose raw material as 
a violent opponent of Omaha in the capital 
contest had been manipulated into the glad 
commissioner for locating the state house on 
Capitol Hill, led all the rest with six of these 
tokens of appreciation of open-mindedness, 
and Dr. Clark of Dodge and Nuckolls of Cass 
followed with three apiece. The Council Bluff's 
and Nebraska Ferry company is, however, an 
apparent exception, for its charter runs to 
Samuel S. Bayliss, Enos Lowe, James A. Jack- 
son, Jesse Williams, Samuel M. Ballard, Sam- 
uel R. Curtis, and their associates. Whether 
the majority of the members were reluctant to 
add further evidence to their conduct in the 
capital contest of "Jim" Jackson's very prac- 
tical control over, or his practical obligation 
to them, by being named as co-beneficiaries in 
their valuable gift to his company, or whether 
that efficient agent of Omaha's interests felt, 
as he no doubt would have been justified in 
feeling, that he had done quite enough for 
them in the capital enterprise without letting 
them into this one, is not a matter of public 
record : but either hypothesis would serve to 
explain the singular omission. 

By these charters exclusive right to main- 
tain ferries between the mouth of the Platte 
and a point five miles north of Florence was 
granted to the companies at that place, at 
Omaha, and at Bellevue. The entire river 
front was parceled out to them. As a fur- 
ther example of the monopolistic character of 
these grants the company at Tekamah had 
exclusive rights for a distance of ten miles. 

Predatory Omaha having left no other hope 
or consolation to Bellevue but in righteous- 
ness, her spokesman of the Palladium is re- 



194 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



solved to make the most of it, and the voice 
he raises for virtue is as that of one crying 
aloud in the wilderness. 

No inconsiderable portion of the present 
session of our terrtorial legislature has been 
spent in creating corporations. — This has been 
done notwithstanding the democratic creed 
denies the doctrine of "chartered rights" and 
"exclusi\e privileges." and in theor}' maintains 
the doctrine of equal rights. We say that a 
large portion of the present session has been 
spent' in the creation of paltry corporations, 
and petty monopolies, which enable a few in- 
dividuals to bar away the public from privi- 
leges to which they are inherently entitled, 
and have as good a right to exercise (if the 
doctrine of democracy be true) as those whom 
the law says shall have the exclusive right. 
The liberality of the legislature has been most 
profuse in granting exclusi\e privileges to in- 
dividuals and companies. In proof of this 
look at the single item of "ferries". . . "Pa- 
per towns" are pretty thickly established up 
and down the river nearly the whole length of 
the territory. . . Charters have been called 
for at nearly every ])lace. . . Not content, 
however, with the establishment of a corpor- 
ation for each of the places referred to, we 
notice one of a broader character designed to 
cover the whole extent of the river from one 
end of the territory to the other, not alreadv 
covered by other charters. Numerous charters 
have been procured by companies or individ- 
uals for ferry privileges in different portions 
of the territory, where there are no settlements 
nor any likelihood of their [there] being anv 
for many years to come. . . \Ve presume 
most of these charters have been procured for 
no other purpose than speculation. A charter 
when once obtained gives the possessor the 
power of making something off of the public, 
without having made the least expenditure for 
the benefit of either. 

And then this Isaiah in idealism and Jere- 
miah in lamentation rebukes these monopoly- 
servers with the charge of early recreancy to 
their democratic faith : 

.V large majority of the members of the 
legislature claim to be the disciples of democ- 
racy, and yet, we have never known an in- 
stance where the zeal of a whig legislature, 
led it to bestow charters with that degree of 
liberality which our legislature has manifested 
in its creations of monopolies. We look upon 
this charter-making spirit as democratic heresy 
of the vilest kind, and more becoming whig 
faith than democratic practice. If whig prin- 



ciples are the best for the practice of demo- 
crats, in other words, for adoption in practice, 
we have no objection to them — providing the 
theory is adopted along with the practice. . . 
The democratic theory says, avoid special leg- 
islation — shun monopolies. The policy of 
the legislature appears to have been to cover 
as large an amount of both land and water 
with chartered privileges as possible. 

Such are the momentum and inertia of the 
crowd that the influences of a half century 
may change its course or character but little. 
Substitute republican for whig — bearing in 
mind that the republican party succeeded to 
the economic principles or dogmas of the whig 
party — and this pronouncement of the Pal- 
ladium would be a typical democratic news- 
paper article for today. 

Part eight consisted of an even score joint 
resolutions and memorials. Congress was 
memorialized for the right of way and grants 
of land for the construction of the ^Missouri 
River & Platte Valley, and the Platte Valley 
& Pacific railroad companies ; to establish 
a safe route for mails and other communica- 
tion between the Missouri river and California 
and Oregon: and the secretary of war was 
requested to send without delay a sufficient 
military force to afford protection to the fron- 
tier settlements from Indian depredations. 
Among the joint resolutions are requests to 
the delegate in Congress to procure a pension 
for the widow and heirs of Governor Burt 
and means for the erection of a monument 
to his memory, and to procure the passage of 
a homestead law similar to the laws of Oregon 
and New Mexico ; requesting the governor to 
commission officers to raise two or more com- 
panies of mounted rangers for the protection 
of the frontier settlements ; appointing Sher- 
man & Strickland printers of one thousand 
copies of the laws of the session, and O. D. 
Richardson and Joseph L. Sharp of the coun- 
cil and A. J. Poppleton and J. D. N. Thomp- 
son of the house, commissioners "to prepare 
a code of laws for the government of this 
territory and report the same to the legisla- 
ture at the next session." 

Nebraska's Peculiarity. Neither the 
dominant spirit nor the general work of this 
first legislature may be commended or ad- 



NEBRASKA'S PECULIARITY 



195 



mired. It worked under abnormal conditions 
and without the restraints of organized so- 
ciety. There could be no appeal to public 
sentiment through public discussion — the 
present criterion and referee of public mea- 
sures — because there was as yet no public. 
When the Israelite adventurers determined to 
appropriate Canaan, Moses sent twelve spies 
"to search the land." Our first handful of 
pioneers had come the very year of the first 
session to spy out the land while it was still 
in possession of its original occupants. Ten 
years before, Douglas had served unequivo- 
cal notice — in his bill of 1844 — of the in- 
tention of the stronger to "go in and possess 
the land" of the weaker race. This was no 
new departure, but the natural process and 
the immemorial rule of the progress of civi- 
lization, and never perhaps pursued by the 
strong nations of the earth with such una- 
nimity and aggressiveness as in the last quar- 
ter century. As a token of the refinement of 
civilization nineteen centuries after Christ in 
contrast to the barbarism of fifteen centuries 
before Christ, unlike the Israelitish summary 
dealing with the Canaanites, our pioneers of- 
fered the people the grace of peaceful, as the 
alternative of enforced surrender of their 
homes ! But the difference was merely con- 
ventional, and there was the same notion and 
spirit of conquest and force in the one case 
as in the other. The chief difference between 
these beginning years of Nebraska and those 
of the easterly territories was that while, 
owing chiefly to the legal barrier against grad- 
ual occupation of this forbidden "Indian 
country," our invasion was sudden and com- 
paratively artificial and superficial ; their set- 
tlement was the result of steady purpose, and 
their institutions, accommodating themselves 
to these conditions, were more the product of 
growth and development. In short the dif- 
ferentiation of Nebraska territory was that it 
did not grow but was made. 

As there was no settled citizenship to con- 
sult, many of the legislators themselves re- 
fraining yet to "declare their intentions" to 
cast their fortunes in this untried and vnicer- 
tain desert, the first legislative session was a 
game of scramble with "the devil take the 



hind-most" for its guiding rule. As the pop- 
ulation of prospectors had brought nothing 
to begin with, their very first acquisition cen- 
tered in the prospective capital — in the pro- 
cess and methods, as well as the place of fix- 
ing it. Every other act of the legislature was 
subordinate and subsidiary to this one mea- 
sure and motive of creating something for a 
commonwealth composed mostly of specu- 
lators and largely of carpet-baggers. It does 
not disturb this proposition that such men as 
Thomas B. Cuming, O. D. Richardson, Sam- 
uel E. Rogers, A. D. Jones, Andrew J. Pop- 
pleton, George L. Miller, A. J. Hanscom, and 
Thomas Davis remained — and some of them 
to this day — to be capable builders of their 
city and their state, and to illustrate staunch 
citizenship therein. For if their main object 
in making Omaha a place by placing the cap- 
ital there had failed, not all of them would 
have remained in Nebraska, and none of them 
in Omaha, for there would have been no 
Omaha — at least none worthy to command 
such capable handiwork as theirs. In suc- 
cessfully pressing on to the mark and prize 
of their calling, the leaders of the capital con- 
test exhibited ability and skill of no mean 
order. As for the rest of the work of the 
legislature, as we should expect from such 
conditions, that which was not. merely indif- 
ferent must be rated as bad. 

The Arrozv of Omaha and the Palladium 
of Bellevue mirror many interesting incidents 
of the first days of civilized and organized 
Nebraska. In its initial number the Arrozv 
instructs those not to the manner born as to 
the pronunciation of Omaha : "As many of 
our foreign friends will be unable to pro- 
nounce this word we will from our Indian 
dictionary assist them. The proper pronun- 
ciation is O-mah'-haw, accenting the middle 
syllable." Since the editor was a tenant at 
will of the Omaha tribe, and a few weeks 
later published an admirable description of 
the village of the tribe which was situated 
abotit seven miles to the southwest, he could 
speak ex cathedra. But civilized usage has 
sacrificed melody and euphony to convenience 
by forcing the accent back (or forward?) to 
the first syllable. The same inexorable me- 



196 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



chaiiical law of civilization has substituted for 
the beauteous, unconventional slopes and 
freely irregular lines and the groves as nature 
placed them, streets and grades and cuttings 
and piles of brick and mortar, all in hard- 
and-fast and stifT rectangular lines; and the 
groves have been wholly sacrificed to the same 
Moloch. But by the law of compensation 
this is the price of progress. 

October 6th the Arrozv notes that in his 
recent visit to Omaha City the commissioner 
of Indian alTairs "found no fault with the set- 
tlers for the occupancy of the land," and to 




From a daguerreotype taken in lS3^. 

Dr. George L. Miller 

invest this official wink with still greater sug- 
gestiveness it is further stated that "a gentle- 
man who accompanied him here purchased a 
number of lots." The same issue notes "long 
trains and large herds of stock daily arriving 
at Bluff City and crossing to Omaha on the 
steam ferry, Marion." On October 20th the 
Arro-M announces that at the late session of 
the Iowa conference at Keokuk, a new dis- 
trict, known as the Nebraska and Kansas 
missionary district, was established, at present 
under Presiding Elder M. F. Shinn of Council 
Bluff City, the stations in Nebraska being 
Omaha City and Old Fort Kearney. This was 
doubtless the first formal invasion of Ne- 



braska by the great pioneer Methodist church. 
The same paper, on November 3d, gave the 
following interesting statement of the begin- 
ning of Tekamah : '"The Nebraska Stock 
Company . . . have, . . . upon their 
claimed lands, some fifty-five miles north of 
this place, . . . laid off a beautiful town 
or city platt called Tecamah. The county is 
called Burt, . . . after our late respected 
and lamented Governor." The same issue 
argues in favor of holding a mass democratic 
convention to nominate a candidate for dele- 
gate to Congress. And notice of the advent 
of the first physician of Omaha is of more 
than passing interest : "Although but little 
sickness pervades our prairie land we can but 
congratulate our citizens upon the acquisition 
of a young and apparently well qualified 
physician to our society." The first editor of 
Nebraska little knew how peremptorily the 
career of Dr. Miller, the first physician of 
Omaha, was to require a slight distortion of 
the meaning of what he was writing. It was 
not in the professional, but in a much wider 
sense that Dr. Miller was to become a physi- 
cian to Omaha in her subsequent ills and ail- 
ments. On the 10th of November the Arrow 
notes that a new town has been laid off one 
mile below the mouth of the Platte river and 
lots were to be sold on the 13th. "It is at 
jjresent named Plattsmouth and will doubtless 
become a place of some importance." 

In the same number the editor's quaint 
fancy runs on an excursion against the "new- 
fangled names which these reformers hitch on 
with a flourish to town sites, rivers, etc., 
throughout the territory." "It is not," he 
protests, "old fogyism to desire a retention of 
those names in our prairie land which have 
become as familiar as household words to pio- 
neer men. Point us out if you can anywhere 
in the English language any names more musi- 
cal or more appropriate to our territory than 
those which exist amongst the Indian tribes 
or have been affixed by old frontiersmen." 
.\nd then he cites as examples of his outraged 
taste the substitution of Florence for the good 
old significant and appropriate name of Win- 
ter Quarters. "Next comes Bellevue — a 
little better it is true — but partaking of the 



FIRST INDEPENDENCE DAY 



197 



same fanciful air." The name of Otoe, 
originally selected for the place now called 
Plattsmouth, "was a good one, and far better 
than the modern innovation. Mt. Vernon, the 
name of the beautiful site at the mouth of the 
Weeping Water, is another bad selection ; 
why not call it after the pleasing name of the 
river?" "And so," he laments, "it is all over 
the territory; city and town sites, rivers, and 
creeks have with but few exceptions under- 
gone an awkward and unbecoming change of 
names; an abandonment of these beautiful 
and original names which ofttimes lend an air 
of enchantment and pleasure to the place." 

Thus at the beginning this voluntary deni- 
zen of the wilderness, untutored in the arts. 
expressed a truth that has rankled in the 
heart and mind of every sensitive citizen of 
the commonwealth of this day. And so it 
seems that taste, that unappraisable gift of 
God to His creatures — some of them — com- 
pound of sentiment and judgment, is born 
and not made. The schools may lead it out 
and rectify its vision, but if it has only being 
in the soul it will see straight and clear to the 
eternal fitness of things. What pity that our 
poet-editor was not a Poo Bah, with a lord 
high executioner resolute to enforce his de- 
crees against these counterfeiters of names ! 
Through our obtuseness or vanity or other 
infirmity general and irreparable violence has 
been done to the native names of Nebraska. 
It is slight consolation to know that this 
esthetic rape was not committed without pro- 
test — that at the first there was at least one 
eye to pity though there was no arm to save. 

It is not likely that this frontier champion 
of propriety and esthetic sense knew that 
Washington Irving, high priest of fine taste, 
at a still earlier date lamented the same mis- 
fortune : 

And here we can not but pause to lament 
the stupid, commonplace, and often ribald 
names entailed upon the rivers and other fea- 
tures of the great West, by traders and set- 
tlers. As the aboriginal tribes of these mag- 
nificent regions are yet in existence, the Indian 
names might easily be recovered ; which, be- 
side being in general more sonorous and musi- 
cal, would remain mementoes of the primitive 
lords of the soil, of whom in a little while 



scarce any trace will be left. Indeed, it is to 
be wished that the whole of our country could 
be rescued, as much as possible, from the 
wretched nomenclature inflicted upon it, by 
ignorant and vulgar minds ; and this might be 
done in a great degree, by restoring the Indian 
names, wherever significant and euphonious. 
As there appears to be a spirit of research 
abroad in respect to our aboriginal antiquities, 
we would suggest, as a worthy object of enter- 
prise, a map or maps, of every part of our 
country, giving the Indian names wherever 
they could be ascertained. Whoever achieves 
such an object worthily will leave a monument 
to his own reputation. 

The first number of the Palladium, July 
15, 1854, states that John F. Kinney, who 
had lately been appointed chief justice of 
Utah, had given the name "Bill Nebraska" 
to his son, born at Dr. AI. H. Clark's hospital, 
Nebraska Center, June 10, 1854 — "the first 
white child born in the territory since the 
passage of the bill." Strong faith in the fu- 
ture development of the country is a charac- 
teristic of pioneers, and may be traced, in 
part at least, to the instinct of duty and neces- 
sity. It is cherished from the feeling, not 
always clearly conscious, that requisite cour- 
age and tenacity of purpose can not be sus- 
tained without it. A striking example of this 
kind of faith is found in a "puff" article about 
Nebraska which indulges in the prophecy that 
the Platte river will after a while become 
navigable. "According to the statement of 
experienced navigators on the upper Missouri 
the Nebraska [Platte] is now a much better 
stream for navigation than the Missouri was 
twenty-five years ago." This number also 
gives an account of the first formal celebration 
of Independence Day which took place at 
Bellevue. The characteristic serious religious- 
sentimental temperament of the editor is 
touched by the scene : 

The assemblage met near the Indian agency, 
under the broad canopy of heaven, and seemed 
to have hearts as expansive as the great scene 
of nature in which they were situated. If the 
spirit so beautifully and freely manifested on 
this soul-inspiring occasion, be an index to the 
future character of the vast multitudes who 
will soon come from the four quarters of the 
earth, to mingle in the pursuits and pleasures 
of this oeople, then it will be true, as it was 
remarked by one of the speakers, that "this 



198 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



country will be, indeed the 'Eden' of the 
world. ' 

The editor himself was president of the 
celebration. .V committee consisting of Judge 
L. B. Kinney, Stephen Decatur, and C. T. 
Holloway presented patriotic resolutions which 
did not neglect to point out that Bellevue was 
the one and only place for the capital. A very 
long list of toasts which neglected few patri- 
otic topics, and included "the ladies" in dupli- 
cate, were offered and responded to. 

The issue of August 16th states that "the 
Presbyterian board of foreign missions for 
the benefit of the Otoe and Omaha Indians 
was established in the fall of 1846," and "the 
mission buildings were built upon a large 
scale, having every necessary accommodation 
for one hundred persons." In the whole 
range of their descriptive articles we find these 
"rough" pioneers still harping on esthetic 
features. And so this mission, we are told, 
"is built upon the brow of an eminence that 
overlooks the majestic Missouri and surround- 
ing country, and upon which nature has lav- 
ished her charms with unsparing profusion." 

And then, moved to overstrain his eye of 
faith, the editor sees that "Bellevue is des- 
tined by nature to become the metropolis of 
learning as well as of legislation and com- 
merce in Nebraska." In eight months after 
these visions of glory had thus strained his 
aching sight, the confident prophet was to 
abandon the fruitless and hopeless field. Mr. 
Reed's judgment was at fault in that it had 
failed to apprehend that the period of nature- 
made capitals had been superseded by man- 
made ca])itals. Henceforth railways and not 
God-chosen sites were to locate the important 
towns, and the destiny of railways is dictated 
by men. In brief, man was not only to pro- 
pose but also almost absolutely to dispose of 
townsites. When in 1856 two or three rail 
way magnates diverted the Rock Island line 
from the proposed Pigeon Creek route to the 
Mosquito Creek route Omaha's permanency 
became possible and probable. When, in 1867, 
the Union Pacific bridge was located at Omaha 
after a fearful struggle between men, Omaha 
was made and Bellevue's last hope was de- 
stroyed. Again the editor's vision of the com- 



ing educational and political capital was quite 
right in general and wrong only in particu- 
larizing. When a dozen years later men, vio- 
lating all the old rules of town-making, and 
turning their backs on every site of nature's 
choice, commanded, "Let there be a capital 
to be called Lincoln at nowhere" — and there 
was a capital — the orthodox editor could not 
have comprehended that his prophecy of a 
capital though not of his capital was true. 

The Palladium of November 29th calls at- 
tention to the fact that, "in accordance with 
the custom of our Puritan ancestors" the act- 
ing governor had designated the 30th of that 
month as the first Thanksgiving day. The 
editor is a moral exotic, somewhat misplaced 
in this western desert, and fitter for the soci- 
ety of eastern roundhead than of western 
cavalier. And so he moralizes : "Although 
we have, as in all new countries, compara- 
tively little to be thankful for, we have suffi- 
cient to inspire our gratitude and praise." It 
is difficult for this severe purist to acknowl- 
edge anything good in a free lance like Gov- 
ernor Cuming, but he conies to it grudgingly 
and characteristically : 

We have reason to be thankful, that the 
Governor has thus publicly acknowledged the 
Supreme Ruler, and recommended a day of 
thanksgiving to be observed by the people of 
this Territory, on the very threshold of their 
territorial existence. We hope this ordinance 
will be respected and perpetuated from year 
to year, to the latest posterity. 

In the next number the editor tells us that 
"We were greatly pleased to witness the gen- 
eral interest, which this festive occasion 
seemed to awaken among our citizens, and the 
zeal which they seemed to manifest in the 
exercises that belong to this time-hallowed 
institution. . . The day was calm and 
lovely, and the earth, though robed in the 
dark hues of autumn, never appeared more 
lieautiful than on this consecrated day." And 
he goes on to say that, "considering the place, 
a large and respectable audience attended pub- 
lic worship held at the mission, at 11 o'clock, 
A.M. An excellent lecture was delivered on 
the occasion, by the Rev. Wni. Hamilton, 
founded on the following text: 1st Thes- 
salonians. 5th Chapter, ISth Verse : 'For in 



EARLY EDITORIAL COMMENT 



199 



everything give thanks, for this is the will of 
God concerning you.' " x\ remarkably large 
portion of his available space is given up by 
this devotional editor to an exposition of the 
traditional, first, secondly, and thirdly of the 
sermon. 

Alas, for the editor ! Even the paucity- of 
things temporal for which to be thankful, and 
for which he had murmured, is soon to be 
further reduced by the designation of Omaha 
as the capital of the territory, thus sweeping 
away his first and last hope of something 
worth living for at Bellevue. And while these 
faithful souls were holding their devotional 
services on Thanksgiving day, with an ill- 
timed trust in the justice and righteousness 
of their capital cause, their Omaha — or rather 
Council Blufifs — rivals, true modern hustlers, 
were trustful, too, but in their own intention 
to command and use whatever means should 
be necessary to appropriate the prize, discard- 
ing moralizing, and, it is to be feared, morals 
as well. They were so trustful in their own 
resources that while their opponents on that 
first Thanksgiving day prayed, and laid down 
the rules of righteousness and justice, they 
hustled and laid up the walls of the capitol, 
while yet they had no assurance, but self- 
assurance, of its use. 

Notice that the school attached to the Otoe 
and Omaha mission is about to be transferred 
to the Iowa and Sac mission, near the north- 
ern line of Kansas, appears in this issue. 

The same paper, of December 20th, notes 
that there are in the Quincy Colony — Fon- 
tenelle — "about thirty persons who came on 
and commenced the settlement late in the 
fall," and several houses had been erected. 

The Palladium of January 10, 1855, ex- 
plains that "goos-noo-gah" is equivalent of 
Omaha, and means "sliding," "which is a fa- 
vorite amusement with the Omaha youth by 
whom we are surrounded." The sled was a 
cake of ice about ten inches wide and fifteen 
inches long rounded off at the ends. Some- 
times in its rapid descent the brittle vehicle 
would go to pieces, when a catastrophe would 
happen to the Indian boy passenger as pre- 
cipitate, though not as fatal, as the result of 
the bucking automobile of our day. 



The issue of January 17th describes the 
great beauties of the site of St. Mary, "on the 
eastern shore of the Missouri river, four miles 
above the mouth of the Platte, and nearly 
opposite the Council Bluft's agency, Belleview, 
Nebraska territory. . . The town is sur- 
rounded with scenery of unsurpassed beauty. 
On the east the green bluffs, rising nearly two 
hundred and fifty feet above the level of the 
river two miles back, stretch along to the 
north and south until they disappear in the 
distant horizon. On the north the Mosquito 
creek, skirted with beautiful trees and farms, 
appears at a distance of half a mile. The 
south presents an open view. The blufifs back 
of the town are covered with beautiful groves 
of elm, oak, hickory, and black walnut." The 
auxiliary embellishments of this picture in un- 
impaired beauty are still visible from Bellevue, 
but the ambitious townsite itself long since 
"moved on" and now, no doubt, forms an 
important part of the delta of the Alississippi. 
St. Mary was the eastern terminus of the con- 
siderable ferry traffic across the river. 

On the 7th of March there is notice that a 
postoffice has been established at Bellevue 
with the editor as postmaster. Mails are to 
arrive and depart twice a week ; but the post- 
master gives warning that "As we are not 
authorized to expend anything beyond the 
avails of the office for carrying the mails, we 
hope our citizens will come forward and make 
up the deficiency, and thus secure promptness 
and regularity in the mail service." In this 
number there is a notice of a meeting of the 
democracy of Nebraska to be held at Omaha 
on the 8th of March "for the purpose of ef- 
fecting the organization of the democratic 
party." The meeting appears to have been 
held to further the aspirations of B. B. Chap- 
man to become delegate to Congress and to dis- 
credit the sitting member, Mr. Giddings. No 
actual organization of the party was practi- 
cable until 1858, when the republican party 
began to take form, thus influencing the demo- 
crats to united action. 

In the issue of March 21st the following an- 
nouncement appears under the heading 
"Bellevue" : 

The friends of this place being desirous of 



200 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



changing the orthography of its name, so as to 
correspond with the French, from which it is 
derived, we have conckided to adopt that 
method of spelHng. 

Henceforward, the old spelhng, "Belle- 
view," is drojiped. 

It was the duty of the governor under the 
organic act, to organize the territorial courts, 
provisionally, this organization to continue 
until superseded by the act of the territorial 
legislature. Accordingly, by Governor Cum- 
ing's proclamation, Fenner Ferguson, chief 
justice of the sujireme court, was assigned as 
judge of the first judicial district, which com- 
prised the comities of Douglas and Dodge; 
Edward R. Harden, associate justice, was 
assigned to the second judicial district, em- 
bracing all that part of the territory lying 
south of the Platte river; and James Bradley, 
the other associate justice, was assigned to the 
third district, comprising the counties of Burt 
and Washington. A term of the supreme 
court was to be held at the seat of govern- 
ment beginning on the third Monday of Febru- 
ary, 1855. The first terms of court in the 
several districts were to be held as follows : 
First district, at Bellevue, on the second Mon- 
day in March, 1855 ; second district, at Ne- 
braska City, on the third Monday in ?\Iarch ; 



third district, at Florence, on the first Monday 
in April. Thereafter the times and places of 
holding the courts were to be regulated by the 
general assembly. 

"Accordingly, on Monday, March 12, 1855, 
the first court of record ever held in the terri- 
tory, the district court of the first judicial 
district, with jurisdiction practically like our 
present district court, was opened at the mis- 
sion house, Bellevue, by Fenner Ferguson, 
chief justice; Eli R. Doyle, marshal." The 
Palladium of March 21, 1855, informs us that 
"The Court was organized by the choice of 
Silas A. Strickland of Bellevue, Clerk. Sev- 
eral foreign born residents made their declara- 
tion of intention to become citizens. No other 
business of importance coming up, the Court 
adjourned to April 12." But this was not the 
first session of a court of record in Nebraska. 
The first session of the supreme court, ac- 
cording to the governor's proclamation, met 
in Omaha on the 19th of February; and the 
Palladium of February 21st tells us that "The 
first session of the supreme court of Nebraska, 
is now being held at the capitol, Hon. Fenner 
Ferguson, Chief Justice, presiding. The 
Court convened on Monday, the 19th inst. 
J. Sterling JMorton, of Belleview, has been 
appointed clerk of the court. . ."' 



CHAPTER IX 

The SiccoND Legislature — Second Congressional Campaign — Political Conditions 



THERE was little diversion in the terri- 
tory during the year 1855, from the time 
of adjournment of the first legislature, except 
the small politics of the aspirants for the offices 
to be filled at the fall elections. The dreams 
of Mr. Henn and others of the organizers 
about a rapid increase of population had not 
come true. 

The first, or Cuming census, furnishes no 
data for comparison — except to illustrate its 
unreliability. By that census the first district, 
which comprised substantially the counties of 
Pawnee and Richardson, was credited with a 
population of 851. After the lapse of a year, 
during which there was some immigration, 
these two counties yielded only 441 people to 
the census of 1855. On the other hand, while 
the counties of Forney and Pierce in 1854 had 
but 614 people, in 1855 their successors, 
Nemaha and Otoe, had respectively 604 and 
1,188. Otoe no doubt felt plenary satisfac- 
tion in so decisively outstripping Douglas, her 
rival of the North Platte. But the active 
colonizing on the part of both slavery and 
anti-slavery interests diverted most of the im- 
migration to Kansas, which as early as Feb- 
ruary, 1855, boasted a population, such as it 
was, of 8,601. 

Under the act of the first legislature the gov- 
ernor appointed Charles B. Smith as terri- 
torial auditor, B. P. Rankin, territorial 
treasurer, and James S. Izard, ^ librarian. 
Minor officers for the several counties were 
also appointed by the governor, and the terms 
of all these officers continued until their suc- 
cessors were elected in November, 1855. On 
the 15th of October, 1855, Governor Izard is- 
sued a proclamation announcing that an elec- 
tion would be held on the first Tuesday in 
November of the year named to choose a dele- 



gate to Congress, a territorial auditor, treas- 
urer, and librarian, twenty-six members of the 
lower house of the general assembly, and in 
the several counties a probate judge, sheriiif, 
county register, county treasurer, and county 
surveyor; and each precinct should elect two 
justices of the peace and two constables. 

A district attorney for each judicial district 
of the territory was to be elected also. The 
first district embraced all the counties south 
of the Platte river; the second the counties of 
Douglas and Washington ; the third the coun- 
ties of Burt, Dakota, and Dodge. 

The Second Legislature. The legislature 
had left the task of making the apportionment 
of the members to the governor, and he estab- 
lished the representative districts as follows: 
Burt and Washington, jointly, 1 ; Cass, 3 ; 
Cass and Otoe, 1 ; Dodge, 1 ; Douglas, 8 ; 
Nemaha, 2 ; Nemaha and Richardson, 1 ; Otoe, 
6 : Pawnee and Richardson, 1 ; Richardson, 1 ; 
Washington, 1. The act of 1855 provided 
that the number of members of the house 
should not exceed twenty-nine ; but the gov- 
ernor did not see fit to change it from the 
original twenty-six. Pawnee was the only one 
of the sixteen new counties, whose organiza- 
tion had been authorized by the first legisla- 
ture, to take advantage of the act and become 
entitled to representation. The proclamation 
also called for the election of three members 
of the council to fill vacancies ; and Samuel M. 
Kirkpatrick was chosen in place of Nuckolls 
of Cass county, who had resigned ; John Evans 
in place of Dr. Munson H. Clark of Dodge 

^ James S. Izard was private secretary to his 
father, Mark W. Izard, during the latter's term as 
governor. He acquired considerable property in 
Omaha, but left the territory about the time that his 
father did. He died, some years ago, in Forest City, 
.■\rkansas. 



202 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



count}', deceased; and Allen A. Bradford in 
place of Hiram P. Bennet, who resigned for 
the purpose of becoming a candidate for dele- 
gate to Congress. The hold-over members 
were Dr. Henry Bradford of Otoe, formerly 
Pierce; Richard Brown of Nemaha, formerly 
Forney; Charles H. Cowles of Otoe; Benja- 
min R. Folsom of Burt ; Taylor G. Goodwill, 
Alfred D. Jones, Origen D. Richardson, and 
Samuel E. Rogers of Douglas ; Joseph L. 
Sharp of Richardson ; and James C. Mitchell 
of Washington. 

The members of the house were John F. 
Buck. John McF. Hagood, and William Laird 
of Cass county ; Thomas Gibson of Dodge ; 
Leavitt L. Bowen, William Clancy, Alexan- 
der Davis, Levi Harsh, William Larimer, Jr., 
William E. Moore, George L. Miller, and 
Alonzo F. Salisbury of Douglas ; William A. 
Finney and Samuel A. Chambers of Nemaha ; 
John Boulware, Dr. John C. Campbell, James 
H. Decker, William B. Hail, J. Sterling Mor- 
ton, and Mastin W. Riden of Otoe; Amazial 
AI. Rose of Otoe and Cass jointly; Abel D. 
Kirk of Richardson ; Dr. Jerome Hoover of 
Richardson and Nemaha jointly ; Charles Mc- 
Donald of Richardson and Pawnee jointly ; 
Potter C. Sullivan of Washington ; and Wil- 
liam B. Beck of Washington and Burt jointly. 

Comparing this second apportionment with 
the first we find that the audacious stuffing of 
the North Platte counties of Burt, Dodge, 
and Washington by the deft hands of Gov- 
ernor Cuming is acknowledged by his suc- 
cessor; for in place of her two full repre- 
sentatives allowed by Cuming, Burt is now 
tacked to Washington to divide one with that 
county, which in turn is reduced from two 
members to one and a half. Dodge is cut 
down from two to one. Cass county retains 
its three members and divides another with 
Otoe, which has six of its own — a gain of 
one. Douglas holds to its original eight. But 
since Governor Izard's census awards a pop- 
ulation of 712 to Cass, L028 to Douglas, 1,188 
to Otoe, and 604 to Nemaha, the principle of 
Governor Izard's apportionment is still past 
finding out. The rights of Cass, Otoe, and 
Nemaha are .shamefully abused to the profit 
of Douglas. Councilman Sharp's very keen 



appreciation of the responsibilities of a pioneer 
census taker in 1854, in the case of Richard- 
son coimty in 1855, to be at all presentable, 
had to be discotmted at about forty per cent of 
its face value; though with a population of 
only 299 that county still held on to one rep- 
resentative and shared two others with Ne- 
maha and Pawnee respectively. It has been 
pointed out that in an addendiun to his census 
returns Mr. Sharp admitted that the number 
of voters in Richardson county, excluding the 
half-breed tract, should be reduced from 236 — 
his census figures — to about 100. 

Beck, the joint member for Burt and Wash- 
ington, lived at Tekamah, Burt county ; Rose, 
the member for Cass and Otoe, lived at Ne- 
braska City, Otoe county ; Hoover, member 
for Richardson and Nemaha, lived at Nemaha 
City, Nemaha county ; and McDonald, mem- 
ber for Richardson and Pawnee, lived in 
F'awnee county. So that in the popular adjust- 
ment of the apportionment Burt and Wash- 
ington in fact shared alike with one member 
each ; Cass retained her original three ; and 
Otoe gained two, making seven in all ; Nemaha 
gained one, making three in all ; and Rich- 
ardson retained her original number — two. 

^\'ith thirty-four and four-tenths per cent 
of the population the North Platte is awarded 
forty-two and three-tenths per cent of the 
representatives. The hold-over council, with 
fifty-four per cent of its members from the 
North Platte, presents even a worse travesty 
of decency and justice. In view of such a 
piece of his handiwork as this the impartial 
judge must demur to the modest disclaimer of 
Governor Izard's home paper (the Helena, 
-Arkansas, Star) that he was "not endowed 
with shining talents,'' and must also question 
its ascription to the governor of the compen- 
satory virtue of probity. 

The second legislature convened at Omaha. 
Tuesday, December IS, 1855, at 10 o'clock in 
the morning. The temporary officers of the 
council were Origen D. Richardson, president : 
John W. Pattison, chief clerk ; Lyman Rich- 
ardson, assistant clerk ; Samuel A. Lewis, ser- 
geant-at-arms ; and Niles R. Folsom, door- 
keeper. The regular organization consisted 
of Benjamin R. Folsom, president ; Erastus 



THE SECOND LEGISLATURE 



203 



G. McNeely, chief clerk ; M. B. Case, assist- 
ant clerk ; Charles W. Pierce, sergeant-at- 
arms ; Henry Springer, doorkeeper ; Le Grand 
Goodwill, page. 

The house was organized by the election of 
the following temporary officers : Speaker. 
William Larimer, Jr., of Douglas county ; 
chief clerk, Joseph W. Paddock ; assistant 
clerk, H. C. Anderson ; sergeant-at-arms, A. 
S. Bishop; doorkeeper, Ewing S. Sharp: fire- 
man, Patrick Donahue. In the permanent or- 
ganization Potter C. Sullivan of Washington 
county was elected speaker, his principal op- 
ponent being Abel D. Kirk of Richardson 
county. Isaac L. Gibbs was elected chief 
clerk ; H. C. Anderson, assistant clerk ; A. S. 
Bishop, sergeant-at-arms ; E. B. Chinn, door- 
keeper ; and Rev. Henry M. Giltner, chaplain. 

From the council we miss Hiram P. Ben- 
net, a prominent leader. Dr. Clark, cut of¥ by 
death from a career whose beginning gave 
promise of future activity and influence, and 
Nuckolls, whose name was and is well known. 
From the house we miss a prominent figure — 
Poppleton — but in his place we have Di . 
George L. Miller, and from Otoe county, J. 
Sterling Morton — two names destined to be 
linked together in the political activity and the 
general progress of the commonwealth for 
some forty years, and until they should be- 
come familiar to the ]iopular ear through all 
its borders. 

Richardson and Nemaha counties each at- 
tempted to appropriate the joint representa- 
tive to its individual use. Henry Abrams was 
the candidate of Richardson county, and he 
received 76 votes, while his opponent. Dr. 
Jerome Hoover of Nemaha county, received 
only 13. But Nemaha outstripped her rival in 
local patriotism by giving Hoover 117 votes 
and Abrams a blank. The law required that 
the register of the senior county should give a 
certificate of election to the candidate receiv- 
ing the highest number of votes in the entire 
district. But in those strenuous times local 
interest was seldom backed by the majesty or 
mandate of the law, and the register of Rich- 
ardson county gave Abrams, the minority can- 
didate, a certificate on which he could base a 
contest. But the committee on privileges and 



elections, and subsequently the house itself, 
decided against Abrams, and Nemaha gained 
the seat. 

Richardson county sent Thomas R. Hare to 
contest for a seat in the house on the ground 
that a part of the territory conceded to the 
half-breed tract belonged to her, and entitled 
her to another representative. But the com- 
mittee on privileges and elections reported 
against Hare on the law and the facts — that 
the house could not properly go behind the 
governor's apportionment for twenty-six mem- 




PoTTER Ch.\iu.es Sullivan 

Speaker of the house of the second territorial 

assemblv of Nebraska 



bers and increase the number, and, further, 
that no proof of the contention of Hare as to 
the right to include any part of the half-breed 
tract had been made, and that, if all that was 
contended for in this respect were conceded, 
the county would still fall short of voters en- 
titling her to another representative. This re- 
port was laid on the table, and the matter was 
referred to a special committee. Four of the 
five members of the special comiuittee — 
Campbell, Bowen, Hagood, and Morton — 
three of them from the South Platte and the 



204 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



other, Bowen of Bellevue, constructively so — 
stated Hare's case as follows : 

Your committee to whom was referred the 
memorial of Thomas R. Hare, asking for a 
seat in this body on equal footing with other 
members, beg leave to report that after ma- 
ture deliberation they have come to the con- 
clusion that said memorialist has a right to a 
seat in this body. 

Your committee would further report that 
they come to the above conclusion from the 
following reasons. 

1st. That Pawnee county was not organized 
at the time of apportionment, and consequent- 
ly should ha\'e been considered in Richardson 
county, as the law specifies, for election pur- 
poses. 

2nd. That Richardson and Pawnee together 
contained, according to the census returns, one 
hundred and ninety-three voters, but fifty of 
those were returned as living on the half-breed 
tract, but since the census has been taken the 
half-breed tract has been run out, and the 
true boundary on the west fixed, which shows 
conclusively that there are only 23 voters on 
the half-breed tract which, taken from 193, 
leaves 170 legal voters in Richardson county. 
Taking then 56 as the basis of representation, 
Richardson county is entitled to three repre- 
sentatives. 

Your committee would further report that 
the law providing for taking the census and 
apportioning the representatives, in section 
four, provides that the whole number of mem- 
bers of the house of representatives shall not 
exceed twenty-nine for the next session, and 
that it would be doing no injustice to the bal- 
ance of this territory to give to Richardson 
county her full representation on this floor, 
since it comes within the bounds prescribed by 
law. 

All of which your committee would re- 
spectfully submit and recommend. 

A resolution that Mr. Plare be admitted to 
a seat as joint representative from Richardson 
and Pawnee counties was carried on the 26th 
of December by a vote of 13 to 11. Four 
North Platte members, Gibson of Dodge, 
Larimer of Douglas, Bowen of Bellevue, and 
Sullivan of Washington, voted aye, and four 
South Platte members voted no. On the 10th 
of January the council sent a communication 
to the house which contended that by the or- 
ganic law the number of members of the 
legislature could be increased only by. the act 
of both houses, and that therefore Hare was 



not a legal member of the house. The house 
replied with a short and snappy resolution 
reciting that it was the judge of the qualifica- 
tions of its own members, and suggesting that 
the upper body had better be about its own 
business. But Hare evidently was not made 
of staying stuff, for on the same day he re- 
signed "to effectually put down this disorgan- 
izing spirit and not from any conviction of my 
not being entitled to my seat." 

On the morning of December 19th the gov- 
ernor delivered his message to the two houses 
in joint session in the hall of the house. We 
may overlook the painful prolixity of this 
document, and even with propriety give place 
to its length on account of its painstaking 
review of the general social conditions of the 
territory after a year's experience under the 
harness of formal organization. The message 
is such a paper as might be expected of a man 
of such antecedents and qualities as are at- 
tributed to him in the following "send-off" by 
the Helena (Arkansas) Star: 

We were honored on Monday last with a 
visit at our office from Hon. Mark W. Izard, 
governor of Nebraska, and his private secre- 
tary, James S. Izard, Esq. They were here 
waiting . . . for a boat, to take passage for 
their new field of labor. The appointment of 
Colonel Izard to the governorship of Nebraska 
territory is one among the very best appoint- 
ments that have been made during the admin- 
istration of President Pierce. He was for 
almost a quarter of a century a member of one 
or the other branches of the Arkansas legisla- 
ture, and during the period of his long and 
valuable services in that body he served at 
different times as speaker of the House of 
Representatives and President of the Senate; 
and in all the many honorable and responsible 
stations to which he has been called, he has 
discharged his duty usefully and successfully, 
and although a minister of the gospel, active 
in every cause of religion and benevolence, re- 
markable for his exemplary life and fervent 
piety, yet he has been all the time an active 
partisan, and has done more, and sacrificed 
more for the democratic party — the party to 
which he has been warmly attached — than 
perhaps any man in Arkansas. Not endowed 
with shining talents, though of excellent sense, 
his career furnishes a remarkable instance of 
the deserved success of probity, fidelity, indus- 
try, gentlemanly bearing and inflexible honor : 
and our sincere wish is that he may yet live 



THE SECOND LEGISLATURE 



205 



to see Nebraska a state, and highest honors 
his. 

While the message clearly confirms the 
Star's estimate that the governor was "not 
endowed with shining talents" and possibly 
leaves open the question of "excellent sense," 
yet, regarded as a contemporaneous view of 
conditions and an authoritative statement of 
facts, it is interesting and valuable history. 
Its preaching proclivities may perchance be 
suggestive of the more pretentious national 
executive messages just now in vogue, and it 
seems charitable to point out this mutual sanc- 
tion of which both stand so much in need. 

The governor's picture of the industrial de- 
velopment of the territory was mainly fanciful 
and gratuitous. For many years after this 
time progress was chiefly speculative — hop- 
ing instead of doing. Lentil 1861 the inhabi- 
tants were virtually non-producers. And in- 
dustrial development was very limited until 
the coming of the railways encouraged it — or 
in fact made it practicable. 

The report of the territorial auditor to the 
legislature showed a bad financial beginning. 
The levy of a tax of two mills on the total 
assessed valuation of $617,882 would have 
yielded an insufficient territorial revenue at 
best ; but the auditor was obliged to report 
that, as not a single county treasurer had set- 
tled his accounts with the territory, he had no 
means of knowing how much had been col- 
lected, and he had been obliged to draw war- 
rants to meet expenses to the amount of 
$1,971.20, with about $1,000 of the last year's 
appropriations still to meet. The warrants 
covered incidental legislative expenses, which 
the federal treasury did not recognize, 
amounting to $1,454.70, and the salaries of 
the auditor, treasurer, and librarian in the 
munificent sum of $516.50. The valuation of 
the counties was as follows : 

Burt $ 13,006 

Cass 71,524 

Dodge 14,455 

Douglas 311,116 

Nemaha 74,980 

Otoe 85,701 

Richardson 26,643 

Washington 20.397 

$617,822 



Hadley D. Johnson was elected public 
printer by the two houses, and an attempt 
was made to choose a joint chaplain also, but 
the houses could not agree, and Rev. Henry 
M. Giltner was chosen by the house and Rev. 
William Bates by the council. 

On the 26th of December, O. D. Richard- 
son, J. L. Sharp, and J. D. N. Thompson, of 
the committee appointed at the previous ses- 
sion to prepare a code, reported that Mr. Pop- 
pleton had resigned from the committee, and 
that since they "could avail themselves of but 
a very limited number of the revised codes of. 
the diiTerent states on account of their scar- 
city in this region, and as the territorial library 
has not yet arrived" but few books were 
within their reach. Still, though their work 
had been laborious, it was nearly completed. 
It would consist of four parts, two of which 
were now reported and the other two, relating 
to courts and to crimes, would be ready within 
a week. 

The two houses appointed a committee to 
examine the work of the code commission, 
consisting of A. A. Bradford, A. D. Jones, 
and S. M. Kirkpatrick of the council, and 
Bowen, Riden, Finney, Miller, and IMoore of 
the house, with Bradford for chairman. This 
committee reported the work of the commis- 
sion, with such amendments as they saw fit to 
make, to the council, and most of the first two 
parts was finally adopted by both houses, the 
remainder going over, without consideration, 
to the next legislature. Those parts of the 
code adopted by the first legislature, relating 
to courts and their jurisdiction and to crimes 
and their punishment, crude as they were, 
remained in force until the third legislature 
provided a substitute for the first and repealed 
the second, leaving the territory for a time 
entirely without criminal law. 

The new law provided that the general as- 
sembly should thereafter meet on the first 
Monday in January of each year, instead of 
the first Tuesday of December as fixed by the 
law of 1855. The census act of March 16, 
1855, provided also that annual elections 
should be held on the first Monday in August, 
except the first election, which should be held 



HISTORY OF NERRASKA 




[Note — R. H. Henry was an early merchant and lianker of Colnmlms, Nebraska. Also county com- 
missioner.] 



THE SECOND LEGISLATURE 



207 



the first Tuesday of November, 1855 ; and 
the election law of the same year also pro- 
vided that elections should take place the first 
Tuesday in November, so that for that year 
there was no conflict. The census act of Jan- 
uary 26, 1856, provided that the election of 
that year should be held on the first Tuesday 
in November. But the elections law pro- 
vided that general elections should be held on 
the first Monday in August: that a delegate 



also took from the governor the power to re- 
ceive returns and issue certificates of election 
to candidates for members of the legislature 
and of "forming precincts" in the several 
counties, which was conferred by the census 
act of 1856 as well as that of 1855. The au- 
thority first named had also been conferred 
upon county clerks by the election law, and 
the second upon county commissioners by the 
law creating the commissioner svstem. This 




FrO)ii II f^hotogra^h made in iSfQ by P. Golay, and now owned by Mrs. S. D. Beats of Omaha. 

Seconj Territorial C.ipitoi. Building of Nebraska 
Erected in 1857-1858 at a cost of about $130,000, and located on Capitol Hill, Omaha, the present site 
of the Omaha high school building. This shows the building in its uncompleted condition with only a 
few of the columns in place, and these were later pronounced unsafe and removed. 



to Congress and members of the council 
should be chosen in 1856 and every second 
year thereafter; and that all territorial and 
county officers, including district attorneys, 
justices of the peace and constables, and one 
county commissioner for each county, should 
be chosen in 1857, and every second year 
thereafter. This conflict was settled by an- 
other act of the second session which pro- 
vided that the election of 1856 should be held 
in November instead of August. This act 



reconciliation act was introduced on the even- 
ing of the last day of the session by Dr. Henry 
Bradford and immediately passed by both 
houses. The incident illustrates again the 
carelessness and lack of oversight of the early 
legislatures. The act creating the county 
commissioner system provided that all three 
commissioners should be chosen the first year 
— 1856 — and one of the three every year 
after. 

Continued contradictions and crudities indi- 



208 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




^/a^<^:f>K> /03^^ 



I Note — Nathan P. Dodge was one of the early homesteaders near Fremont, Nebraska, 
he was a prominent banker of Council Bluffs, Iowa.] 



Afterwards 



THE SECOND LEGISLATURE 



209 



cated more than the ordinary degree of ineffi- 
ciency common in legislative bodies. Chapter 
2 prescribed the duties of county assessors, 
while their election or appointment was not 
provided for, and the section of the old law- 
imposing the duties of assessment on sheriffs 
remained unrepealed. The laws had been con- 
sidered by the standing code committee for 
nearly a year, and again by the joint special 
committee during the session, and had been 
copied largely in blocks from the statutes of 
other states, so that a reasonable degree of 
accuracy might have been expected. 

A general incorporation law was passed, 
but it was not exclusive, the power of the 
legislature to pass special acts of incorpor- 
ation being specifically recognized. A general 
act for the incorporation of towns was passed, 
and the term "city," so greatly overworked at 
the first session, had apparently dropped from 
notice through exhaustion. Under the laws 
of the first legislature the business of counties 
was distributed in a complicated mess among 
various county officers, the judge of probate 
falling heir to all that was not specifically 
parceled out to others. 

The second legislature established the 
county commissioner system, and placed the 
general business of the county in the hands 
of three commissioners elected from as many 
districts therein. This commissioner system 
reached Nebraska on its westward course from 
Pennsylvania through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
and Iowa, our legislature having copied it from 
the Iowa statute. It originated in Pennsyl- 
vania in 1725, but its germ in the Northwest 
Territory first appeared in 1792 in the first 
county organized there, and which comprised 
about half the present state of Ohio. It was 
adopted in a more developed form in 1795, 
and in 1804 three commissioners, possessing 
general fiscal and administrative authority, 
were elected in the several counties of the 
state of fJhio. The commissioner system 
then in its present scope, essentially, came 
to us from Ohio. 

By a special act the commissioners were em- 
powered to divide the counties into "con- 
venient precincts," each entitled to two jus- 
tices of the peace and two constables. This 



decentralizing act took this power away from 
the governors, with whom it had been lodged 
up to that time. 

Under the new school law the territorial li- 
brarian continued to act as superintendent of 
schools with a salary of two hundred dollars a 
year, in addition to his salary of one hundred 
dollars as librarian. The confusing and de- 
moralizing provision of the act of 1855, giv- 
ing authority to both county superintendents 
and district boards of directors to examine 
teachers and to issue them certificates to teach, 
was retained in the act of 1856, except that 
the clause "or cause to be examined" of the 
act of 1855 was stricken out and the duty of 
making examinations thus peremptorily im- 
posed upon the incompetent directors and vir- 
tually annulling the like authority of the 
county superintendents. These officers were 
allowed two dollars for each day of actual ser- 
vice and two dollars and fifty cents for each 
quarter section of school lands they might sell 

— when they should come into market. The 
salary of the territorial auditor was fixed at 
two hundred dollars, and of the territorial 
treasurer at one hundred and fifty dollars. The 
salaries of all the officers named remained the 
same as they were the first year, and in com- 
parison with the comfortable compensation of 
the governor, secretary, and judges, which 
was paid out of the federal treasury, furnishes 
a fair illustration of the poverty of the terri- 
tory at that time. The laws for estrays and 
for the registry of marks and brands, both 
favoring the running at large of live stock, in- 
dicated the feeling of the time that even in the 
eastern part of the state the raising of cattle 
was of more importance than the cultivation 
of the soil. A provision was added to the 
law governing the common school system di- 
recting county superintendents of schools to 
appraise sections 16 and 36 — the lands set 
apart for school purposes by the organic act 

— at a value of not less than one dollar and 
twenty-five cents an acre, and offer them at 
public sale, the proceeds to be invested in real 
estate mortgage bonds drawing ten per cent 
annual interest, and the interest alone to be 
used for maintaining schools. The legislature 
memorialized Congress in a joint resolution to 



210 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



convey these school sections to the territory as 
they were surveyed, that they "might be en- 
abled to apply a portion of the same in raising 
a fund for school purposes while we have no 
other resources by which to raise said fund." 
The legislature undertook to break up the of- 
ficial carpet-bag system by providing that a 
delegate to Congress must have resided in the 
territory at least one year before his ele(:tion, 
and that members of the legislature must have 
resided in their districts six months before 
the time of their election. A requisite of resi- 
dence for a married man was that his family 
should reside in the territory. This act was a 
sign of a growing belief in the permanency 
and stability of the settlement of the territory. 
In the same act those eligible to any office of 
trust or profit were confined to free white 
males — the same class which by the organic 
act composed the electorate. 

The marriage act of the first session de- 
clared all marriages between whites and ne- 
groes or mulattoes void. The act of 1856 
changed this so as to limit the prohibition to 
those possessed of one-fourth or more of 
negro blood. The act of the first session was 
reported by Mr. Richardson from the judici- 
ary committee of the council, and was copied 
from the Iowa statute of marriages of Janu- 
ary 6, 1840. The act of the second session 
was reported "with amendments" by Mr. 
Bradford, chairman of the joint committee 
for examining the work of the code commis- 
sion, and was further amended in the com- 
mittee of the whole in the council, and also by 
the house. The modified provision in relation 
to the intermarriage of whites and negroes re- 
mains in the statutes of the present day. The 
prohibition was dropped in Iowa in the re- 
vision of 1860. A bill repealing the section 
in question, introduced by Mr. Ricketts, a col- 
ored member of the house, was passed by the 
legislature of 1895, but was vetoed by Gover- 
nor Holcomb. The veto message discloses 
the objections taken by the governor : 

After careful consideration I am led to the 
belief that this measure does not represent a 
demand of the people, and return it without 
my approval. The ef¥ect of the bill is to 
legalize marriages between the white and black 



races. It is a question of gravest importance, 
and shoukl demand the careful deliberation of 
the legislative body before a change is made 
in the Mw. From the statements of various 
members of the legislature it is apparent that 
this measure was hurriedly passed during the 
closing hours of the legislative session without 
consideration, many members afterwards open- 
ly declaring that they did not know they had 
voted for the bill on its final passage. The 
alteration of existing laws, contemplating pro- 
nounced changes in moral and social questions, 
should emanate from the declared wishes of 
the people. There is in my opinion no press- 
ing demand for the proposed amendment. If 
the people desire that this change be made the 
question can be agitated, and at the next ses- 
sion of the legislature the will of the people 
may be expressed after a careful consideration 
of the proposed amendment. Without enter- 
ing into a discussion of the merits of the pro- 
posal to allow the inter-marriage of whites 
and blacks I am constrained to disapprove of 
this hastily enacted bill. 

An act of this session provided for the first 
military organization, and territorial and mili- 
tary terms are confused in the enactment with 
characteristic frontier freedom : "The ter- 
ritory of Nebraska shall constitute one divis- 
ion : said division shall consist of two brigades. 
All that portion of the territory lying north of 
the Platte river shall constitute the first bri- 
gade. And all that portion of the territory 
lying south of the Platte river shall constitute 
the second brigade." The official list was as 
formidable as the rank and file turned out to 
be insignificant. It is the present-day recol- 
lection of General Thayer that little more than 
nominal organization was accomplished under 
this act at that time. The governor was to be 
commander-in-chief of all the forces ; and a 
major-general of the division, and a brigadier- 
general of each brigade were to be chosen by 
the two houses of the legislature, which held a 
joint session for that purpose, January 24, 
1856. John M. Thayer was elected major-gen- 
eral, and L. L. Bowen, of Douglas county, 
brigadier-general of the northern district with- 
out opposition. John Boulware of Otoe county, 
and H. P. Downs, H. P. Thurber, and Thomas 
Patterson of Cass county were candidates for 
the office of brigadier-general for the southern 
district. On the first ballot Boulware re- 



THE SECOND LEGISLATURE 



211 



ceived 15 votes, Downs 9, Thurber 4, Patter- 
son 7. On the second ballot Boulware and 
Downs had 18 votes each; on the third ballot 
Boulware had 14 votes and Downs 21, and so 
Mr. Downs became brigadier-general of the 
second brigade. 

There was a general grist of special acts of 
incorporation, but much fewer in number than 
at the first session. Simpson University of 
Omaha (reincorporated), Nemaha University 
at Archer, Washington College at Cuming 
City, the Plattsmouth Preparatory and Colle- 
giate Institute, and Western University "to be 
located near, or in Cassville, Cass county," 
made up the modest list of incorporations for 
higher institutions of learning. The first was 
organized under the auspices of the Nebraska 
district and the Council Bluffs district of the 
Iowa annual conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. The other four were to be 
stock corporations with a capital of one hun- 
dred thousand dollars each. None was ever 
successfully organized. 

There was a strong movement in the house, 
stimulated of course by the still living capital 
feud, to create the county of Sarpy out of the 
southern half of Douglas. A compromise was 
effected in the shape of a substitute which 
formed a separate election district out of the 
territory now comprising Sarpy county, with 
the exception of a strip two miles wide on 
the present southern border of Douglas county. 
The second legislature formed the judicial dis- 
tricts as follows : First district, Burt, Dakota, 
Dodge, Douglas, and Washington counties, 
"and the territory north and west" ; second dis- 
trict, Cass, Clay, Lancaster, and Otoe coun- 
ties, "and the territory west thereof" ; third 
district, Johnson, Nemaha, Pawnee, and Rich- 
ardson counties, "and the territory west of 
said counties." Chief Justice Ferguson was 
assigned to the first district. Associate Justice 
Harden to the second, and Associate Justice 
Bradley to the third. 

A general law was passed empowering the 
people of the several counties to select or 
change the location of the county seats. The 
"Salt Spring Company" was incorporated "for 
the purpose of erecting suitable buildings, fur- 
naces, and reservoirs to carry on the business 



at the Salt Springs discovered by Thomas 
Thompson and others, lying west of Cass 
county." The six applications for divorce 
were referred to the judge of the first judi- 
cial district for action at his discretion. The 
first legislation for the Order of Odd Fellows 
in Nebraska was the incorporation of "the 
Masonic and Odd Fellows Hall Company" of 
Otoe county "for the purpose of erecting in 
Nebraska City, South Nebraska City, or Kear- 
ney City a suitable building or buildings to be 
used in part as a hall for Masonic and Odd 
Fellowship purposes" ; and also the Odd Fel- 
lows' Hall Association of Omaha, No. 2, of 
Nebraska territory. A penitentiary for the 
territory was located at Tekamah, and the pro- 
prietors of the town were required to donate 
ten acres of land for a site. But though Con- 
gress was regularly importuned by the terri- 
torial legislatures, no appropriation for con- 
structing the proposed penitentiary was ob- 
tained until just before the time of admission 
to statehood. The first act providing for the 
organization of religious societies was passed 
at this second session. 

The boundaries of Cass, Dakotah, Nemaha, 
Ottoe, and Richardson counties were changed, 
and in this act one "t" is dropped in the spell- 
ing of Otoe. The organization of eighteen 
new counties was also authorized. Seven of 
these, namely. Clay, Greene, Gage, Izard, Lan- 
caster, Saline, and York, had been authorized 
by the previous legislature. Two of the new 
names in this act, Calhoun and Monroe, and 
two of the old, Greene and Izard, have disap- 
peared from the map, no organization having 
taken place under them, and Clay and Jones 
were organized, but the first was afterward 
merged with Gage and Lancaster, and the 
second with Jefiferson county. Monroe county 
voted at the general elections of 1859, and its 
returns became notorious in the contest be- 
tween Estabrook and Daily, candidates for 
delegate to Congress ; it was added to Platte 
county by the legislature of 1859-1860. The 
rising tide of Civil war passion in the legisla- 
ture of 1861-1862 swept the names of Calhoun, 
Greene, and Izard off the map, and substi- 
tuted for them respectively Saunders, Seward, 
and Stanton. The bills changing the names 



212 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



all passed with a rush and without division, 
and apparently without comment by the press. 

The continued impoverished condition of 
the territorial finances is illustrated by the act 
authorizing the treasurer to borrow four thou- 
sand dollars on the bonds of the territory, at a 
rate not exceeding fifteen per cent annual in- 
terest, for the purposes of paying officers and 
employees of the first and second legislatures 
and for the taking of the census of 1855. A 
large number of territorial roads were specifi- 
cally established, and a general law gave 
county commissioners power to open and keep 
in repair all county roads. Room was found 
for four more ferry franchises on the Mis- 
souri river. The most important legislation 
of the session was the granting of charters to 
five so-called wildcat banks : The Bank of 
Florence, the Nemaha Valley bank at Brown- 
ville, the Platte Valley bank at Nebraska City, 
the Fontenelle bank at Bellevue, and the Bank 
of Nebraska at Omaha. 

Joint resolutions were adopted asking Con- 
gress to grant ten sections of land and five 
thousand dollars for the benefit of Nebraska 
University at Fontenelle ; for the removal of 
the Omaha Indians, according to their wish, 
from their new reservation in the Blackbird 
hills to some place in the interior, and for in- 
demnity to settlers who were driven from their 
homes by the removal of the Omahas to 
Blackbird county ; for a change in the organic 
act of the territory so as to base apportionment 
of representation upon the entire population 
instead of voters only ; for an appropriation 
to pay the expense of defense against Indian 
depredations during the past year, and the do- 
nation of one hundred and sixty acres of land 
to each man regularly mustered into the ser- 
vice for such defense. Mr. Gibson, for the 
committee on federal relations, made a report 
in the form of a memorial to Congress praying 
for a free grant of one hundred and sixty 
acres of the public domain to actual settlers of 
Nebraska, which illustrated the spirit and an- 
ticipated the arguments that a few years later 
stimulated the passage of a general homestead 
law. 

On the 11th of January, Mr. Decker intro- 
duced a liill to relocate the capital at Chester, 



in what is now Lancastei' county, and on the 
16th, William A. Finney, J. Sterling Morton, 
and James H. Decker, of the committee to 
whom it had been referred, recommended its 
passage. Dr. George L. ^Tiller made a minor- 
ity report as follows : 

A brief review of the organization 
of the territory brings to our consideration 
the fact that, in accordance with the require- 
ments of the organic law, the seat of govern- 
ment of Nebraska was, by the acting governor 
of the territory, located at Omaha City. The 
wisdom of that selection was confirmed by a 
subsequent legislature against the most stren- 
uous efforts made to frustrate and defeat that 
organization, and an unprejudiced view of the 
existing condition of our aiTairs would seem 
to impose upon all who desire the permanent 
progress of our territory the duty of uphold- 
ing that policy under which we are enjoying 
the benefits of a just and impartial administra- 
tion of the territorial government. It cannot 
be denied that the capital is now located as 
near the geographical center of the territory 
as may be, and that its present situation is the 
best that can be named for the accommodation 
of its resident population. A comprehensive 
view of the interests to be consulted upon this 
subject would show that its removal to a 
sparsely populated district could possibly be 
of no practical advantage to the territory at 
large. Large amounts of money have already 
been expended toward the erection of a suit- 
able state house at the seat of government as 
now established, and under the liberal patron- 
age of the parent government and the energetic 
direction of his excellency, the governor, we 
have every reason to congratulate ourselves 
upon the prospect of its speedy completion. 
To reverse the policy under which we are so 
prosperously advancing in our career would 
be, in the opinion of the undersigned, emi- 
nently disastrous and suicidal. For these, 
among other reasons, I beg to report adversely 
to the bill under consideration, and to recom- 
mend the indefinite postponement of the same. 

Mr. Thomas Gibson also made a minority 
rejiort which is of interest as a reflection of 
the o])inion at that time as to the probable com- 
ing center of population. Mr. Gibson admit- 
ted that the proposed location on Salt Creek 
might benefit a large majority of "our present 
})opulation," but his objection was based on 
the following considerations : 

. . From information which may be had 
it is su])]iosed that 80 to 100 miles will lie the- 



THE SECOXD LEGISLATL'RE 



213 



extent of our settlements westward, and about 
100 miles northward. It is seen, then, that the 
relocation must be north of the Platte river, 
and about 40 miles west from the Missouri to 
be centrally situated ; and in selecting a site 
for so important a purpose it is requisite that 
reference should be had to eligibility for the 
purpose of a town site, where water, timber, 
and position of land are found supplied, and 
where a location for health will be a desider- 
atum. Such a position can be found on the 
Elkhorn river, and not one more desirable 
than the city of Fontenelle. 

With his report Mr. Gibson offered a bill 
to locate the capital at Fontenelle. The re- 
moval bill was killed by postponement on the 
22d of January by a vote of 13 to 11. Of the 
South Plate members, Hagood and Buck of 
Cass and Hoover of Richardson and Nemaha 
voted against removal, while all those voting 
for removal were of the South Platte. 

Two members — J. Sterling Morton and 
Dr. George L. Miller — whose flight, in state 
politics, was to be long and high and to extend 
into the national empyrean, tried their fledg- 
ling wings in this second legislature, and in 
spite of their adolescence they at once became 
con.spicuous. J. Sterling Morton, not yet 
twenty- four years old, was chairman of the 
committee on public buildings and grounds, 
and second on the committees on common 
schools and printing. We readily infer that 
the chairmanship of the public buildings com- 
mittee was not unsought by Morton nor grudg- 
ingly bestowed by Speaker Sullivan. Hos- 
tility to the Omaha element and, in particular, 
to Secretary Cuming as its rough-shod gen- 
eral, had already naturally focused in Morton's 
intense temperament. It was the intention of 
the anti-Omaha, or roughly rounded up, the 
South Platte representatives to undo the capi- 
tal location business of the first session and to 
uncover the methods of its doing. Speaker 
Sullivan of Washington county, which had 
lost the capital prize, was the natural ally of 
the South Platte. Morton at once began an 
inquisition for a showing by Secretary Cum- 
ing to the house as to his expenditures for 
public printing, and by the governor and sec- 
retary of all documents in regard to public 
buildings, including estimates and contracts ; 
and later in the session his resolution "requir- 



ing" the secretary "to lay before the house of 
representatives a copy of his instructions which 
he alleges to have received from the comp- 
troller of the United States treasury in regard 
to the pay of clerks, firemen, and chaplains for 
this territory." Since the expenditures under 
the first two subjects of inquiry were from 
federal appropriations and for which the sec- 
retary and executive were accountable to the 
federal treasury department, technically, per- 
haps, they could not be required to account 
also to the local legislature. The secretary 
promptly responded to the first request, but it 
does not appear that the governor or secretary 
complied with the request for a showing as to 
public buildings. 

The more diplomatic Gibson, of Dodge 
county, moved to cure the innuendo of the in- 
tentionally undiplomatic Morton by substitut- 
ing the word "has" for the words "alleges to 
have," but Miller, who was the alert defender 
on the floor of Omaha men and measures, 
moved to table the resolution. The motion 
was lost by a vote of 11 to 13, and, after the 
more judicious word "request" had been sub- 
stituted for JNlorton's intentionally peremptory 
"required," on motion of a more peaceable, if 
less virile South Platte member, the resolution 
passed without division. All who have watched 
with clear vision Alorton's long and impress- 
ive career till its late lamented end, will read 
in this boyhood resolution the forecast and the 
epitome of the man ; the same undisguised and 
relentless attack on opponents, the abandon in 
giving battle which burns the bridges of re- 
treat, and the uncompromising and implacable 
spirit which, while they were perhaps the chief 
source of his strength, yet almost uniformly 
defeated his political aspirations. The follow- 
ing resolutions, also characteristic of their 
mover, were oft'ered by Mr. Morton : 

Whereas, At the last session of the legis- 
lative assembly of the territory of Nebraska, 
James C. Mitchell was appointed, bv joint reso- 
lution of the Council and House of Represen- 
tatives, sole commissioner to select the place 
whereon the capital buildings should be lo- 
cated or erected : and 

WhEre.\s, The said James C. Mitchell, as 
a condition precedent to his appointment a.s 
said commissioner, pledged himself to select 



214 



HISTORY ()F XEr.RASKA 



" • mf-^-^SSsy^^',' bii^ 













^u 




/^A^J^/^^ 



I Note — John F. Buck was a pioneer of Cass county, Nebraska] 



THE SECOND LEGISLATURE 



2Li 



the site for the capital Ijuildings on the Hne be- 
twen the Clancy and Jeli'rey claims ; and 

Whereas. There has been a different lo- 
cation of the capital buildings, and an evident 
departure from the pledge of said James C. 
^Mitchell, as made by him in o]ien Council ; 
Therefore, 

Resoeved, That James C. Mitchell, be and 
hereby is respectfully requested to present to 
both Houses of the legislative assembly a re- 
port stating fully and explicitly all that he 
has done relative to the performance of the 
duties enjoined in said commission, stating 
fullv and explicitly the reasons that induced 
him, the said Mitchell, to depart from his 
pledged honor to locate the said buildings on 
the line between the said Clancy and Jeffrey 
claims, and whether there was any reward or 
promise offered him to influence the location 
or selection of the site for said buildings. 

Resolved, That in the event of any person 
or persons having offered any inducements, 
pecuniarily or otherwise, or having used any 
arguments to influence his action as said com- 
missioner, that the name or names of said 
person or persons be given, with all the in- 
ducements offered. 

After a hot controversy the resolutions 
passed by a vote of 14 to 10, and here again 
Miller and Morton led the fight on opposite 
sides. 

J. Sterling Morton's father was a close 
friend of Lewis Cass, and the bright and sus- 
ceptible boy had no doubt been much impres- 
sed by that statesman's character and career. 
Cass's distinguished political life had budded 
in his military and political experience in the 
Northwest, which had extended even as far 
as Minnesota. It is a fair inference that 
young Morton was inspired by the knowledge 
of the older man's western beginnings, and not 
unlikely by his direct suggestion, to attempt a 
like career by following a like course. It 
might have been expected that Morton, with 
his political as])irations, after defeat as a par- 
tisan of Bellevue, would take counsel of ex- 
jjediency and follow victory to Omaha, now 
the politician's Mecca. But his aggressive 
and implacable spirit preferred to fight Cum- 
ing and his capital as well, rather than to fol- 
low them ; and in Nebraska City, the most 
considerable town, and in the leading county 
of the territory, he chose the best vantage 
ground. At a time when nothing was regarded 



as finally settled and with as good a chance as 
her rival for railroad favors, there was firm 
ground for hope that Nebraska City might 
keep the lead and deprive Omaha of the capi- 
tal, too. The last hope, only, came true. 

S. F. Nuckolls, of strong, resolute character, 
a successful man of business, and a principal 
factor of the considerable prestige and pros- 
pect of Nebraska City, discerned Morton's 
promising qualities, and no doubt influenced 
him in his choice. In the work of developing 
the aspiring metropolis of the South Platte 
section, in which Nuckolls had the chief inter- 
est, and in the fight already on against Omaha 
and the North Platte for political and com- 
mercial supremacy, these men of differing tem- 
])erament and tendency would be mutually 
supplemental. "We were proud of his ac- 
quisition," says Hiram P. Bennet, himself one 
of the promising young men, and afterward 
a prominent political figure in the South 
Platte struggles, of whom Nuckolls had al- 
ready become in some degree an adviser and 
patron. For this bitter and protracted war- 
fare the base was wisely chosen, in proof 
whereof results eventually reinforced reason. 
For, as we shall see, the prestige and hostility 
of (.)toe county, reflected and largely kept alive 
by the strong personality of Morton, turned 
the scale against Omaha in the last weighing of 
aspirants for the capital. Morton carried on 
his fight against r)maha and the North Platte 
section along two lines ; he would take away 
the entire South Platte from Nebraska and 
annex it to Kansas ; or, short of that, he would 
take away the capital from Omaha and the 
North Platte and place it in the South Platte 
section. Failure of his more sweeping scheme 
of secession was apparent as early as 1860, 
but he, or the force of his early impetus, fol- 
lowed the other line to final success in 1867. 

They who have known the riper Morton 
need not be told that he did not spend his 
political novitiate in this session in laboriously 
com])iling and introducing long lists of bills 
to be counted off to his credit by an astonished 
and admiring constitutency or a wondering 
posterity. In fact he presented only three 
bills and as many resolutions, while similar 
achievements of colleagues, otherwise un- 



216 



HISTORY OF NEDKASKA 



■ 








^^H 




jgpi. 




^^^1 


Hi 






^^PlfH 


I^^L ^,AV.:; . 






^^^^^ 


Hi 






^^Ir^ 


^m 


>-■. 




^^^pp ^ 


^mk 


'^''^^^Mtoj^; . 


^^^g 


1 


■ 




1 



.<^^^A^ j/L^I^^W^X^/^' 



[Note — Chas. McDonald was a pioneer mcrcliant and banker of North Platte, Xeliraska] 



THE SECOND LEGISLATURE 



217 



known to fame, must be counted by the score. 
His activities came from original or unusual 
sources, and he struck in unexpected quarters. 
While his colleagues, with the weak yielding 
and impulse of "the crowd," were rushing 
through wildcat bank charters he interposed a 
minority report against the principle involved 
as well as against the acts themselves. While 
ordinary men were crying Peace! Peace! as 
to the North and South Platte divisions, where 
there could be no peace until the then only 
dimly foreseen railway system should establish 
practicable communication between the sec- 
tions, he cut to the quick of the question by ad- 
vocating secession of the South Platte and pre- 
senting a memorial to Congress for the an- 
nexation of that part of the territory to Kan- 
sas, giving cogent reasons therefor. The 
originality of Morton's methods is illustrated 
in his intervening motion, when it was pro- 
posed that the house forthwith choose an ad- 
ditional enrolling and engrossing clerk, that a 
committee be appointed to examine candidates. 
The committee reported as follows : 

The special committee on the matter of en- 
grossing and enrolling clerks respectfully sub- 
mit that they have received applications for the 
post from the following gentlemen : Messrs. 
Alden, Gorton, Dendy, Warner, and others, 
and beg leave to commend the ability of the 
gentlemen named above as they believe them 
equally qualified to fill the responsible position 
which they seek. Your committee therefore 
submit the matter to your consideration. 

J. Sterling Morton. 

Levi Harsh. 

Geo. L. Miller. 

The house selected the candidate at the head 
of the list after six ballots. Where is there a 
record of a formal civil service proceeding in 
this country that precedes this one conceived 
by our tyro statesman of twenty-three years? 
Morton opposed the civil service reform move- 
ment in his later career until he came face 
to face with the conditions which had stimu- 
lated it when he was at Washington as secre- 
tary of agriculture. From that time it re- 
ceived his approval and advocacy. 

Dr. Geo. L. Miller, who afterward became 
very prominent as a political journalist and 
leader, did not introduce a single bill at this 



session, but he was very active on the floor 
of the house. He led the opposition to the 
measure to remove the capital when it was 
finally defeated for this session, as also in the 
attempt to divide Douglas county, and he stood 
unswervingly against the incorporation of the 
illegitimate financial schemes which were a 
blight on this legislature. Dr. Miller was a 
member of three standing committees, and he 
and Mr. Morton represented the house on the 
committee to prepare joint rules for the two 
houses. 

The prominent members of the first council 
held their positions relatively in the second, 
but the three new members, A. A. Bradford. 
Evans, and Kirkpatrick, took an active and 
important part in the proceedings. 

Among the rather motley membership of the 
second legislature not one was more grotesque 
and peculiar than Judge Allen A. Bradford, a 
lawyer by profession, who lived at Nebraska 
City. He was a native of Alaine, whence he 
came to Missouri and settled in Atchison 
county ; but remaining there only a short time 
he moved across the state line and became a 
citizen of Fremont county, Iowa. Very soon 
he became judge of the court of the district in 
which that county was situated. There are 
many amusing anecdotes of Judge Bradford's 
eccentricities and peculiarities as a jurist. In 
1854 he left Iowa and settled in Pierce (now 
Otoe) county, and there he was elected a 
member of the second council. He had a gen- 
eral knowledge of law, a great contempt for 
most of mankind, and no regard for the feel- 
ings of anyone who dared differ with him upon 
any important question. He was sometimes 
politic and always keen and grasping. There- 
fore when, during the second session of the 
council in 1856, the question o^f chartering 
wildcat banks came up, Bradford was found 
fiercely advocating them, for the purpose of 
making money cheaper to the plain people and 
to increase the per capita circulation among 
the poor. He was bitter and vindictive in 
denunciation of all who opposed any of the 
bank charters, .and particularly severe upon 
those who antagonized the creation of the 
Platte Valley bank at Nebraska City. Among 
the latter was A. D. Jones, then and until his 



218 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



death a useful citizen of Omaha, whose town- 
site was originally surveyed and platted by 
him. Mr. Jones vehemently and with good 
logic denounced all the proposed banks as un- 
safe. He declared that by mere enactment or 
fiat the territory could not create value in 
paper promises to pay dollars. He argued 
firmly, thoroughly, and intelligently against 
all the financial fallacies which Judge Brad- 
ford advocated. And finally Mr. Jones made 
a closing argument against all the bank char- 
ters. His peroration was eloquent, with cita- 
tions from the history of banking in Michigan 
and the crash and calamity that came to that 
state through a redundant issue of bank notes. 
Sturdy facts were arrayed in every stalwart 
sentence. Prophecies of the panic that would 
come to Nebraska when the proposed issue of 
bank notes had driven out gold, silver, and 
currency redeemable in gold, under the oper- 
ation of the Gresham law, were delivered with 
fire and force ; and then, winding up his 
speech, Mr. Jones said : 

As an honest man who cares for his good 
name, I can not vote for such banking. Neither 
expediency nor principle demands such a sac- 
rifice of common sense. Let the gentlemen 
threaten, they cannot frighten. The years that 
are coming, the monetary experiences that 
this attempt at creating values will bring to 
the people will vindicate my judgment. When 
I am gathered to my fathers I shall be remem- 
bered, I hope, as having acted wisely and well 
in this matter, and I aspire to no higher eulo- 
gium or epitaph upon my tombstone than, 
"Here rest the remains of an honest man." 

At that time Mr. Jones was a squatter 
sovereign upon the land just southeast of the 
Omaha townsite, upon the north side of 
which the Union Pacific and Burlington de- 
pots and their bewildering maze of railroad 
tracks and sidings now handle the travel and 
freight of this continent and of Europe and 
Asia. The Jones claim, upon which he lived, 
consisted of three hundred and twenty acres. 
It rejoiced in a pretty piece of woods and a 
brook of pure water, and Mr. Jones had 
named it Park Wild. Thus when Mr. Brad- 
ford closed the debate in favor of chartering 
the Platte Valley bank at Nebraska City, the 
Nemaha V'allev Ijank at Brownville, the Bank 



of Fontenelle at Bellevue, the Bank of Ne- 
braska at Omaha, and the Bank of Tekamah, 
he said, with all the vigor which his thin and 
squeaking \oice would permit : 

Mr. President, the honorable gentleman 
from Park Wild has declared himself an hon- 
est man. Perhaps he is. I don't suppose a 
man would tell a lie about a matter which is 
of so little consequence in this distinguished 
body. But, Mr. President, the gentleman 
from Park Wild talks of his death, of his 
grave and his tombstone and an epitaph there- 
upon. But if he is as good and as honest as 
he pretends he is, he need fear neither death 
nor the grave. He'll never die. He'll be 
translated like Elijah and go up in a chariot, 
be wheeled right into the golden streets of the 
New Jerusalem, and made a member of the 
everlasting choir to sing glory hallelujah for- 
ever and ever among the saints and angels : 
and, Mr. President, he is so good, so pious, and 
so honest that I wish he were there NOW. 

This satirical and grotesque apotheosis of 
Jones finished the opposition to the bank char- 
ters and ended the debate. Mr. Jones lived 
to be ninety years old in the enjoyment of his 
well-earned good name, and the banks are all 
dead, having expired in the panic of 18.i7. 

The Omaha Nebmskiaii of February 20, 
1856, copies a study of the Nebraka legisla- 
ture, then in session, by a correspondent of 
the New York Times — who. it alleges, was 
the clever young journalist. J. W. Pattison — 
which possesses suftlcient inherent evidence of 
l)eing tolerably true to life to be worth re- 
producing : 

It is a decidedly rich treat to visit the gen- 
eral assembly of Nebraska. You see a motley 
group inside of a railing in a small room, 
crowded to overflowing, some behind their 
little school-boy desks, some seated on the top 
of desks, some with their feet perched on the 
top of their neighbor's chair or desk, some 
whittling — half a dozen walking about in 
what little space there is left. The fireman, 
doorkeeper, sergeant-at-arms, last year's mem- 
bers and almost anyone else, become principal 
characters inside the bar, selecting good seats, 
and making themselves generally at home, no 
matter how much they may discommode the 
members. The clerk, if he chooses, jumps up 
to explain the whys and hows of his journal. 
.\ lobby member stalks inside the bar, and 
from one to the other he goes talking of the 
advantages of his bill. A row starts up in the 



SECOND COXGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN 



219 



secretary's room, or somewhere about the 
building, and away goes the honorable body 
to see the fun. Hon. Mr. A. gives Mr. B. a 
severe lecturing because he didn't vote as he 
agreed to. Mr. B. says Mr. A. lies, is no bet- 
ter than he should be and reckons he ain't 
much afraid of him. Mr. C. comes to the 
rescue and speaks in concert pitch half an 
hour, and says nothing; then a thirsty mem- 
ber moves an adjournment, and in a few min- 
utes the drinking saloons are well patronized. 
Although both bodies have about seven days 
more to sit only four bills have been passed. 
It is one continued personal and local fight — a 
constant attempt at bargain, sale and argu- 
luent. A bill to remove the capital was con- 
sidered in the House last night until the small 
hours. It was an anuising time. The historv 
of official corruption was renewed; how 
through bribery and fraud the capital was lo- 
cated here ; how that little arch-intriguer, T. 
B. Cuming, did many naughty and rascally 
things, how the people were opposed to the 
location at Omaha. Morton, member from 
Nebraska City, Decker from the same place, a 
man by name of Moore and Dr. Miller took 
the lead in the discussion. It was nearly all, 
however, for buncombe. 

The two-year-old commonwealth now — 
1856 — begins to show rudimentary features 
of normal political organization and life. 
There is a semblance of public discussion, the 
basis — in theory — of present political gov- 
ernment. There begins to be a public, and 
there is a good beginning of a press. The 
census, taken in the fall of this year, will in- 
dicate a population of 10,716, and there are 
two very aggressive political journals, the Ne- 
braska City Nezvs and the Omaha Nehraskian. 
and one — the Advertiser of Brownville, that 
is industriously newsy. The homing instinct 
and spirit begin to modify or withstand the 
predatory carpet-bagger and the land pirate. 
But the dominant issues and the absorbing con- 
troversies are sectional, and they are kept 
alive in the main by and for the rival politi- 
cians. 

The perennial politics of this period was 
kept in full life, during the naturally dull sea- 
son between elections and the sessions of the 
legislature, by the regular contest over the 
election of delegate to Congress. The North 
Platte, or Omaha candidate at the second con- 
gressional election was Bird B. Chapman, a 



young man who had recently come to the ter- 
ritory from Elyria, Ohio, in the direct pursuit 
of a political career, and with the prestige of 
being the beneficiary of a popular impression 
that he was a sort of political legate or next 
friend of President Pierce. In the character 
sketches by the over-apt South Platte poli- 
ticians he combes to us as a mere cunning, 
tricky, small-bore political adventurer. In fact 
he was a smooth, suave, and alert politician, of 
just that smallish caliber which then, as now, 
is the most useful and likely makeup for 




Bird B. Chapman 

Second delegate to Congress from Nebraska 

territory 



achieving a term or two of congressional 
notoriety, and then to drop into the dead sea 
of normal mediocrity. While candor cannot 
yield to this first delegate from the North 
Platte more than the virtue and capacity of 
the average present day member from Ne- 
braska, it can yet compliment him as the 
possessor of much less vice and incapacity 
than he was credited with by his South Platte 
opponents. J. Sterling Morton — still the boy 
of twenty-four — was, apparently, by tacit 
consent, and at any rate by irresistible force 
and irrepressible impulse, already the speaker- 



E20 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



in-chief for South Platte hostihty. He was at 
all times charged with South Platte wrath, 
and which, let off never so copiously, yet, like 
the widow's cruse, was only thereby aug- 
mented. Sample vials of the Morton anti- 
Chapman hate, let loose by way of rejoicing 
at the news that the House committee on privi- 
leges and elections had decided in favor of 
Bennet, serve to illustrate in some sort the bit- 
terness of the sectional spirit of the time and 
the characteristic way in which this most 
unique figure in Nebraska history manifested 
it: 

We expected that the voice of the people 
would be heard there instead of the feeble and 
imbecile voice of our respected grandmother, 
the governor of Nebraska. . . We are re- 
joiced at the fact, in short we are specially and 
exquisitely rejoiced because the great bug-a-boo 
of administration influence . . . failed to 
frighten away the facts in the case which with 
a thousai d tongues related the baseness, the 
corruptioii and the injustice of the miserable 
beings who filched from Bennet the certificate 
[of election.] He [Chapman] was an impos- 
ter. He never voted the democratic ticket in 
his life until the fall before the last presiden- 
tial campaign. 

And then follows the epitaph: 

Embalmed with soft soap, chiseled in brass, 
sepulchered in the cottonwood coffin of public 
charity, rest now his rotten remains, and ever 
and anon popular ridicule shall giggle his re- 
quiem while common sense shall point to the 
spot as inhabited by one whom she knew not. 

Now, referring to the friends of the pre- 
maturely interred statesman who "lament for 
receiverships, registerships, and land-offices 
that are not," who have been "indefatigable 
in lying, surpassless in lickspittlery, without 
a parallel in rascality. Poor miserable devils, 
we pity, we lament your ignominious defeat, 
and the death of your golden calf. Trusting, 
however, that your affliction may be the means 
of your purification, we drop you down among 
the maggots and worms, where you will be at 
rest and at home, poor devils." 

Hiram P. Bennet, Chapman's opponent, was 
the candidate of the Nebraska City coterie, 
just as Chapman was of the Omaha coterie. 
The territorial board of canvassers consisted 
by law of the secretary and two territorial 



officers ; and the auditor, Chas. B. Smith, and 
the treasurer, B. P. Rankin, were called in to 
act with Secretary Cuming in this case. Mr. 
Bennet complains in his speech in the contest 
in the House of Representatives that all the 
members of the board were his political and 
personal enemies. Judged by the prevailing 
standard of duty it is not surprising that this 
board undertook to disregard the vote of four 
counties in toto with this very vague expla- 
nation : 

The board would also respectfully submit 
the following return of votes from Dakota, 
Washington, Richardson and Otoe counties 
upon which under the specific act which pre- 
scribed their powers and duties, viz., the act 
regulating elections approved March 6, 1855, 
they feel themselves incompetent to act. 

According to the board's finding the five 
counties whose returns had been accepted gave 
Chapman 380, and Bennet 292 votes. The 
returns of the four rejected counties swelled 
Bennet's vote to 588 and Chapman's to 575 — 
a majority of 13 for Bennet. There are no 
adequate recorded reasons why the board thus 
boldly undertook to annul nearly half the vote 
of the territory; and when living contem- 
poraries of those pioneer state-builders are 
asked for explanations they only say, with 
knowing shoulder shrug, "It must have been 
because Tom Cuming wanted it that way." 

In May, 1856, the House committee on elec- 
tions, ignoring the certificate Chapman had 
received from the territorial canvassers, re- 
jjorted that Bennet was entitled to the seat, 
and the committee of course counted the votes 
of the counties which the canvassing board 
had thrown out. The old question of the half- 
breed tract vote again arose, but the com- 
mittee found that the reservation was part of 
Nebraska and that the white settlers therein 
had the right to vote, notwithstanding that 
they had been technically excluded from the 
governor's census. But Alexander H. Ste- 
phens made an adverse minority report in 
favor of excluding the half-breed vote, which 
would leave Chapman six votes in the lead. 
This was a plausible excuse for the House to 
ignore the majority report, and to seat Chap- 
man by a vote of 69 to 63 ; and the Ncbraskian 
avers that in the final vote Congress recog- 



POLITICAL CONDITIONS 



221 



iiized the rejection of the half-breed vote by 
the territorial canvassers. 

But Mr. Bennet's indiscretion was doubt- 
less the real cause of his undoing. He had 
always been a whig with an anti-slavery lean- 
ing, and he made no pretense of democratic 
regeneration during his canvass. He was a 
promising and reliable young man who suited 
Nuckolls, the proprietary genius of Nebraska 
City, and so, influentially, of the South Platte, 
and who was also an old line whig, but a 
slaveholder. Bennet also suited Morton as a 
likely man to beat the detested "Brass" B. 
Chapman, as he called him. What suited 
Nuckolls and his two promising proteges, 
Morton and Bennet, for practical purposes 
suited Otoe county, which led the South Platte. 
The Brownville Advertiser, however, had 
from the first, for reasons of its own, been in- 
clined to cast its political fortunes with the 
North Platte element, and Nemaha county had 
actually given Chapman a majority of one. 
We even find the Advertiser contending that 
the minority report of the house committee 
shows that Chapman is entitled to his seat.- 
Furnas was sharply crticised by the South 
Platte press for this misalliance, which was 
charged to his land-office aspiration. 

Bennet's clash with I. L. Sharp in the first 
legislature, which was wholly to his credit, 
had not been forgotten by that cunning poli- 
tician who had diligently collected such evi- 
dence as he could of irregular voting in Rich- 
ardson county, and in person laid it before the 
proper committee of Congress. But after the 
majority of the committee had reported in his 
favor Bennet attended the republican national 
convention at Philadelphia, and sat as a vice 
president from the territory of Nebraska. 
This was too much for the more strongly pro- 
slavery southern members to overlook, and it 
was welcome ammunition for his enemies at 
home. The A^cbraskiaii, which Morton had 
lately alluded to as suiifering from pecuniary 
debility and the property of "B. B. Chapman 
and his toadies," pounces with avidity on the 
rich morsel Bennet had thrown to his enemies. 
In its issue of July 9th it charges that Bennet 
"figured extensively in the late Black Repub- 
lican convention at Philadelphia," and that, 



"the Nebraska City Nezvs, edited by ]\Iorton, 
claimed that he was a democrat and urged 
squatters to vote for him, and not having 
learned, as they since have, that Morton's 
highest ambition was to tell a slick lie, many 
good democrats voted for him." 

At this period the smaller frontier demo- 
cratic newspapers were very subservient to 
the dominant southern element of their party, 
and were noisome in their abuse of negroes 
and negro sympathizers. And so we find the 
Nebraskian speaking of the "sooty deity" be- 
fore which Bennet had bowed, and remarking 
in rather mixed metaphor that "this last step 
smells strongly of wool." 

The Omaha faction — for as yet there was 
no organized political party in the territory — 
encouraged by the seating of Chapman, pressed 
the suggestion it had previously made for or- 
ganization, and charged that sympathizers of 
Bennet opposed it. For Chapman to have 
triumphed at last was a hard blow to Morton, 
and instead of feigning acquiescence, as the 
mere politician does, and as the successful 
politician usually must do, while he waits for 
his own turn, he cut loose from restraint and 
attacked the democratic administration, local 
and general. His bitterness was increased by 
the fact that Chapman, in the course of his 
patronage purveyorship, went to Morton's 
home and selected for the office of United 
States marshal. Dr. B. P. Rankin, just the pre- 
tentious, windy, verbose, and not over-abste- 
mious jjolitician, between whom and Morton 
mutual dislike and hostility were inevitable. 
We learn something of political conditions 
and methods of those times as well as some- 
thing about an interesting pioneer journalist in 
this item from the Nebraska City Nezvs of 
February 9, 1856: 

B. P. Rankin and J. W. Pattison, are, we 
learn, candidates for the marshalship of Ne- 
l>raska. We do hope that Pierce will let the 
Rankin cup pass by us. There are several 
half-breed Indians whose appointment would 
meet with far more approbation from the 
people. Pattison is a young man of fine abil- 
ity and prepossessing appearance, and would 
make an excellent officer. He was almost 
unanimouslv endorsed bv the members of the 



Brownville Adz'criist-r, June 21, 1856. 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



last legislature, and also b)' the governor and 
secretary ; the latter endorsement is rather 
against him. However, it was not love that 
made Granny and Tommy [Izard and Cum- 
ing] sign the letters. 

The News of the same date gives Governor 
Izard's message the following greeting under 
the title "De Guberner 'Proaches" : 

This document is characterized by that su- 
perabundance of sagacity, superfluity of pa- 
triotism and superlative degree of candor 
which has ever distinguished from the vulgar 
herd the chivalric and classic sons of Arkansas. 
Through its sentences one can hear the tread 
of a mighty intellect as it strides majestically 
through the labyrinthine ramifications of poli- 
tics, and marches along the corridors of 
thought ; and as he hears his soul's tongue 
whisper in awe, "De Guberner 'Proaches." 

In the same plethoric issue is a satire on 
political conditions, quite likely by Morton, 
but well disguised, in the form of a message 
by Governor "M. W. Lizard." It laments 
that most and the best of the large immigra- 
tion has gone into the South Platte "to swell 
the numbers of the factious malcontents in 
that section." "I intend to know no north, no 
south in this territory, and to use all means 
in my power to allay sectional jealousy. I 
am for the whole of Nebraska, but you know, 
fellow citizens, that I consider North Platte 
the whole of Nebraska, and Omaha the whole 
of North Platte ; thus qualified I can truly say 
that I am for the whole of Nebraska." The 
governor says that he is afraid of expending 
much money in the capital ( though he must 
make some show), fearing the legality of the 
location should be questioned and the ingenious 
management of Acting Governor Cuming 
brought to light. He does not fear President 
Pierce, as he is probably aware of the neces- 
sity of keeping the disorganizers down south 
in the shade by any means that can be used. 
"... We can not hope for another presi- 
dent with whom the end will justify any means 
to benefit Omaha and speak in favor of the 
Nebraska bill." The governor admits that his 
laborers on the capitol were non-residents, but 
they voted for Chapman for delegate. He 
fears that he didn't manage well last winter 
with those dreadful Indian stories, got up so 
that Omaha and Council Blufifs could handle 
the spare gold of the troops to be sent on ; 



they worked badly, for they scared immi- 
grants away from the North Platte ; and, the 
soldiers didn't find any Indians — as was ex- 
pected. The message urges the legislature to 
send appeals and memorials to Congress for 
donations so that the money may be spent for 
the benefit of C>maha, and the governor wants 
his salary increased though the fifteen hundred 
dollar contingent fund is already spent on his 
two sons. 

We do not wonder that on his return, after 
an absence of two months, Morton is con- 
strained — in the A^czus of May 3d — to make 
the following confession : 

We are now about to recommence our 
abusive proceedings in the old mild and placid 
style. We call our position a responsible one, 
one which renders us sole proprietor of more 
threatened lickings than we can enumerate, es- 
tablishes us as sole target for the remarks of 
the mellifluent revolver, and secures us daily 
gratuitous invitations to proceed to a place of 
perpetual caloric. 

The next item is headed "Calamity" : 

During our absence, as might have been ex- 
pected, the country has met with a serious 
calamity — in the melancholy attempt of 
Franklin Pierce to appoint a marshal of Ne- 
braska. Had Rankin been deputed to carry 
carrion to a bear we should have pitied the 
bear for having fallen into very bad society 
and commiserated him upon the fact that the 
carrion would never all reach him. 

Another item reads as follows : "We are 
convinced at the present writing that Nebraska 
City must be the western terminus of the Bur- 
lington railroad." Though this prevision did 
not come true literally, yet, from the writer's 
point of view, it was consistently prophetic. 
He foresaw that the Union Pacific would be- 
gin at or near Omaha, and in the then condi- 
tion of traffic and railroad building it was ra- 
tional to believe that this southern trunk line 
would connect itself with the main commer- 
cial point in the territory of the Missouri river 
south of the territory to be occupied by the 
Union Pacific road. Light is thrown on 
economic conditions at the beginning of 1856 
by a statement in the Nezvs of February 9th 
that claims of one hundred and sixty acres 
within two and a half miles from Nebraska 
City were selling at from five hundred to eight 
hundred dollars. 



CHAPTER X 

The Third Legislature — The Third Congressional Campaign — Richardson Succeeds 
Izard — The Fourth Legislature — Florence Session — Death of 

Governor Cuming 



THE third territorial assembly convened 
January 5, 1857. Among the members 
of the council, Samuel E. Rogers of Douglas 
is serving his third term ; A. A. Bradford of 
Otoe and S. M. Kirkpatrick of Cass were 
members of the second council ; William 
Clancy and John A. Singleton were members 
of the first house; and Charles McDonald and 
A. F. Salisbury had served in the second 
house. Of the members of the house W. A. 
Finney of Nemaha had served in the second 
house and A. J. Hanscom of Douglas had been 
speaker of the first house. R. W. Furnas, a 
familiar name in Nebraska, is on the list of 
councilmen. 

L. L. Bo wen, of the southern or Bellevue 
district of Douglas county, was chosen presi- 
dent of the council, and L L. Gibbs of Otoe 
county was chosen speaker of the house with- 
out opposition. The South Platte was in the 
saddle, which meant that Douglas coimty was 
to be loser in the struggle against her dis- 
memberment to form Sarpy county, and that 
Omaha was to lose the capital by a clear ma- 
jority vote of the representatives, and would 
hold it only by the purely arbitrary veto of the 
executive. Morton's lampooning of Governor 
Izard's message had been without practical 
effect, for this year's fulmination excelled the 
other in grandiose verbosity. The message 
contrasts the disturbed condition of Kansas, 
"torn by internal dissension, her virgin soil 
overrun and desecrated by armed and hostile 
factions, her people murdered and pillaged by 
roving bands of lawless marauders, betraved 
by mercenary demagogues and unprincipled 
politicians," etc., with the peaceable aspect of 
Nebraska, where "the people led by the coun- 



cils of wisdom and moderation have succeeded 
in frowning down all foreign interference and 
in resisting the earliest encroachments of do- 
mestic difficulty, and have added, in their ex- 
ample, another bright testimonial of man's 
capacity for self-government to the many 
which already adorn the annals of the repub- 
lic." These rhetorical bouquets, with which 
the governor was showering his administra- 
tion, were in fact as artificial as they seem. 
Kansas was, by virtue of her contiguity to a 
slave state, the natural and the chosen battle- 
ground of the pro-slavery and the anti-slavery 
colonizers. There was bleeding enough going 
on in Kansas to satisfy all the requirements of 
both factions of the squatter sovereignty dog- 
ma, and so Nebraska was left in a condition 
of necessary peace. There was here no 
serious political question to fight over, and no 
force of any consequence to fight. In fact, no 
political question ever arose on the Nebraska 
horizon more heroic than the economic sec- 
tional question of the location of the capital, 
primarily raised and kept alive by the incon- 
venient barrier of the Platte river. 

In his chronically optimistic survey of eco- 
nomic conditions, which there was little to 
justify, the governor notes that there are more 
than fifteen thousand people in the territory. 
He finds it necessary to urge again the need 
of a better system of laws in place of the 
crude and unsatisfactory productions of the 
first two legislatures. He asks the legislature 
to urge Congress to place at once the school 
lands reserved by the organic act at the dis- 
posal of the legislature, an appeal which the 
Congress was for many years wisely to dis- 
regard. He again urges that Congress should 



224 



HISTOm- OF NEBRASKA 




M 



'"^/ 



'oLcJ^L-c^i^ 



THE THIRD LEGISLATURE 



99 



^0 




^< 



/- 




yfe 



// c /t^/r 



[Note — Geo. P. Tucker was a Union soldier during the Civil War and a prominent legislator irom 
Johnson county, Nebraska.) 



226 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



be memorialized to grant lands to the "liter- 
ary institutions" chartered by the first assem- 
bly, namely : Simpson University, Nebraska 
City Collegiate and Preparatory Institute, and 
Nebraska University. "The Simpson Uni- 
versity," he says, "has been permanently lo- 
cated, and donations to a considerable amount 
have been received to aid in its erection. I 
am informed that some degree of progress has 
been made by the corporators of each of the 
others." Even at this comparatively recent 
date Nebraska pioneers were looking to the 
private or semi-private schools for the means 
of secondary education. They had no thought 
then that the state university and its coadju- 
tors, the high schools in every county, wholly 
supported by public ta.x and administered by 
public aulhorit}', were so soon to supersede 
those early objects of their deep solicitude and 
fond hope. 

The message goes contrary to the prepon- 
derance of public opinion at that time in urg- 
ing that a part fit least of the public land 
should be put on the market without delay. 
In the Adi'ertiscr of December 6, 1856, Mr. 
Furnas contends that the settlers are not ready 
to buy their lands yet, and that the sales should 
be put off for two years, at least ; and again 
in the issue of January 29, 1857, he urges 
that they should be put off ten years, though 
in the meantime those settlers who have the 
money should be allowed to make their en- 
tries. "But if the president listens to the 
pleadings of land sharks, and hastens the sales 
we believe it will be productive of untold 
injury to the pioneer settler and to the future 
growth of Nebraska territory." The message 
gives the information that the Omaha and 
Otoe Indians had been removed to their re- 
spective reservations during the past year. 
The Omahas still remain on their reservation, 
but the Otoes were recently removed and 
their reservation sold and it now forms part 
of Gage county. 

The message was a pjean to prosperity. "No 
citizen of Nebraska," it avers, "can look 
around him and contemplate the unexampled 
degree of prosperity which has crowned the 
efforts of our infancy without feelings of the 
profoundest gratitude and satisfaction." The 



go\ernor — in an oblicjue sense — emulated 
the part of, the elysium in Richter's comfort- 
ing conceit, "Heaven lies about us in our in- 
fancy." 

Under this dazzling halo the matter-of-fact 
territorial treasurer, W. W. Wyman, in his 
annual report, dated December 18, 1856, sets 
up a dark and dismal financial figure. He 
had been able to negotiate the bonds to the 
amount of four thousand dollars, whose issue 
the last legislature had authorized, only by 
agreeing to pay interest semi-annually at the 
rate of fifteen per cent per annum. Of the 
demands the proceeds of these bonds were cal- 
culated to meet, $350.45 remained unpaid with 
only $92 of the $4,000 on hand. The treas- 
urer had bound himself personally to pay the 
first installment of interest — $300 — on the 
coming first of January, so that the necessity 
of advancing $208 of his own money was im- 
pending. Only three counties of the territory 
— Cass, Dodge, and Nemaha — "had paid 
into the treasury any portion" of the territorial 
levy of two mills on the dollar for the year 
1856, "the two wealthiest and most thickly 
populated counties (Douglas and Otoe) hav- 
ing made no payment at all during the present 
year." Dodge county had loyally paid her 
quota of the territorial tax — $20.20 — but tlii- 
loyalty does not appear so conspicuous when 
Mr. Wyman shows, as an illustration of his 
official woes, that after the county treasurer 
had also faithfully deducted his legal commis- 
sion — $1 — and his mileage for transferring 
his county's largess to the capital — $13.50 — 
the net balance for the territorial treasury was 
$5.70. We do not wonder that the treasurer 
lugubriously remarks that this was the only 
instance in which mileage was charged by a 
county treasurer, and suggests that in future 
such small sums be sent by mail. 

The report of the auditor, Chas. B. Smith, 
is of course in no Ijetter spirits. It shows 
the indebtedness of the territory to be $10,- 
457.51, and of this $8,062.01 is represented by 
warrants from the beginning, July 1, 1855. to 
January 2, 1857. That the territorial gov- 
ernment had failed thus far to provide for the 
meager public expense in excess of that paid 
from the federal treasury was evidently due 



THE THIRD LEGISLATURE 



227 



in part to its own inefficiency, but in the main 
to the unsettled, uncertain social conditions 
which, it has been heretofore pointed out, were 
unusual or exaggerated as compared with any 
former beginning and early growth of our 
commonwealths. 

The work of the third session of the legis- 
lature was to be no better, but probably worse 
than that of its predecessors. The session 
centered on four principal objects — the re- 
moval of the capital, the division of Douglas 
county, the hatching of a new brood of wild- 
cat banks, and the rascally repeal of the crim- 
inal code. The first two were purely and 
spitefully sectional ; after the expenditure of 
the first fifty thousand dollars appropriation in 
building the state house at Omaha there was 
no level-headed reason for removing the capi- 
tal until the need should arise of placing it 
at some more convenient point in the interior. 
No excuse arose on that score before the re- 
moval was accomplished — if it did then. The 
division of Douglas county was based on a 
neighborhood feud, Bellevue — plus the sym- 
pathetic South Platte — against Omaha. And 
yet contemporaneous authority informs us 
that "this and the capital question are the 
great features of the present session." The 
division bill passed the council by a vote of 7 
to 6, Furnas and McDonald being the only 
South Platte members who voted on the 
Omaha side ; it passed the house by a vote of 
19 to 17, only two members from the South 
Platte, Finney of Nemaha and Sharp of Paw- 
nee, voting no. 

In the original bill — introduced by Council- 
man Allen — the name of the proposed county 
was Omaha, but Sarpy was substituted in com- 
mittee of the whole. In the bill introduced 
into the first legislature for the organization of 
Douglas county it was named Omaha, but on 
motion of Dr. M. H. Clark, and after sharp 
opposition by leading members of Douglas 
county, the change was made. Secondarily to 
the local and natural name — Omaha — both 
Douglas and Sarpy were appropriate. The 
mistake was recognized and corrected by al- 
lowing the metropolitan city of the territory 
and state to retain the Indian name. Restitu- 
tion of the natural claim or right of the name 



of Douglas to have been perpetuated in that 
of the capital of the state was only partially 
made in its retention as the name of the 
county of which Omaha is the seat of govern- 
ment. Through the inexorable and inevitable 
course of events Lincoln succeeded his great 
rival, Douglas, in national political leadership. 
But if there had been untrammeled expression 
of the wish of the majority through its repre- 
sentatives in the legislature of 1857, the name 
of the great democratic and Union leader 
would have been rightfully and most appro- 
priately perpetuated in that of the capital of 
the commonwealth of which he was the foun- 
der, and whose political birth was the precur- 
sor if not the cause of his own political death. 

In editorial correspondence with the Ne- 
braska Advertiser, January 16, 1857, R. \V. 
Furnas, member of the council and public 
printer, complains of attempts of the Omaha 
members of the house to interfere with expres- 
sion of opinion in that body in favor of the 
removal of the capital; and he predicts that 
the governor will veto the removal bill, as "he 
could do nothing else under the circum- 
stances." The governor's veto was sent to the 
council January 19th, and, whatever the mys- 
terious "circumstances" which Mr. Furnas 
hints were to influence his act in derogation of 
the will and wish of a clear popular majority, 
he justifies it with cogent if not unanswerable 
reasoning. We are led, by the absence from 
the veto message of much of that tedious ver- 
bosity and buncombe which abound in his regu- 
lar messages, to suspect that the greater deli- 
cacy and importance of this task may have 
brought to its execution a clearer head and 
more skilful hands than Governor Izard's. The 
message is a plausible defense of an act bear- 
ing on its face suspicion of sectional and per- 
haps other improper bias, and is a realistic pic- 
ture of the conditions and methods of that 
day. 

Capital Removal Appears Again. Al 
though the capital had been located under 
strong contest and a considerable amount of 
money expended upon the building of the new 
state house, factionalism and local jealousies 
determined that the question should not rest. 
The removal bill called for the location of the 



228 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



capital at Douglas, Lancaster county — a 
purely imaginary place somewhere on the 
banks of Salt creek. The bill passed both 
house and council with proper majorities, but 
Governor Izard interposed a veto and the 
Omaha delegation was able to gather sufficient 
strength to prevent the passage over the veto. 
In the council Robert W. Furnas voted with 
Omaha, which prevented the necessary two- 
thirds majority. Finney of Nemaha was the 
only South Platte member of the house to 
vote with Omaha. 

The removal seemed clearly the will of the 
people, and, had there been untrammeled 
action, in all probability the name of the great 
democratic leader would have been perpet- 
uated in the name of the capital ; but through 
the inexorable and inevitable course of events, 
Abraham Lincoln succeeded his rival in na- 
tional leadership, and his name became per- 
petuated in the capital city. The Nebraska 
City News, and other papers, bitterly assailed 
Finney and Furnas and charged them with 
recreancy and corruption. Mr. Furnas de- 
fended himself and his colleague with vehe- 
mence. He declared that he had always fav- 
ored removal of the capital, but "upon an hon- 
est and fair plan." At the preceding session, 
just a year before, Mr. Finney, as chairman of 
the conuuittee, made a report in which he was 
joined by J. Sterling Morton, unequivocallv 
favoring removal of the capital to the same 
locality to which the bill he voted against in 
1857 proposed to remove it. 

Bills chartering additional banks were 
passed by this legislature, Ijut were all vetoed 
by the governor. Two of them — for the 
Bank of Tekamah, and the Bank of De Soto 
— were passed over the veto. 

Miller and Bradford of the council, and 
Seely, Hanscom, and Holloway of the house 
constituted a select committee to pass on parts 
three and four of the code which had been re- 
ported by the commissioners to the last or 
second assembly, near its conimenceiuent, l)iU 
which, owing to lack of time, or of industry 
and care, had not been considered. Part three, 
relating to courts and their jurisdiction, was 
adopted, while part four, relating to crimes 
and their punishment, was again passed over 



without the assignment of any reason therefor. 
The explanation of this delinquency must be 
looked for in the closely related repeal of the 
criminal code and that part of the civil code 
adopted from Iowa, which measure was in- 
troduced in the council by Bradford as early 
as the 22d of January. The serious consider- 
ation, and perhaps even the original passage 
of this bill in both houses might have been ex- 
cused or explained on the ground that mem- 
bers expected that these bungled laws would 
be substituted by better ones during the ses- 
sion. But the following veto message sent 
by the governor on the last day of the session 
and the subsequent action of both houses 
sweep away or preclude excuse or palliation 
for the shameless act : 

Executive Office, Omaha City. 
To the Council: February 13, 1857. 

An act entitled "VVn act to repeal certain 
acts of the legislative assembly of Nebraska," 
passed at the first session of the said legis- 
lative assembly has been presented to me for 
my approval. 

The bill proposes to repeal all of our crim- 
inal laws passed at the first session of the leg- 
islative assembly, and all that portion of our 
civil code adopted from the code of Iowa. 
This might be well enough if the bill itself 
proposed a substitute or if there was even a 
probability that a substitute would be passed 
at the present session of the legislative assem- 
bly ; but' in the absence of both I must be al- 
lowed to doubt the policy of sweeping away 
a very large majority of the laws now on the 
statute book, thus leaving tis without any 
means to enforce the simplest civil rights with- 
out a resort to the common law. I therefore 
respectfully return the bill to the Council, the 
house in which it originated, for its reconsid- 
eration. 

Moreover, the repealing measure was brief, 
sweeping, and explicit, so that it must have 
been difficult for a reader or hearer of intel- 
ligence to miss its purport. The council 
promptly passed the repealing bill over the 
veto by a vote of 12 to 1, Dr. Miller voting 
the solitary no, and the house followed with 
a vote of 24 to 2. Mr. Furnas of the council 
gives an interesting but scarcely adequate ac- 
count of this legislative rape. He first quotes 
the following explanation of the Nebraskian: 

Early in the session of our legislative as- 



THE THIRD "LEGISLATURE 



229 



sembly, which has just closed, a bill was in- 
troduced in the Council by Mr. Bradford, the 
title of which, as we remember it, was "a bill 
for an act repealing certain acts of the legis- 
lative assembly of Nebraska, passed at the 
first session thereof." At that time legisla- 
tion was "dragging its slow and weary length 
along," the capitol question was not then dis- 
posed of, and this bill was several days reach- 
ing even a second reading. Our impression 
is that the bill was read by its title only the 
first, second, and third time, in the Council ; 
we are confident that no member of that body 
except its originator knew anything of the 
merits of the bill. It was, however, at length 
passed in the Council and transmitted to the 
House, from whence it was returned near the 
close of the session, and was in due time en- 
rolled and presented to the governor for his 
signature. 

In the governor's hands the bill was scru- 
tinized, and its character fully determined, 
which was nothing less than the repeal of all 
the criminal code of Nebraska and most of 
the civil code. Governor Izard of course 
could not sanction such an act as that, and on 
Friday last the bill was returned to the Coun- 
cil with his objections. Bradford winked and 
blinked "like a toad under a harrow" and with 
an appearance of candor well calculated to de- 
ceive, assured the Council that the governor 
was unnecessarily alarmed about the objects 
of the bill, that the repeal of our criminal code 
would only oblige us to have recourse to the 
common law, which was much better than the 
criminal code we had adopted. With these 
assurances from the dignified and truthtelling 
(?) judge, what did the Council do? Why 
they passed that bill over the governor's veto 
by a vote of twelve to one. Dr. Miller was 
the only man in that Council chamber who 
seemed to reflect what the consequence of his 
act might be. 

The bill had the same fate in the House, 
and passed by a decided majority, and to-day 
there are no laws in Nebraska except ferry 
and bank charters. We have good reason to 
believe that the true import of the bill was no 
better understood in the House than it was in 
the Council, hence the ease with which it was 
smuggled through that body. We hold the 
originator of such frauds responsible; and 
though we were at one time disposed to re- 
gard Mr. Bradford as an honest, conscientious 
man, we are now forced to the conclusion that 
he is the most dangerous and corrupt man 
there was in that body of reckless knaves. He 
knew the efifect of the bill he was introducing, 
and we now know the objects he seeks to at- 
tain; the principal of which, we are informed, 



is to enable the murderer Hargus to escape the 
penalty of his crime. A man who can thus 
recklessly and wilfully break down every bar- 
rier that has been raised for the protection of 
society, for so criminal an object as that, 
should never be invested with the power of a 
legislator ; he is almost as much to be feared as 
the murderer himself. 

We have heard Mr. Bradford, the president 
of the Council, and one or two other dis- 
tinguished ( perhaps notorious would be bet- 
ter) gentlemen chuckling over the passage of 
this infamous measure over the governor's 
veto, as the best thing done. We doubt not 
that the large majority by which it passed both 
Houses will be cited as a certain indication of 
the unpopularity of Governor Izard, and the 
light estimation in which he is held by the 
people. But if there is one act of his adminis- 
tration which will redound to his credit more 
than all others, if there is one act which will 
receive the approval of all virtuous men, it is 
the vetoing of that bill, which, by repealing 
all protective enactments, leaves the citizens 
of Nebraska a prey to lawless violence, with- 
out the hope of legal redress. 

Then follows the comment of Mr. Furnas : 
The above from the Nebraskian we publish 
in place of an article we intended to write upon 
the same subject. We think Mr. Robertson, 
however, rather sweeping in his expression, 
terming the whole Council a "body of knaves." 
He well knows — as he was one of the clerks, 
and present when the bill was returned for 
reconsideration — that its passage was only 
secured by a betrayal of trust reposed in Judge 
Bradford as a legal man — "as an honest and 
conscientious man" — on the part of the bal- 
ance of the Council. Even Dr. Miller himself 
stated in his place that he would vote for the 
bill "over the governor's veto" if the "honor- 
able chairman of the judiciary committee" 
would assure him that it only repealed, as Mr 
Bradford said, "conflicting portions of the 
criminal code." This assurance was given, 
with all apparent candor and honesty, and 
the bill passed by a vote as stated of 12 to 1. 
Dr. Miller fortunately voting as he did. Had 
Mr. Bradford secured the passage of this re- 
pealing bill by shrewdness, legal or parlia- 
mentary management, there might have been 
a shadow of allowance for him ; but securing 
its passage as he did by downright falsehood, 
and abuse of confidence and respect reposed 
in him, he deserves to be held up to the pub- 
lic contempt of all well wishers of this terri- 
tory. 

Such, unfortunately, are the character and 
the reputation of legislative bodies of the 



230 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



present time that trying those of a generation 
ago by any liigh standard of moraHty or in- 
telligence would be incongruovis. And yet 
the act in question seems a mixture of inex- 
plicable and unprecedented ignorance and 
immorality. It is true that the members of 
the legislature, most of whom were young and 
without training or ex]ierience, would natu- 
rally rely upon the representation of the long- 
time chairriian of the committee for the final 
preparation of the code that the common law 
would take the place of the statutory criminal 
code on the repeal of the latter; but even be- 
fore the governor's explicit warning they 
must have suspiciously questioned themselves 
touching the criminal code; "If so soon 
'twas to be done for. what was it begun 
for?" And there were capable lawyers at 
hand who easily might have exposed Brad- 
ford's charlatanry to their doubting minds. 
Contemporaneous explanation of Bradford's 
motive for bringing about the repeal of the 
criminal laws is obviously insufficient, though 
it may be correct in part. James E. Lacy had 
"jumped" the west eighty of a quarter sec- 
tion claimed by Simpson Hargus lying just 
west of the present cotmty court house at 
Nebraska City, and in an altercation over 
the matter Hargus killed Lacy with a shot- 
gun on the 23d of April, 1856. Then, accord- 
ing to contemporaneous explanation and 
belief, A. A. Bradford conceived and success- 
fully carried out the no less audacious than 
novel scheme to save his client Hargus, whose 
trial was pending, by repealing the criminal 
code. But there is some ground for a sus- 
picion that the principal motive of Bradford 
and his co-conspirators was to provide immu- 
nity for the culprits of wildcat banking 
schemes, then in the heydey of their reckless 
career, and perhaps more reason for thinking 
that Bradford himself was ignorant of the 
effect of the repeal. The civil procedure pre- 
pared by the code commission was promptlv 
passed on the last day of the session after the 
governor's veto of the repeal had been filed ; 
so that the territory was not left, as the veto 
message recites, "with no means to enforce 
the simplest civil rights without a resort to 
the common law." 



Hargus was indicted for manslaughter by 
the grand jury and tried before Judge Black, 
who held, in a long and elaborate opinion, 
that he could be pimished under the common 
law, and he was convicted ; but at the Decem- 
ber, 1858, term of the supreme court, a motion 
in arrest of the judgment of the district court 
was granted, the supreme court holding that 
"the statute providing for the punishment of 
the crime of manslaughter, which was in force 
at the time of the commission of the oft'ense 
charged, was unconditionally repealed before 
the trial and judgment in the said district 
court," and Hargus was discharged. The ad- 
ministrator of Lacy brought suit for dam- 
ages against Hargus, but the supreme court, 
in an opinion by Judge Wakeley, held that the 
repealing act took effect from its passage and 
repealed "absolutely and unconditionallv, by a 
single section, both the ci\il and the crinnnal 
codes of the territory." The court further 
held that, although "on the 13th of February, 
1857, the date of the repealing act, a new civil 
code was adopted in place of the one repealed, 
containing the identical provisions above 
quoted," yet because this second act did not 
take effect until the following June it did not 
reach back to cover the hiatus between the 
repeal and its passage ; and so the civil case, 
too, failed. 

In accordance with a resolution passed by 
the council by a vote of 8 to 5, Bradford, 
Allen, and Miller were appointed a committee 
to investigate the official acts of Mr. Cuming, 
both as governor and secretary, and to report 
to the council at its next session. The reac- 
tionary or subservient spirit of the first house 
of representatives, which passed a bill to pre- 
vent free negroes from settling in the terri- 
tory, appeared again when Singleton intro- 
duced a bill of like purport at the third session. 
In the meantime pul)lic intelligence or a 
healthier moral sentiment had been growing 
in the territory, for the second bill received 
little encouragement. On the last day of the 
session it was indefinitely postponed in the 
house without division, "^ and was laid on the 
table bv a vote of 10 to 3 in the council.- Onlv 



^ House Journal. 3d ter. sess.. p. 191. 
2 Council Journal, 3d ter. sess., p. IfO. 



THE THIRD LEGISLATL'RE 



Z31 



three members of the council — Bradford and 
Reeves of Otoe county and McDonald of 
Richardson and Pawnee — were possessed 
with that quality of economic and moral in- 
firmity which prompted them to stand by the 
even then moss-grown measure at the final 
test. 

The third legislature undertook to strength- 
en the revenue law, and raised the levy for 
territorial purposes from two mills to three 
mills, limited the levy for county purposes to 
not over six mills, and for schools between 
one-half of a mill and a mill and a half. 
Though under the law of 1856 county super- 
intendents of schools were authorized to lev} 
a tax not less than three nor more than five 
mills for the support of schools, yet, up to 
this time, the revenue for support of public 
schools had been confined virtually to taxes 
raised by the individual districts and to fines 
for breach of penal laws, and the proceeds of 
sales of water craft and of lost goods and 
estrays.^ The state superintendent complains 
in his report for the year 1856 that only two 
counties — Dodge and Douglas — have sent 
in reports, and in them the county superin- 
tendents had levied the maximum tax of five 
mills. He naively adds : 

I believe there are two other counties which 
have such school officers, viz : County super- 
intendents of common schools, although I am 
not informed of the fact from a legal source, 
still there are undoubtedly such officers in the 
counties of Washington and Cass, unless by 
recent death or resignation their offices have 
become vacant.'' 

This session ground out perhaps more than 
the usual grist of incorporations of cities and 
towns — Omaha appearing as the City of 
Omaha instead of Omaha City, in the charter 
of this year — of colleges and ferries. A 
select committee, consisting of Geo. L. Miller. 
S. M. Kirkpatrick, and S. E. Rogers, reported 
a memorial to Congress — which was adopted 
by both houses — in the nature of a protest 
against proposed excessive grants of land to 
certain private corporations and companies in 
a bill then pending in Congress to aid in the 
construction of a Pacific railroad. The me- 
morial, which is evidently in Dr. Miller's 



vigorous style, barring a degree of extrava- 
gance, is yet a true and prophetic forecast of 
events soon to follow. In later years protest 
against actual accomplishment of this proph- 
ecy became a familiar part of political plat- 
forms, national and state. 

The third legislature authorized the organi- 
zation of three new counties, namely. Cedar. 
L'eau-qui-court, and Sarpy, and all three were 
ready to vote at the ensuing general election — 
in the fall of 1857. L'eau-qui-court is now 
comprised within the boundaries of Knox 
county. The legislature continues to repre- 
sent the predatory, undomesticated spirit still 
dominant in the territory. This spirit neglects 
the duty of developing and perfecting a system 
of law, under which permanent domestic insti- 
tutions might grow, but it is enterprising in 
the creation of unstable banks, in bestowing 
innumerable special corporate privileges, and 
in repealing criminal laws — all, that exploita- 
tion and spoliation schemes of adventurers 
may be the more expeditiously and safely ac- 
complished. Mere sectional jousts engage 
attention in both houses while the welfare of 
the commonwealth suffers. On the first of 
February Councilman Furnas bitterly com- 
plains : "It is a lamentable fact that legisla- 
tion in which the people of the territory are 
interested is lost sight of amid the multitude 
of speculative operations for the benefit of 
individuals or companies, mostly, too, non- 
residents of the territory. .■ . The session 
is now within eleven days of the close, and not 
a bill save the one relocating the capital has 
passed both houses. The wheels of legislation 
are blocked up in the council on the bank 
question, and in the house on the question of 
dividing Douglas county." 

After little more than half of his regular 
term had expired Governor Izard left the ter- 
ritory, apparently not intending to return. 
Official record is made of this incident : "Gov- 
ernor Mark W. Izard left the territory of Ne- 
braska for Washington, Arkansas, etc., on the 
steamer Admiral, on the 2d day of June, 
1857." William A. Richardson of Illinois had 



■'' Governor's Message, House Journal, 3d ter. sess.. 
p. 14. 

-House Journal, 3d ter. sess.. p. TS. 



232 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



been appointed governor in May, 1857, but 
declined to accept the office. 

The De Soto Pilot of July 11th quotes the 
Bellevue Gazette of June 18th as follows : 
"With hat in hand we announce to the people 
of the territory that Mark W. Izard is per- 
emptorily removed from the office of governor 
which he has so long disgraced." The Pilot 
then quotes a statement in the Chicago Times 
of July 25, 1857, that "Col. Richardson having 
declined the governorship of Nebraska, Gover- 
nor Izard will return to the territory and re- 
sume his duties," and then twits Gen. L. L. 
Bowcn for having spent two months in Wash- 
ington at his own expense, "pressing on the 
part of the people the removal of Izard, au- 
thorized as he was by eight members of the 
council of which he is the presiding officer." 

On the 16th of July the Nebraska Adver- 
tiser states that, on account of Richardson's 
declination, "Governor Izard has been ordered 
back to resume his duties, and is now at his 
post in Omaha, where he will undoubtedlv 
remain until the expiration of his term of 
office." It is probable that Governor Izard 
went to Washington with the expectation that 
he would be superseded, and that he came 
back to assume his official duties when it was 
found that Richardson was not willing to take 
his place. 

On the 30th of May Governor Izard issued 
his proclamation for the general election to be 
held on the first Monday in August. Five new 
counties were included in the legislative ap- 
portionment of this year : Cedar and L'eau- 
qui-court were placed in the Dakota repre- 
sentative district, Gage was included with 
Lancaster and Clay, and Johnson with Ne- 
maha, while Sarpy was awarded four repre- 
sentatives. The apportionment of the thirty- 
five members was as follows : Burt and Cum- 
ing, 1, Cass, Clay, Lancaster, and Gage, 4, 
Cedar, Dakota, and L'eau-qui-court 2, Dod:;e 
and Platte 1, Douglas 8, Nemaha and John- 
son 3, Otoe 6, Richardson and Pawnee 3. 
Sarpy 4, Washington 3. No changes had been 
made in the representation of the year before 
except that the four members from the south- 
ern district of Douglas now came from Sarpy. 
Those districts to which the new counties were 



attached received no increase of members. 
The interest in the election centered on the 
choice of delegate to Congress, but the usual 
sectional edge was wanting in this contest be- 
cause four candidates appeared in the field- — 
B. B. Chapman and J. M. Thayer of Omaha, 
Judge Fenner Ferguson and B. P. Rankin of 
Sarpy county. Though all of the candidates 
resided north of the Platte, Ferguson repre- 
sented more particularly the South Platte, and 
Chapman the North Platte faction. Chap- 
man, Ferguson, and Rankin were certainly 
democrats, but J. Sterling Morton's quick eye 
professed seeing the virus of republicanism 
working a little in General Thayer at this early 
period. The Bellevue Gazette of July 9, 1857, 
notes that "J. M. Thayer announces himself 
an independent candidate for Congress ; plat- 
form : 'The best interests of the whole terri- 
tory of Nebraska' "; but in 1859, the year of 
the actual organization of the republican party 
in Nebraska, and when the metamorphosis of 
democratic politicians into republican politi- 
cians first gathered courage to openly manifest 
itself, the Nebraska City Nezvs remarks that 
"the general was exceedingly wrathy because 
in his run for Congress two years ago we al- 
luded to him as a republican." The Advertiser 
nominated Mr. Rankin on the 18th of June, 
pressing his merits as "the poor man's friend," 
and as "a conciliator in those strifes which 
have rent and distracted the territory." Judge 
Ferguson was nominated by a delegate con- 
vention at Bellevue, July 14th. Chapman was 
bitterly assailed by the News and the Adver- 
tiser, personally and politically, and they 
charged that he had never voted in the terri- 
tory and was not a bona fide resident. Not 
many montlis before the Advertiser had been 
the profuse eulogist of Chapman, and now 
that it was recreant that smart politician did 
not scruple to publish a letter to himself from 
Mr. Furnas, editor of the Advertiser, stating 
that one of the official positions in the newly 
created land-office at Brownville would not be 
unacceptable to him. In the meantime Chap- 
man had filled the offices with other men. At 
the election Ferguson received 1.654 votes. 
Chapman 1,597, Rankin 1,304, and Thayer 
1 .288. The large vote for Ferguson in Otoe 



RICHARDSON SUCCEEDS IZARD 



223 



and Sarpy counties saved him ; and while 
Chapman had a heavy vote in Nemaha, Thayer 
ran nearly even with him in Douglas and thus 
caused his defeat. He of course contested 
the election at Washington, but without suc- 
cess, and his political career was ended. Wil- 
liam W. Wyman was again elected treasurer ; 
Samuel h. Campbell was elected auditor ; John 
H. Kellom, librarian ; and Charles Grant, at- 
torney-general. O. O. Richardson was ill- 
requited for his faithful service in the first 
council by defeat as a candidate for attorney- 
general. Another prominent and worthy fig- 
ure in Nebraska history, George W. Doane, 
makes his first public appearance through 
election to the office of district attorney of the 
third district ; and two other well-known men, 
James G. Chapman of Douglas county and 
William AIcLennan of Otoe county, were 
elected attorneys of the first and second judi- 
cial districts respectively. 

Governor Izard left Nebraska for his home 
in Arkansas on the 28tli of October, 1857, 
having previously resigned his office. A local 
newspaper, taking exceptions to a fulsome 
eulogy of the governor by another journal on 
the occasion of his departure, mildly hits off 
his character : "We consider him a good man 
— an amiable and worthy citizen — but not 
exclusively designed for a practical executive." 

In 1857 James C. Mitchell, the whilom capi- 
tal commissioner, was publisher, and L. H. 
Lathrop, editor of the Florence Courier. The 
issue of March 12th of that year contains a 
scurrilous attack on Governor Izard. Mitchell 
no doubt knew the vulnerable spots of the 
governor's official character and record, and 
so, while the reckless severity of the accusa- 
tion suggests a suspicion that the governor 
had thwarted some of the crafty commis- 
sioner's political schemes, yet it is likely that 
they contained at least the tincture of truth. 

A part of the Courier's arraignment fol- 
lows : 

W'e want a man who will be governor of 
the whole territory, not one who (like the 
present incumbent) will so far pervert his 
mission as to set himself up as the governor 
of a particular city, holding the balance of the 
territory as mere outside dependencies, sub- 



servient and tributary to that particular local- 
ity. We want a governor with some snap to 
him, one who will occasionally visit the dif- 
ferent sections of our territory, and endeavor 
to make himself acquainted with its position, 
its resources and its wants ; not one like Mark 
W. Izard who will stick himself down in 
Omaha and confine himself to its limits month 
after month and year after year, idling away 
his time in the mere animal enjoyment of eat- 
ing, drinking and sleeping, to the manifest 
neglect of the interests of those over whom he 
has been sent to preside ; looked upon and 
pointed at by them as the very quintessence of 
ignorance, indolence and imbecility. 

Surely this was more than enough, but the 
article goes on to charge the governor with 
the downright sale of his approval or disap- 
proval of bills, joint resolutions, and memo- 
rials, including bank and ferry charters. 

Governor Izard interposed three notable 
vetoes of legislative action. His obstruction 
of the will of a decided majority of the legis- 
lature to remove the capital in 1857, tried by 
the general principle involved, seems unwar- 
ranted. Yet on the whole it may have been 
prudent and for the best interests of the pub- 
lic ; and at any rate, considering his environ- 
ment and his temperament, this action was a 
matter of course. The veto of the bank bills 
and of the act repealing the criminal law was 
in point of duty and elTect, at least, wholly to 
his credit. The accusation which found its 
way into the press, that his opposition to the 
bank bills was purchased by the existing 
banks to shut out more competition, should be 
regarded with consideration of the reckless 
charges against the public men of the terri- 
tory which characterized that period. The 
Omaha Herald of October 19, 1866, in notic- 
ing a statement in the Helena (Arkansas) 
Clarion that Governor Izard died at his resi- 
dence in St. Francis county on the 4th of 
October, 1866, remarks that, "when in Arkan- 
sas we heard of Governor Izard as having 
lost everything during the war." 

Richardson Succeeds Izard. William A. 
Richardson of Illinois succeeded to the gov- 
ernorship, January 12, 1858, Secretary Cum- 
ing acting as governor in the interim. 

Governor Richardson was born in Ken- 
tucky in 1811 ; he secured his early education 



234 



HISTORY OF XEI'.RASKA 




/V~~^i>'^^^VL^t-<^^ 



THE FOURTH LEGISLATURE 



235 



in the common schools of his county, spent 
three yeiirs in preparatory study, entered Cen- 
ter colleo;e at Danville, Kentucky, from which 
he later entered Transylvania University at 
Lexington, Kentucky. At the end of his 
junior year he left college to teach school, and 
then began the study of law, which he .prac- 
ticed in Illinois for some time. He was state's 
attorney for his district, but resigned upon his 
election to the state legislature. He served 
four months in the Black Hawk war as a 
volunteer. He served a term in the state 
senate. In 1844 he was unanimously nomi- 
nated and elected to the house of representa- 
tives and was chosen speaker. He served in 
the Mexican war with the rank of captain. 
In 1847 he was elected to Congress, and re- 
elected to the same position upon the expira- 
tion of his term. In 1856 he resigned his seat 
in Congress to accept the nomination for the 
office of governor on the democratic ticket 
and was defeated. The next year President 
Buchanan tendered him the appointment as 
governor of the territory of Nebraska, which 
appointment he declined ; but in December of 
1857 the office was again offered him and 
accepted. He was inaugurated January 12, 
1858, at Omaha. He resigned his office with- 
in a year and returned to Illinois where he 
was again elected to Congress ; he resigned 
his seat in the house to enter upon his duties 
as United States senator to fill out the unex- 
pired term of Stephen A. Douglas. 

]. Sterling Morton and Andrew J. Popple- 
ton were again returned to the house, and 
among other members who afterward became 
prominent in the state were J. W. Paddock 
and T. M. Marquett. The contest for the 
office of speaker was between J. H. Decker 
and J. Sterling Morton — both of Otoe 
county — the former receiving 20, and the lat- 
ter 12 votes. Mr. Morton's attitude toward 
the capital question had been completely re- 
versed, and at a public meeting held at Ne- 
braska City, after the adjournment of the 
legislature, where the members from Otoe 
county were called upon to explain their ac- 
tion in the Florence aft'air, Morton boldly 
stated that two years before in the capital 
contest he had struggled to the end for re- 



moval ; a year later when he became a candi- 
date for reelection he was defeated on this 
record (by 20 votes), and he came to the con- 
clusion that his constituents cared but little 
about the removal, and he himself believed 
that it was impolitic and inexpedient to raise 
the question at the late session. It is quite 
likely that Mr. Morton had other reasons also 
for this change of attitude — and not unlikely 
some scores to settle — but this one was suffi- 
cient, and justified itself. 

The Fourth Legislature. The message 
of Acting Governor Cuming, delivered at the 
opening of the fourth session of the general 
assembly, was his last important official com- 
munication. Few public men of Nebraska 
have written so forcibly as Cuming wrote ; 
but the youthful glow and the rhetorical flavor 
of this message are in decided contrast with 
the mature, matter-of-fact expression of Gov- 
ernor Richardson's communications. These 
opening paragraphs of Governor Cuming's 
message illustrate the rhetorical cjuality of his 
writing : 

We are assembled to-day under the most 
favorable auspices. The territory of Ne- 
braska has, thus far, achieved all that her 
friends could ask. Her early organization and 
rapid progress have signally illustrated the 
safety and expansive force of the principles 
of the federal compact, from which naturally 
sprang her organic act. 

The imprint of her "Great Seal" has been 
genuine. "Popular Sovereignty" has been vin- 
dicated ; "Progress" verified. Peace and good 
order, practical vigor and manly observance 
of constitutional obligation have characterized 
the conduct of our people. No dangerous agi- 
tation or political heresies have been permitted 
to take root ; but the seeds of industry, educa- 
tion and law, planted at the commencement by 
enterprising and practical men, have yielded 
the legitimate fruit of a safe and efficient self- 
government. 

Under such circumstances, and inhabiting a 
country of such vast extent, natural beauty, 
and productive wealth — although lamentable 
dissensions have given to our sister territory a 
wider notoriety — we may well congratulate 
each other, upon our verification of the polit- 
ical truth, "Happy is that people whose an- 
nals are tranquil." 

We have, assuredly, no ordinary cause of 
gratitude to Him who rules over all things for 
the opportunities vouchsafed us — t'ne ad- 



236 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 











tj^K^ ^^tfm 


s- 


\ 


"^ 








^ 




■ 





/7K^< M 



[NoTF. — W'm. McLcnnon was a member of an early Nebraska legislature! 



THE FOURTH LEGISLATURE 



237 



vantages of geographical position on the great 
nattiral Hne of commerce, a foremost place in 
the race of territories, and the facilities of 
modern improvements and great enterprises to 
promote our advancement in every department 
of history and art. By continued adherence 
to wise and moderate councils, by earnest and 
real public spirit and internal harmony, im- 
migration will be rapidly increased, our new 
counties speedily populated, the great cities of 
the seaboard will identify with ours their com- 
mercial interests, and capital, once more lib- 
ated from financial paralysis, will find its safe 
and more profitable investment in the fee- 
simple of our fertile woodlands, prairies, and 
valleys. 

The legislature is advised that the capitol, 
a "spacious and imposing edifice, now nearly 
completed under the appropriation by the gen- 
eral government and through the public spirit 
of the city of Omaha," has cost fifty thousand 
dollars more than Congress had provided, 
and the governor recommended an appeal to 
that body for the amount of the deficit. He 
advises another memorial to Congress for the 
proper distribution of troops along the emi- 
grant line in connection with an application 
for grants of land for building a Pacific rail- 
road along the valley of the Platte: he states 
that arrangements for the completion of the 
Atlantic and Pacific telegraph from the Mis- 
souri river to the Pacific have been perfected ; 
advises a memorial to Congress for an appro- 
priation to build a military bridge across the 
Platte river; avers that the code of practice 
"is universally regarded by the bar as meager 
and defective" and that "the statutes are lim- 
ited, confused, and contradictory." 

He complains that the school law, though 
adequate, has been almost unheeded. 

Many county superintendents have failed to 
qualify as prescribed in sections 19 and 20, 
chapter 18, 2d statutes ; and the county clerks 
have provided no substitutes ; nor has the for- 
feit been collected by the prosecuting attorney 
as provided in section 23. Others have neglect- 
ed to report to the superintendent of public 
instruction on the 1st of November, as ordered 
in section 32. Thus the law has been rendered 
virtually a dead letter. In many, if not all the 
counties, no districts have been formed ; no 
taxes levied ; no teachers employed and no 
steps taken in respect to school laws. The act 
of Congress of 1857, providing for the selec- 



tion of other sections in lieu of the 16th and 
22d, when occupied and improved prior to the 
surveys, has temporarily abridged the land 
fund, but it is the duty of the county superin- 
tendent (chap. 18, sec. 9) to examine, allot in 
parcels, and value the sections not thus occu- 
pied, as well as others after they shall have 
been selected. 

It appears that the law of 1856 providing 
for a general military organization had not 
been carried out ; for, the message informs us, 
while "companies exist in nearly every county 
their organization is very imperfect or suf- 
fered to decline." The governor favors the 
then undemocratic expedient of "a small ap- 
propriation" to each county from the terri- 
torial revenue "to encourage the development 
of our agricultural and productive resources." 

Governor Cuming's limited and faulty un- 
derstanding of the principles of banking, as 
also his clear foresight and positive opinion 
as to the vexed subject of the territorial banks, 
were expressed as follows : 

It may be urged that specie is again re- 
turning to its former channels, and that public 
trust will soon revive. Yet whai amount of 
coin will repair the injury already wrought, 
or afford a basis of security against human 
avarice, stimulated to extravagant specula- 
tions and unscrupulous excesses by the facil- 
ities afforded by an insecure banking system? 
The history of "profitable" banking is inev- 
itably the history of alternate depression, over- 
action, and ruinous expansion. May we not 
hope that the events of the year will lead to 
a general reform, and to the restriction of 
paper to the uses of commercial men? Be- 
lieving as I do, that the whole system of 
banking is insecure, even when based on state 
stocks and securities, where one promise to 
pay is made the basis of another, both perhaps 
equally fallacious, and being especially con- 
vinced that the institution of banks in this 
territory was impolitic, and that there are 
imperfections in the charters, I respectfully 
urge that some adequate means be taken to 
remedy the evil and protect our citizens in 
future. Many persons who have realized from 
such systems advantage to themselves may 
have heretofore seen no danger to others. 
But the experiment has now, at least, been 
fully tried, and none can be so far deluded by 
the transient stimulus and temporarv vigor 
imparted to business transactions by traffic in 
expanded credi: as to fail to see the necessity 
of additional protection of labor and of the 



238 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



great agricultural and other producing inter- 
ests, upon which our true prosperity depends. 
The action of the iirst few years is apt to fix 
the character of the future state; and in the 
important respect of the financial policy to be 
pursued, no timidity, or indifference, or inter- 
ested motives should be permitted to prevent 
or postpone a determined effort to avert, in 
future, calamities such as those from which 
the country is just emerging. The banks 
now in existence in the territory are perhaps 
as safe as most of such institutions. Pru- 
dently managed in their infancy, but few of 
the community have suffered loss. Yet it is 
equally true that their profits are to be made 
hereafter. In the meantime gold and silver, 
withdrawn from eastern adventures and de- 
positaries, may be expected in sufficient quan- 
tities for the ordinary purposes of trade. 
Although, therefore, paper money is now so 
identified with the business habits of the com- 
munity that the prospect of its abolishment, 
perhaps for a long time to come, seems_ im- 
practicable and to many absurd, yet, within 
our own jurisdiction, by proper safegviards 
and restrictions, we may approximate such a 
result ; and may now provide that the full 
specie equivalent of all circulated bank paper 
shall be at all times within the reach of every 
citizen. 

The message shows from the records of the 
land office at Omaha that during the ten 
months, from February to November, 462,349 
acres of land had been entered by preemption. 
The governor felicitates the territory on its 
isolation from the embroilments growing out 
of the imminent questions of national politics: 

Safe thus far from the interference of 
reckless agitators and the mad efforts of in- 
tolerant fanatics, we can furnish to the world 
an enviable j^roof of the legitimate eft'ect of 
the genius and spirit of our republican insti- 
tutions. No retribution can be too severe if 
through casuistry or local strifes or political 
infidelity, we prove recreant to that beautiful 
federative system to which we owe our exist- 
ence, and under which alone we can achieve 
true and permanent greatness. 

The foreboding thus expressed by this 
bright man was no doubt representative of 
the sentiment of northern democrats of that 
time as to the source of the impending danger. 

The report of the superintendent of public 
instruction, Mr. J- H. Kellom, sets out that 
the public school lands are not yet available 
for the purpose intended, and that "The title 



to them not having passed from the general 
government, a special act of Congress is 
thought by some to be necessary in order to 
make them ours." What follows is prophetic, 
as well as wholesome admonition : 

I f the school lands are held intact ; not 
sold too early, nor exchanged for others of 
less value, the time is not far future when 
this territory will possess a school fund equal 
in value to that of New York or Connecticut, 
and which will give to every son and daughter 
within her borders a good, practical, common 
school education. As the school lands are the 
basis of this prospective fund, every citizen 
in the territory should be deeply interested in 
their preservation ; and you, in the capacity 
of legislators, will not hesitate to throw around 
them that protection which shall preserve 
them for all time to come. 

The territorial treasurer again makes a dis- 
mal report showing that "only two counties. 
Douglas and Otoe, have paid any territorial 
revenue into the treasury for the year 1857." 
The Napoleonic scheme of doing things af- 
fecting the public at large is pretty sure to 
be equally as short-lived as it is at first effi- 
cient and irresistible. 

The capital question had logically run its 
course, and it was puerile politics to revive it 
at this time. The present location was as 
available as any that could be found, a large 
sum of money for those times had been spent 
upon the building. Congress would be in no 
mood, especially in the prevailing financial 
distress, to provide for a new building, and 
the territory itself was so desperately poor 
that it could not or would not meet its trifling 
incidental expenses. The legislature pro- 
ceeded in about the usual way, the usual bills 
had been introduced, and Bradford, inex- 
plicable though it seems, was placed at the 
head of a committee of the council to report 
a criminal code, and also continued as chair- 
man of the judiciary committee. Now that 
Hargus was out of limbo through his eff'ect- 
ive mediatorship, and the wildcat banking 
field had been worked to sterility, he doubt- 
less felt free and had the face to promulgate 
a bill for restoring the criminal law. 

At the outset the capital trouble began in 
the council with the introduction by Bowen 
of Sarpy county of a resolution providing for 



THE FOURTH LEGISLATURE 



239 



the appointment of a committee of two to 
investigate the condition of the capital build- 
ing, its cost, in whom the title rested, and 
what legislative action was necessary. The 
resolution passed with only one adverse vote, 
that of Dr. Aliller ; and Bowen and Rogers 
of Douglas were appointed on the committee. 
(Jn the 17th of December a resolution de- 
claratory of Judge Ferguson's right to a seat 
as delegate in Congress, and incidentally re- 
flecting severely on Chapman's action in con- 
testing it, and which passed by a vote of 8 
to 5, further inflamed factional hatred. 

On the 6th of January Mr. Abbe of Otoe 
comity introduced the inevitable bill to relo- 
cate the capital. Councilman Furnas made a 
statement in the Advertiser in palliation of 
this annual South Platte sin. 

\Miile Governor Cuming stated as a legal 
proposition that the city of Omaha had a lien 
on the capitol for the amount the city had 
expended in its construction, yet Mr. Rogers, 
the Omaha member of the committee, and 
the city council as early as January 4th were 
ready to eat humble pie by giving the terri- 
tory full title to the property, making no claim 
on account of the city's large expenditure. 
On the 7th of January Governor Cuming sent 
the following message to each house : 

I have to inform yovir honorable bodv that 
I have received from Jesse Lowe, mayor of 
Omaha, a deed of trust to all that portion of 
land known and designated on the old plat 
of Omaha City as "Capitol Square" for the 
use and purposes of the capitol of the terri- 
tory, and the state of Nebraska when it may 
become such. T. B. Cumtng, 

Acting Governor of Nebraska. 

But the day after this question of title to 
the capitol had been set at rest by the liberal 
action of Omaha, a majority of both houses 
voted to withdraw from the seat of govern- 
ment and go on with the legislative session at 
Florence, where a relocation bill was passed. 
This revolutionary break-up was the outcome 
of years of greed, violence, and sectional folly. 

A committee of nine members of the mi- 
nority rump which remained in Omaha — 
four from the council and five from the house 
— took a large amount of ex parte testimon)', 
as laborious as it was inconsequential, on 



which they based a report. Their proceed- 
ings are printed in the journals of the session 
in question. The majority members made 
counter-statements in the newspapers. Though 
the anti-Omaha faction was guilty of the first 
overt act of violence, this priority was acci- 
dental, for the Omaha minority had undoubt- 
edly determined at the outset to obstruct, by 
force if necessary, the clear moral and legal 
right of the majority to pass a removal bill. 
The unbridled spirit of violence which pos- 
sessed the minority is shown by a sample of 
the affidavits of the majority faction, which 
also shows that old age secured neither respect 
nor imnumity from assault by young and 
vigorous men : 

S. A. Chambers, being duly sworn, testi- 
fied as follows : 

"My name is Samuel A. Chambers ; am 
fifty-nine years of age; was a member of the 
House of Representatives at the last session ; 
was in the House on the 7th while the House 
was in committee of the whole on the subject 
of the election of public printer ; I heard Mr. 
Poppleton and ]\fr. Steinberger. members 
from Douglas county, and Mr. Minick, from 
Nemaha, say that unless the capital bill was 
withdrawn no further business should be 
transacted during the session ; was out of the 
hall when the difficulty between the speaker 
and others commenced ; heard that there was a 
call for members ; started to go in ; found the 
crowd at the door so intense that it was with 
difticnlty I made my way within the door, and 
was utterly unable to get to my seat within 
the bar ; when I got within the door I saw a 
number of persons having hold of Mr. 
.Speaker Decker, among whom I recognized 
Mr. Murphy, member of the House from 
Douglas county, and a Mr. Kimball, resident 
of Omaha, and' who was not a member of the 
legislature. During the scuffle I saw Mr. 
Hanscom, a prominent citizen of Omaha and 
not a member of the legislature, rush toward 
the parties and seize the Speaker who was 
then torn from the stand to the floor where 
I could no longer see because of the crowd. 

Was in the House on the morning of the 
Sth when a motion was made to adjourn to 
Florence ; did not vote on the motion : after 
the motion carried the majority retired, and 
the minority immediately reorganized by elect- 
ing Mr. Poppleton of Douglas, speaker, and 
also electing other subordinate officers. I still 
remained in my seat directing some documents 
to my friends, after completing which I called 



240 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




J^ll^^X^rU^ 



|NoTK — Jesse Lowe was a member of an early Nebraska legislature] 



THE FOURTH LEGISLATURE 



2-n 



the page to take charge of them and take them 
to the post-office; Mr. Morton of Otoe spoke 
to me from his seat, saying, "You have not 
the franking privilege — you have no rights 
here." I replied I had rights and would assert 
them. The speaker then ordered the sergeant- 
at-arms to "clear the House from all refrac- 
tory members — take him out." Some one 
other of the minority added "and see that he 
does not take more than belongs to him." The 
sergeant-at-arms approached me when I re- 
plied, "I can go without being put out" ; he 
took hold of me and walked with me to the 
door. From the time Mr. Morton spoke to 
me until I left the hall there was continued 
cheering and stamping by the minority and 
lobby. As I went out I looked back and dis- 
covered Mr. Poppleton, the newly elected 
speaker, near my back with his gavel drawn 
over me. He afterward told me he had fol- 
lowed me to the door, expecting I would prove 
refractory ; but that he was a.shamed of his 
conduct. 

The following statement is credited to Wil- 
liam B. Beck, "an old and highly respected 
citizen of Washington county": 

Ed. Pioneer: Dear Sir: I see in the Ne- 
braskiaii a charge against you to the efifect 
that you had stated in a certain "extra" that 
knives were drawn at the time of the fracas 
in the last legislature. 

I take the liberty to state that such was 
the case to my own personal observation and 
knowledge; and I considered at that time, as 
I do now, that further opposition to Omaha 
men and measures would have been attended 
with serious consequences, and put in jeopardy 
the lives of at least a portion of that body. 

The legislative correspondent of the Belle- 

vue Gazette, in the issue of January 21, 1858, 
stated the case thus : 

I cannot but believe that the people will 
feel proud of this legislature for the course 
it has taken. When an effort was made by 
an vmscrupulous minority, aided by a mob, 
to clog the wheels of legislation, and cleave 
down the declared rights of the people and 
the majority to make their own laws, they 
stood up in the defense of those rights and the 
cause of the people. 

An excited mob, and an indignant and self- 
important accidental executive, together with 
the free offer of gold, could not swerve them 
from the path of duty and integrity. They 
knew that to yield would be to act the traitor 
to their friends, and they would prove faith- 
less to themselves, faithless to their constitu- 



ents, faithless to the country of their adoption, 
and faithless to the eternal principles of de- 
mocracy as embodied in the Declaration of our 
independence, and with these sentiments of 
right and honor in their hearts, they took their 
stand. An effort was made to buy some of 
them but failed. They stood firm to the last 
hour and minute, in the defense of the people 
and right; and if their labor is lost, and the 
territory remains without laws for another 
year, they are not responsible for the conse- 
quences. 

Five members of the council — Miller, Rog- 
ers, and Salisbury of Douglas ; McDonald of 
Richardson and Puett of Dakota — and thir- 
teen members of the house — Armstrong, 
Clayes, Murphy, Poppleton, Paddock, Stein- 
berger, Stewart, and Thrall of Douglas ; 
Cromwell of Richardson and Pawnee ; Jones 
of Dakota and Cedar; Morton of Otoe; Min- 
nick of Nemaha and Johnson ; and Van Horn 
of Cass county — remained in Omaha, unable 
to do business, being no quorum, until Janu- 
ary 16th, the end of the regular forty days. 
Presumably all the rest of the members went 
to Florence ; but since the validity of the acts 
of the Florence session was denied at the 
time, and was not afterward recognized, no 
official record of them was preserved. But 
the Florence seceders, having a quorum, kept 
busy until the expiration of the forty days, 
and among the acts they passed were a crimi- 
nal code, a homestead exemption law, a law 
setting off the north part of Douglas county — 
that is, Florence — into a separate election 
district, and a law for the relocation of the 
capital. The capital act named S. F. Nuckolls 
of Otoe, W. D. McCord of Cass, John Finney 
of Sarpy, and Elisha N. Hamilton of Wash- 
ington as commissioners to choose the new 
location, which was to be within a district six 
miles wide on either the north or the south 
side of the Platte river, and between the guide 
meridian — the present west boundary of 
Cass, Johnson, Otoe, and Pawnee counties — 
on the east, and the si.xth meridian — the 
present west boundary of Jefferson, Saline 
Seward, and Butler counties — on the west. 
The bill provided that the entire townsite 
should belong to the territory and for the sale 
of one-third of it the first year, by the com- 



242 



HISTORY OF XEP.RASKA 




I Note — John S. Bowen was a prominent citizen of Washington connty, Nebraska, formerly prolmt 
judge. He was a delegate to the national convention which nominated General Grant for president-] 



FLORENCE SESSION 



243 



missioners, from the proceeds of which the 
necessary huildings were to be constructed. 
There is no explanation as to how the com- 
missioners were to obtain title to the site 
which belonged to the public domain. 

We should be very thankful that the im- 
practicability of the whole scheme saved the 
territory, with its distinctively and exclu- 
sively local and western associations and tra- 
ditions, from the infliction of the far-fetched 
foreign name — specified in the act — Neapo- 
lis ; and we should also feel a half-hearted 
thankfulness that the political bias of those 
who finally named the capital of the state 
drew them half way toward their high privi- 
lege and plain duty in this respect. But poeti- 
cal and political justice would have named the 
capital Douglas. 

Florence Session. The house broke up on 
the 7th of January in a typical frontier row, 
in which trespass on the prohibitory law cut 
an important figure. The Omaha minority 
were talking against time on a minor ques- 
tion, in committee of the whole, and Popple- 
ton had the floor, when Decker, the speaker, 
who had been out about the town, returned, 
and finding that there was no quorum, inter- 
fered, and insisted on resuming the chair. 
Morton, the chairman of the committee of the 
whole, ruled that the point of no quorum could 
not be raised while a member held the floor. 
Afterward, Mr. Thrall of Omaha took the 
chair, and a message from the council was 
annoimced. Poppleton made the point that 
under the rules this message could not be re- 
ceived, as the council was not in session at the 
time ; but Decker insisted that the message 
should be received then and there, and at- 
tempted forcibly to take the chair, when Mur- 
phy and Paddock, Omaha members, dragged 
him away, and then A. J. Hanscom, a very 
strenuotis lobby member, rolled Decker under 
a table. Finally the speaker left the hall, Mor- 
ton was elected temporary speaker, and the 
house adjourned. The next morning Decker 
took the chair as usual, but on motion of Done- 
Ian of Cass county the house adjourned to 
meet in Florence the next day. In the coun- 
cil on the same morning — January 8th — • 
Reeves of Otoe moved an adjournment to 



meet at Florence on the 9th. The president, 
Dr. Miller, refused to entertain the motion, 
whereupon Reeves himself stated it, and it 
was carried by a vote of 8 to 2, Furnas and 
McDonald voting in the negative. In this 
miniature secession Mr. Furnas took about 
the same position as many southern leaders 
were soon to take, when, after opposing dis- 
memberment, they at last went out with their 
states. Furnas opposed secession, but went 
with the majority. 

Though the Omaha rump had the execu- 
tive, or federal, part of the government on its 
side, and by virtue of this advantage con- 




Froin a>i inif^iiblisltcd dasitcncijtypt; laken in 1855. 

Robert W. Furn.\s 

trolled the official records and gained its ob- 
ject in practical results, the majority, or se- 
ceders, had the best of it before the people, 
because, outside of Omaha, the press was on 
their side — with the exception of the Ne- 
braska City Nc-a's, now edited, nominally at 
least, by Milton Reynolds. The Nczvs took 
both sides. Through the evident influence of 
Morton it condemned the secession ; but it 
also promptly took advantage of the oppor- 
tunity to again urge Morton's original scheme 
for annexation of the South Platte to Kansas. 
Perhaps a more definite illustration of the gen-- 
eral anti-C)maha sentiment is contained in the 
statement of the Neivs that "eleven out of the 



244 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



^H^ 


■ 




■ 






^^^^^^m 






^ 




1 



Rnv. J(iH.\ I\Iili.i;r Tac^gart 



[XoTE — The Rev. J. M. Taggart was a pioneer missionary and a nu-mlier ul an early legislature] 



FLORENCE SESSION 



245 



thirteen ])apers in the territory (the two re- 
maining being owned by Chapman) have, 
week after week, since the election, expressed 
their preference for Ferguson" — in the con- 
test over the congressional election. 

On the 15th of January, in response to a 
request by J. Sterling Morton, Attorney-Gen- 
eral Estabrook gave a written opinion as to 
the validity of acts passed by the Florence 
legislature, in which he correctly held that th.; 
seat of government clearly had not been re 
moved from C)maha, and that therefore the 
only cjuestion was as to the power of the leg- 
islature to conduct business at any other place 
than the seat of government. His contentio.i 
for the negative was lame, and perhaps, from 
the nature of the case, necessarily inconclu- 
sive. Considering the almost unlimited in- 
herent powers of legislative bodies such as 
this — not being restrained by a constitution 
— and the weighty practical reasons for the 
adjournment to Florence and the urgent need 
of legislation, the Florence majority had thj 
stronger argument, unless it could be met by 
contrary adjudication by the courts. This 
the attorney general attempted to do with a 
result negatively damaging to his side of the 
case ; for the only authority he cited was that 
of the obscure territorial court of Oregon, 
and the decision evidently turned upon a dif- 
ferent point from that held to be the issue in 
the Nebraska case, though he quoted two of 
the judges as deciding, incidentally at least, 
that the legislature could pass valid laws onl)- 
at the regular seat of goveriitnent. 

Governor Richardson having refused to 
sign the acts of the Florence assembly, a con- 
troversy arose as to whether he had returned 
them to the legislature, with his objections, 
according to the provisions of the organic act, 
so as to require their passage again by a two- 
thirds majority. The following statement of 
Mr. Reeves, member of the council from Otoe 
county, apparently settles the question -in the 
negative : 

Editor Ne7vs{ 

In your paper of the loth is an article 
which needs a passing notice, for the purpose 
of "vindicating the truth of history." 

In the article alluded to I find the follow- 
iuCT lansruage : 



"But the governor says he distinctly refused 
to recognize them (the bills passed at Flor- 
ence, I presume) and upon the back of each 
document wrote as follows : 'This paper was 
left in my room on yesterday, Jan. 13, 1858, 
after I had refused to receive it. I neither 
veto nor approve it; but respectfully return it. 

" 'Jan. 14, 1858. W. A. Richardson.' " 

Now as I was a member of the enrolling 
committee of the Council I wish to state the 
facts in relation to the presentation of those 
F'lorence bills to the governor, and let the 
people judge how they were "received," and 
who is at fault that we are now sufifering the 
want of just and equitable laws for the pro- 
tection of life and property and the adminis- 
tration of justice. 

The committee on enrolled bills in the Coun- 
cil was composed of Mr. Allen and myself. 
In the House it was composed of Messrs. Tag- 
gart. Hail and Abbe. 

On the 13th of January, Mr. Taggart, Mr. 
Hail, and myself waited on the governor, at 
his room in the Hamilton House, and present- 
ed him all the bills passed previous to that date 
at Florence, except one which was presented 
to him by Mr. Abbe on the same day, but at 
a later hour. I made a memorandum of what 
transpired at our interview with the governor, 
from which the following is an extract, and 
will be certified to as truth by every member 
of the committee : 

"The governor was notified by Mr. Allen, 
immediately after our introduction to him, 
that we were the enrolling committees of both 
branches of the legislature. The bills which 
originated in the Council were in one bundle, 
and were presented to him by Mr. Allen ; and 
the bills which originated in the House, were 
in a separate bundle and were presented by 
Mr. Taggart. The governor took the bills 
from out of our hands and observed that he 
shoidd take no action on them. When re- 
minded by me that the legislature would con- 
sider them laws if not returned within three 
days, and being asked whether in that case 
he would file them in the secretary's office, 
he answered that it was a matter which re- 
quired consideration." 

After mature "consideration" the governor 
concluded that the papers were "left at his 
room after he had refused to receive them, 
and that he would respectfully return them." 
But how did he return them ? and to whom ? 
Certainly not to the House in which they 
originated nor to either House separately ; 
nor to both Houses jointly. They were never 
returned to the legislature at all, and were 
never before that body or either branch of 
it, after their presentation to the governor. 



246 



[[IST()RY OF NEBRASKA 




iC^a^^ /^ j&^^/^ 



[Note — James P. Peck was a ch:u-tfr member of the Omaha Medical Association] 



FLORENCE SESSION 



247 



The "respectful return" was made as fol- 
lows : 

On the night of the 14th of January, about 
9 o'clock, while some half dozen members of 
the legislature and others were sitting around 
a table in the parlor of the Willett House, 
some reading, and others writing, Mr. How- 
ard, the governor's private secretary, stepped 
into the room and threw down a large pack- 
age, remarking: "Gentlemen, the governor 
has sent your bills back." 

Now with these facts before him, who can 
believe that the governor "refused to receive 
them and respectfully returned them"? 

As stated before, I wish the facts to go be- 
fore the people and let them form their own 
conclusions. Had the governor recognized 
the acts of the legislature, we would now 
have in force all the laws, except one men- 
tioned in your paper of the 6th, as being 
necessary for the prosperity of the country ; 
for such acts were among those presented to 
the governor. It is believed by many eminent 
jurists that these acts are laws; but if they 
are not it is no fault of the legislative branch 
of the government. 

But if it is necessary to cure all doubt that 
an extra session be called is it necessary that 
the majority will stultify themselves by mak- 
ing "promises" and "pledges" to the governor 
in advance? Is it expected that they will sur- 
render the rights of the people for the inesti- 
mable privilege of returning to Omaha to lie 
insulted and cheated out of their rights? I 
can hardly think that the governor would re- 
quire such promises, but if he should, I for 
one will never make them. I am ready to 
pledge myself to the people and obey their be- 
hests ; but I owe allegiance to no other power, 

I am willing to return to the capitol and 
labor faithfully, earnestly and peaceably for 
the enactment of all laws which are calcu- 
lated to promote the prosperity of Nebraska 
and the happiness of her people ; but I must 
be free and untrammelled, save b}' the voice 
of my constituents. 

Thus, Mr. Editor, I have answered for my- 
self your question, "Shall we have an extra 
session?" 

The net product of the Omaha rump of the 
legislature is in itself a very concise illustra- 
tion of how Cuming's skill in making things 
go and come his way had overreached itself. 
(Jnly two very brief general laws were passed 
— one abolishing the use of private seals, the 
other providing that hereafter the legislature 
should meet on the first Monday in January. 



Even the list of incorporations and territorial 
roads acts was relatively meager, and besides 
this, the sole accomplishment of the session 
was four inconsequential private acts and two 
joint memorials to Congress — one praying 
for the establishment of a daily mail service 
from Iowa City, Iowa, to Omaha, and the 
other for the "division of the present survey- 
ing district of Kansas and Nebraska and the 
erection of a new district for this territory." 

Our novelists are now the makers or the 
eJcpounders of our social philosophy; and it 
is a pity that the philosophy of George Eliot 
and Thomas Hardy, which teaches us not 
merely that it is better to attempt and fail than 
not to attempt at all, but that the virtue lies 
in the resolute purpose, so that often failure 
may even be better than accomplishment, was 
not then available for the consolation of the 
Omaha rump. The then budding "Sage of 
Arbor Lodge," perhaps unconsciously, gives 
point to this philosophy in the following in- 
ventory of residuary conditions, which is per- 
haps no less truthful than picturesque. Though 
Morton was not then the editor of the News, 
the piquant paragraph bears plainly his image 
and superscription : "The last legislature ad- 
journed in a row, left, departed this life, mis- 
cellaneously and in a mixed manner, and left 
us no laws. The governor is absent, the sec- 
retary deceased. . . We occasionally see 
the squatters in little squads, whispering 
among themselves in a wicked, malicious, and 
mischievous manner that we are 'just as well 
ofl' now as we ever were." 

While men of more of that wisdom which 
comes only of experience than was possessed 
by those who comprised this fourth legisla- 
ture would have avoided the foolhardy and, 
so far as its direct object was concerned, in- 
evitably futile Florence revolution, yet, as may 
be said of most revolutions, its results were 
not all evil. For it precipitated unsettled pub- 
lic sentiment, and revealed to the pro-Omaha 
minority that the determined majority must 
be reckoned with in some other way than bv 
bribery and coercion. It made both sides suf- 
ficiently tired of the disastrous controversy to 
permit an experienced, tactful, and masterful 
I)o!itical leader to restore orderly conditions 



248 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



and supply necessary laws through a special 
session of the legislature. Governor Rich- 
ardson arrived at the capital on the 10th of 
January, and he not only arrived just at the 
right time, hut he was just the right man to 
arrive. He brought with him the two things 
needful, prestige and the impartiality of the 
outsider, strengthened by the insight of the 
astute politician. He assumed the office on 
the 12th of January, and the contrast of his 
fair and fatherly attitude with that of the 
youthful ardor of the aggressively sectional 
Cuming, whom he succeeded, was both sharp 
and reassuring. Furthermore, Richardson 
was the next friend of the great Douglas, the 
natural idol of the northwestern democracy 
who were beginning to love him the more on 
account of the ultra pro-slavery enemies he 
was making, and whom the politicians would 
propitiate because it was likely that he would 
be the next president. And so the tone of the 
press soon became quieter, its insistence upon 
the validity of the Florence laws was dropped, 
submission of the capital removal question to 
a popular vote — a squint at least toward com- 
promise — was advocated, and finally there 
was general acquiescence in the proposal of a 
special session. 

TiiE Death of Governor Cuming. The 
death of Thomas B. Cuming, secretary and 
acting governor, occurred between the Flor- 
ence fiasco in the early part and the special 
session in the latter i»rt of the year 1859, and 
the way was opened for the appointment of J. 
Sterling Morton to succeed him. With Lewis 
Cass at the head of the department of state 
at Washington and backed by his already 
recognized leadership, he had great advantage 
in his contest for the appointment. In the last 
days Mr. Cuming nuist have realized as the 
ironv of fate the probability that his arch 
enemy would succeed him. It is a mere mat- 
ter of course that these two brilliant men. of 
the most aggressive temperament and great 
political ambition, confined within the small 
limits of the dominant party of the territory, 
should have been mutually and bitterly hostile. 

If Cuming, by his masterful manipulation of 
the capital Inisiness, had l>lasted Morton's first 
hopes and driven him from his first home at 



Bellevue, Morton had perhaps repaid him in 
full l)y thv-'arting his hopes to become gov- 
ernor. 

The funeral of Governor Cuming at Omaha 
was a notable and imposing event for that 
period of sparse population and scanty sources 
of the trappings of pageantry; and he was es- 
pecially fortunate in his eulogist. The formal 
funeral oration was delivered by James M. 
Woolworth, April 17, 1858. Making due al- 
lowance for the young orator's natural Northi 
Platte, or Omaha, partiality or bias, he yet gave 
to the commonwealth, in this fine address, a 
very valuable sketch of the character and ca- 
reer of its first actual governor. Further- 
more, the oration is remarkable for its rhetor- 
ical construction, its formal and stately style, 
showing the great influence of the dominant 
classical training of those days. This feature 
of the address has been modified, and its al- 
most extravagant youthful warmth of expres- 
sion is wanting in the writings and addresses 
of the seasoned lawyer and scholar of later 
days, while its clean-cut diction abides as a 
characteristic of his style. 

THE ORATION 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: — 
The tolling bell, the meeting of the citizens 
called to express a city's sorrow, the solemn 
announcement to the court, the judge on the 
bench, the juror in the box, the counsel at the 
bar turning from the business all undone, the 
soldier marching with slow and measured 
tread, with muffled drums and colors furled, 
and arms reversed, the public liuildings draped 
in mourning, the public offices closed, business 
and labor all suspended, the flags at half mast, 
the minute guns, the lengthened process, un- 
whispered sympathies and sorrows, tearful 
eyes, sad, sad hearts, — what cause, what 
abundant cause, for all these tokens of public 
and private bereavement ! 

Thomas B. Cuming dead ! That form that 
passed and repassed before our eyes, daily, al- 
most hourly, that mingled among us, made one 
of us on the street, in the office, at the public 
meeeting, at the social gathering, ever present, 
ever welcome everywhere ; so recently erect 
and proud and ironbound, now prostrate, cold, 
dead. That countenance, set with the firm- 
ness of the ruler of a great country, yet vary- 
ing with the varying emotions which chase each 
other through his mind, fixed now in the 
changeless expression of death. That eye that 



DEATH OF GOVERNOR CUMING 



249 



beamed ever with ardor and intelligence, and 
anon flashed lightning from its black depths 
with the kindlings of brilliant intellect, closed 
now forever. That voice which thrilled, and 
swayed, and commanded the public assembly, 
gasped its last words, silent now. Nerveless 
the hand that grasped a brother's cause so g.en- 
erously ever ■ — • ever as you, sir, or I, and how 
many others can testify. High ambitions, 
great promises, sanguine hopes — • all shattered 
into dust. A people cut off from its leader, 
its stay, its hope. What cause, what abun- 
dant catise, for public and private sorrow ! 

Thomas B. Cuming dead ! Meet are all 
these signs of woe. A great "man has gone 
to his long home and the mourners go about 
the streets." Let the court be closed ; he was 
the noblest of all its members. Let the soldier 
honor his memory ; he was the most gallant of 
all this band. Let the public officers suspend 
the public business ; he was the chief and ruler 
of them all. Let the banker close his vaults, 
the merchant his ledger, and let the mechanic 
and the laborer lay down his tools, and let a 
great people assemble in this common sorrow 
to mingle together their tears for one whose 
like we shall not see again. Let the long pro- 
cession bear him to the capitol, lay him in the 
very penetralia of his country's temple ; let the 
priest of his church say over him the solemn 
office of his burial chant, over the inanimate 
remains the sacred requiem of the dead. Let 
the people gather around him once more to 
look on those well known features for the last 
time. Yes, let her — alas for her whose heart 
breaks beneath the burden of its sorrow — 
let her gaze and gaze, and as those sad, sad 
words, "Never again, never again," break the 
awful silence, let every heart melt; then let 
the tears flow tmchecked, unheeded in the 
common sorrow for the dead and sympathy for 
the living, and then lay him in the bosom of his 
own Nebraska, beloved forever ; "earth to 
earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes." 

And meet is it that your association, sir, 
should consecrate an hour to his memory. He 
was one of its projectors and founders. He 
contributed of the abundance of his learning 
and his eloquence to its success. He was on 
the list of lecturers for the course just ended. 
Even in his last days he consulted for its pros- 
perity. And yet, sir, I could have wished you 
had found another to do this sad office to his 
memory ; to teach you his virtues, to recite to 
your lasting profit the lessons of his life and 
of his death. And yet what need of words? 

Thomas B. Cuming dead ! Perish from 
among men the great principle of popular 
sovereignty which he vindicated and estab- 
lished here in stormy times, among enraged 



men who thirsted for his blood — which he 
vindicated and established here, as no one else 
could, by his own unaided arm, by his own 
resolute will ; perish peace, prosperity, and 
progress, which by his wisdom and energy he 
established in the first days of the territory ; 
once and forever perish the achievements of 
her progress, the home of the settler, the ad- 
miration of human heroism, the love of human 
benefactors ; then, and not till then, let us say, 
Thomas B. Cuming dead! 

Governor Cuming was born in Genesee 
county, in the state of New York, on the 25th 
day of December, 1828. His father is the 
Rev. Dr. Cuming, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, 
an Episcopal clergyman of distinguished 
learning, eloquence, and piety. His mother 
died while he was yet a young child. He was 
then removed to Rochester, and placed in the 
family of the Rev. Dr. Penny, an uncle, at that 
time a distinguished Presbyterian divine, after- 
wards the president of Hamilton college. He 
was afterwards removed to the home of his 
father, in Michigan, under whose care he was 
prepared for college. In his boyhood Gover- 
nor Cuming enjoyed a training of the highest 
character. His father instilled into his young 
mind with all a parent's anxiety and care those 
habits of laborious study, of thoroughly mas- 
tering whatever engaged his attention, which 
eminently fitted him for the difficult positions 
to which he was destined. Especial care was 
had of his religious culture. Those elevated 
and severe doctrines which distinguished the 
higher school of the Episcopal church were 
early instilled into his young mind, and it is 
believed that through all the distracting scenes 
of his life, in the midst of the great tempta- 
tions to easy, often sceptical notions which be- 
set young and ardent minds in our day. he 
never ceased to revere the salutary teachings 
of his father and of the church. 

He entered the university of ^lichigan, at 
Ann Arbor, at a very early age. But yotuig 
as he was he carried with him a familiar ac- 
quaintance with the Latin and Greek lan- 
guages, a singular aptitude for their acquisi- 
tion, and a native fondness for letters in gen- 
eral ; and to these he added a devotion to study 
and an ambition to excel very uncommon at so 
early an age. He accordingly took a high 
standing as a scholar. In the classical and 
belleslettres department he had not an equal in 
the institution. He enjoyed also an uncom- 
mon flow of animal spirits. Perfect health 
was a blessing he enjoyed from his earliest 
days till his last sickness ; and in a boy, health 
and activity are concomitant. He mingled in 
all the sports of coUeee life, in all the mischief, 
too, and made himself notorious by them. The 



?50 



HISTORY OF NERRASKA 



name of Cuming was known in every hamlet 
in the state before his first year in college was 
over. At the age of sixteen he gradnated, 
carrying off the first honors of the institution. 
His oration is sjioken of to this day for ih.' 
force and eloquence which distinguished it 
from the platitudes usually spoken by young 
men on such occasions. Upon his graduation 
he was appointed geologist to a scientific ex- 
pedition sent to explore the mineral regions 
about Lake Superior ; a position whose im- 
portance is evident from the immense wealth 
annually derived from the copper of that 
country. 

At the breaking out of the Mexican war he 
was a young man averse to the drudgery of 
any of the professions, but full of the high 
hopes and aspirations of youth. The sound 
to arms appealed to the military passions of 
his nature, for his nature was that of a soldier 
through and through. He entered the army 
as a lieutenant, and served out the time of his 
enlistment. He always regretted that the cir- 
cumstances of his station prevented his ming- 
ling in those great conflicts which reflected 
such glory on American arms. 

After the war he found himself loose ujwn 
the world, without friends to whom he could 
go, without means, without advantages, save 
those he had within himself. Accidentally he 
found employment as a telegraph operator in 
Keokuk, Iowa. But it was not enough for 
him to feed his stomach and clothe his naked- 
ness. The mind of the young man must be at 
work. He wrote an anonymous article to the 
Dispatch, a paper published at that place. It 
arrested attention. He wrote another ; curi- 
osity as to who was its author was excited ; 
another and another appeared, and curiosity 
increased more and more. One person and 
another to whom they were at first attributed 
disclaiming the authorship, they were at last 
traced to the young telegraph operator. The 
ability which they displayed was not to be lost 
and he was immediately placed in charge of 
the paper. It was soon the leading paper in 
the state, a oower in the state, and hardlv ever 
was there a country paper exercising such a 
large influence. During his residence in Keo- 
kuk he married Aliss Margaret C. Murphv, 
whose beautiful devotion to him in all the 
changes and trials of life has been only equaled 
by the great sorrow which now crushes her. 
It was while in charge of the Dispatch, in 
1854, and somewhat in reward for the eminent 
services which he had rendered to the democ- 
racy, that he was appointed secretarv of Ne- 
braska. He was at this time only twenty-five 
years of age. He arrived here on the Sth 
of October, accompanied by his accomplished 



bride. It is well known that very soon after 
Governor Burt arrived in the territory he sick- 
ened and died, and that Cuming thereupon be- 
came the acting governor. Young as he was 
he Ijrought to the duties of the office qualities 
singularly fitted to their faithful discharge. 
His mind was filled with the idea of a Roman 
governor and pro-consul in Rome's best days. 
A mind stern, haughty, severe, and unyielding 
in the policy it had marked out : resolved by 
its own invincible will to bend all men to that 
will, to bend itself to none, to be a great power 
in the state, and then by virtue of that policy 
to plant the institution of sound and stable 
government and order and law. To teach all 
men the wisdom and the power of that great 
central government which granted them an 
organization, and gradually, safely, and surely 
to fit them for citizenship in its great con- 
federacy. 

What a work was that for a man of twenty- 
five, but how nobly did Cuming do it ! Those 
factious jealousies and contests, so common 
and so bitter in new countries, rent the terri- 
tory into numerous and distracted parties ; and 
when the young governor took one step in the 
direction of organization he found arrayed 
against him the combined opposition of all 
parts of the territory, save this city alone. 
When he convened the legislative assembly 
here all the fury of excited passion burst upon 
him. Any other man would have stood ap- 
palled before it ; would have retreated before 
its threats ; would have compromised with its 
turbulence. To do so, however, was to give 
up the peaceful organization of a territory, 
consecrated in the midst of national excite- 
ment to popular sovereignty : to give up all 
law and all order, to give up himself, as he 
was, all he hoped to be. He did not waver. 
He issued the certificates of election to those 
who were elected members of the assembly. 
He pressed the two houses to an immediate 
organization, and in one week everv vexed 
question was settled, his opponents defeated in 
their disorganizing purposes, and orderly gov- 
ernment in the territory secured as a new 
])roof of the ability and the right of the peo- 
ple to govern themselves. It was a triumph 
of his commanding will which awed opposi- 
tion. It was genius mastering transcendent 
difficulties. Governor Cuming lived to see 
the blessings of peace, order, law. and pros- 
])erity follow his acts. 

It is unnecessary for me to recount in your 
hearing the life of our friend. It was passed 
in your midst. You were sharers of its joys, 
of its generosities, of its devotions. It was a 
]3art of your own, and the thread of its nar- 
rative is entwined with that of vours so that 



DEATH OF GO\'ERXOR CUMING 



251 



you can not recall the [jast but you recall him. 
It was a life of energy, of activity, of effort 
for every good word and work which con- 
cerned this city which was his home, and this 
territory over which he presided. Beautiful 
is old age ; beautiful as the rich, mellow 
autumn of a bright glorious summer. The old 
man has done his work and he is gathering in 
the abundant harvest of his good services in 
the love of the old and the reverence of the 
young. He has laid olif the cares of life and 
waits placidly for the end; waits placidly for 
the beginning beyond the end. God forbid we 
should not call that beautiful ! But more 
beautiful even than that is young manhood, 
with strong arm and stout heart, in the face of 
storm, and wind, and rain, sowing the good 
seed of national order, prosperity, and peace ; 
sowing the good seed of its own fame which a 
whole people shall embalm in the memory of 
its best affections. Raise on the spot where 
he lies what tomb you will, his true sepulcher 
is in our hearts, his true epitaph is written on 
the tablets of our memories. 

The resignation of Governor Izard returned 
Governor Cuming to the responsibilities of the 
chief executive. While in their discharge the 
late assembly convened. For some time before 
he had been suffering from prostrating sick- 
ness, and he was little fitted to meet the vio- 
lent contests which attended the session. He 
nerved himself for the task and prepared the 
message. But the disease which prostrated 
him gave to his mind a deep coloring of sad- 
ness, of doubt for the future, of fear both for 
himself and the country. He was imable to 
prevent its tinge appearing in the message, 
and as he delivered it to the assembled houses, 
the deep pathos, the hopelessness of some of 
its passages, cast over the minds of those who 
loved him, even amidst the excitements of the 
occasion, a strange foreshadowing of a coming 
sorrow. The effort was too much for him, 
and he returned to his home to preside over 
the territory from his sick bed. The hopeful- 
ness of his nature did not at all forsake him in 
his painful sickness. He hoped he might be 
permitted to rebuild a better and a nobler self 
on the ruins of the old constitution ; that to 
the services of his coimtry he might add others 
still higher ; that he might yet give wider and, 
freer play to those affections of the heart, to 
those sentiments of Christian dutv and reli- 
gion which an anxious father had early in- 
stilled into his mind. But it was not to be ; all 
the love of friends, all the promises of his 
young manhood and his abundant acquisitions, 
all his capacities to do good, all his hopes, all 
his ambitions could not save him. He was cut 
down and withered. Peacefullv he lies in the 



embrace of his own Nebraska, and as fond 
kindred grace the hallowed spot with marble 
shaft or consecrated iron, with the beauty ot 
the flower, with its rare odor that comes to us 
as a sweet consolation, a loving people will 
turn ever and anon from the path of their pros- 
perity to pay their tribute of affection to the 
great man buried there. 

The character of Governor Cuming was 
marked by a most striking individuality. In 
these days, when the etiquette and customs of 
social life conform even the heartiest saluta- 
tions and coldest reserve, the dress we wear, 
all the manners of our life, to one standard of 
phase and fashion, most men lose, especially in 
daily intercotirse, all distinctive characteristics, 
become like all others, are least themselves. It 
was not .so with Governor Cuming. You al- 
ways met him. His peculiarities of phase, of 
manner, arising not from any desire to be sin- 
gular, but a natural, unconscious, yet most in- 
tense individuality, always impressed you. Be- 
sides you always felt you met a man ; a man of 
will, who resisted all external influences and 
followed the line of his own convictions and 
purposes. The physical formation of the 
man indicated the firm, well-knit, active na- 
ture ; every inch of him was alive and tremu- 
lous with the energy which poured along the 
nerves. His grasp was the grasp of the lion ; 
for its physical power first, most of all for the 
mighty will which directed it. This same or- 
ganization was indicated by the eye, which no 
one ever looked into and ever forgot. That 
deep black iris, that fervid glance and gleam 
indicated an organization very remarkable and 
seldom seen in temperate zones. It was a tor- 
rid eye, from which flashed out all the tremu- 
lous sensibilities, all the passions, and all the 
fire of natures born and bred near the sun. In 
the mental physiology of Governor Cuming 
imagination held a large space ; but it was not 
the suDtie niiagiaaLiou which delighted in beau- 
tiful, soft-phrase words, empty of large, 
strong, vigorous vision ; nor yet, even in its 
highest altitude, did it soar aloft in the clear 
but cold regions of disenchanted spirit. It 
was wrapped about, or rather it was at one 
with his sensibilities. It dwelt among and 
upon those visions which are l)eautiful because 
they are lovely, and delightful because they 
are creations of the heart and its affections, not 
of the cold, selfish mind. This was one pe- 
culiarity of his eloquence. It was luxuriantlv 
imaginative, but it was so full of sentiment, 
of the warm, gushing natural sentiment of the 
heart. No matter what the occasion, he led 
captive the feelings, if not the convictions of 
his audience. The very copiousness of his 
language, his appeals to numerous passions, 



252 



HISTORY (3F NEBRASKA 



the magnetic power of his figure gave him a 
command, sometimes an absolute tyranny over 
his hearers, very seldom equaled by the great- 
est orators. 

And yet I would not speak of these quali- 
ties to the exclusion of the more substantial. 
They were the leading peculiarities of his men- 
tal organism, and yet logic, large abilities at 
argimient, what the Germans call the absolute 
reason formed a stable and sufficient sub- 
stratum. He never laid hold of a subject but 
he mastered it. He took it in, both in its 
grand outlines and as a whole, and in its 
minute details. Its scientific nature and rela- 
tions were clear to him. He could speak of 
them, and speak of them in the formal propo- 
sitions of science. But when he came to speak 
of them to the people, when the full play of his 
powers moulded them into forms tangible to 
the popular touch, visible to the popular eye, 
then he brought them home to the heart by the 
most singular appeals of passion, of interest, 
of desire. 

I have already spoken of his early studies, 
of his devotion to them, of his ambitions and 
successes in them. He was known here, not 
at all as a man of books but as a man of the 
world, dealing with its appliances, means, ob- 
jects, and yet to the last he was the same ar- 
dent student as in early days. His acquisi- 
tions in one so young, whose life had been in 
excitement little congenial to literary habits, 
were astonishing. No man ever crossed the 
Missouri so thoroughly educated. By that 
intense individuality of which I have spoken, 
he made what he read a part of himself. His 
knowledge was not something outside of him ; 
it entered into his being ; out of it the muscles 
and sinews of his mind drew their vigor. It 
was always at command. It sounded not like 
some familiar words, but like himself alone, 
and graced and enforced every subject which 
he touched by its abundant illustration. 

His manner was reserved, especially of late 
years. He held almost everv one at a distance. 



Few penetrated into the great heart within 
him. But that heart was a great fountain of 
afifection, of sympathy, of generosity. The 
hard world, long contact with its selfish strug- 
gles and hates and jealousies, may have crusted 
it over with constraint, but within it was 
warm and true and loving as ever. In his 
• last sickness it came back again to the sim- 
plicity and freshness of ingenuous youth. He 
turned back to old thoughts and feelings and 
pursuits. The well thumbed volumes of his 
schoolboy days were once more brought out, 
and, clustering thick around them the asso- 
ciations of early life, which none but the 
scholar knows, he read again and again the 
lines dimmed by the tears that would come. 
He talked of those high and holy things which 
most fill a child's wondering mind, which 
most fill the soul looking into a world where 
it must be a child again. It was sad to see 
him then, with such capacities for good, 
marked for the grave ; to hear him wish for 
life v^'ith a strange hope; to hear him speak 
with deep pathos of those he loved and must 
leave, of himself and the past, and his resolves 
and his prayers ; but who could help but feel 
that he had come back again to the freshness 
of youth, that he might enter into that youth 
whose freshness is immortal. I am told by 
those who knew him in his youth that, as he 
lay awaiting the last mournful testimony 
which we have paid to him, he looked, more 
than he ever has since, as he did before the 
changes and trials of life had placed their 
marks upon him. Who shall say that that 
fair, bright, placid face was not the symbol to 
us of the spirit fairer, brighter, more placid 
above ? 

Light be the turf of thy tomb; 

Alay its verdure like emeralds be; 
There shoukl not be the shadow of gloom 

In aught tliat reminds me of thee. 
Young flowers and an evergreen tree 

May spring from the spot of thy rest, 
But no cypress or yew let us see. 

For why should we mourn for the blest? 



CHAPTER XI 



First Politicai, Conventions — Postponement of Land Sales - 

Resignation of Governor Richardson 



• Fifth Legislature — ■ 



T TNTIL 1858 there was no political 
^^ party organization in Nebraska, and po- 
litical contests were all between democratic 
factions. Agitation in Omaha in favor of or- 
ganization in the latter part of 1857 was met 
by Morton with the contention that the time 
was -not yet ripe for that project. Ferguson, 
a sound democrat, was elected without regard 
to party lines. Irretrievable ruin, disgrace, 
and defeat would follow organization under 
such leaders as Chapman & Co. — "Chapman, 
Cuming, and Rankin" being particularly desig- 
nated and each distinguished by an explosive 
adjective. The Advertiser was of a like opin- 
ion. The interpretation whereof is that voting 
in sectional opposition the South Platte was 
pretty sure to win, while under the organiza- 
tion regime the manipulation of the Omaha 
politicians might prevail. But a correspondent 
of the Advertiser insisted that organization 
was necessary "to purge the party of black re- 
publicanism, abolitionism, and whiggism" ; 
whose mien, so hideous to democrats of that 
day, was now visible in the territory. Never- 
theless, a mass meeting was held in Omaha on 
the 8th of January, 1858. A very long plat- 
form was adopted, the first resolution declar- 
ing that "It is expedient to organize the demo- 
cratic party in the territory and the same is 
hereby organized." The resolutions further 
insisted that the constitution did not confer 
authority upon the federal government, di- 
rectly or indirectly, to assume the debts of the 
several states contracted for local and internal 
improvements or other state purposes, and that 
such assumption would be unjust and inex- 
pedient ; that justice and sound policy forbade 
the federal government to foster one branch 
of industry to the detriment of any other, or to 



cherish the interests of one portion to the in- 
jury of another portion of our common coun- 
try. The convention also declared that the 
principles established by the national demo- 
cratic convention at Cincinnati were the only 
authoritative e.xposition of democratic doc- 
trine. 

The first attempt to hold a convention of 
the republican party in Nebraska illustrates 
the fact that the cause of republicanism in 
1858 was neither strong nor of first-rate re- 
pute. The account of this convention, given 
in the Brownville Advertiser, published and 
edited by Robert W. Furnas, shows that the 
party, so soon to become almost permanently 
dominant in the territory and state, did not 
then deem it expedient to hang its banner on 
the outer walls : 

It is presumed by close observers of the 
movement of that party during that day 
(May 27) that the delegate convention proved 
to be a failure, at least a public one at which 
all parties had the privilege of attending. But 
one regular delegation has been in from other 
counties so far as outsiders have been able to 
learn, although more might have been present. 
The convention, or caucus more properly, was 
held in secret, refusing to admit democrats to 
witness the proceedings, and therefore, a lim- 
ited opportunity was offered to ascertain the 
exact number of delegates forming the con- 
vention. Large posters were placed in public 
places all over the city notifying delegates to 
meet at Visscher's hall, and in accordance with 
said notices, several democrats endeavored to 
gain admission but were confronted with the 
news that the meeting of delegates would be 
held at a small office in the east part of town, 
to which some democrats repaired for the pur- 
pose of witnessing the proceedings, supposing 
the meeting, like all such, would be public, but 
in attempting to enter were informed that it 
was entirely private. An individual opinion 



254 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




y^.Jdi.^LL^^^^^ 



IXoTE — A. H. Gilmore was a philanthropist and builder of Auburn, Nebraska] 



POSTPOXEMENT OF LAND SALES 



255 



is that the cause of republicanism is imbecile 
and powerless in this territory, and cannot ac- 
complish many decided victories or build U], 
much strength in party organization except 
they can be permitted to steal the popular 
sovereignty plank of the democratic platform, 
which they appear determined to accomplish, 
if possible, for the reason that they find the 
great majority of their party strenuously ad- 
vocating the doctrine of people's rights. There 
are a few of the leaders here who are anxious 
for an organization, whilst the masses of the 
re])ul)licans care but little about it, for the 
reason that they are mostly popular sover- 
eignty men and can very easily slide over into 
the democratic ranks and be on the popular 
and winning side of politics. 

While this Omaha correspondent of the Ad- 
vcrtiscr must be credited with a considerable 
political insight, his foresight was exceedingly 
limited, for lie does not seem to have perceived 
at all the then plainly rising tide of anti-slavery 
sentiment, which, within two years, was to 
sweep over the entire Northwest. 

The first Nebraska platform of the party, 
which for forty years has been the most im- 
perious organization of its kind, perhaps, in 
the world, was not much more than a half 
timid protest. 

The democratic convention at Plattsmouth, 
June 3, 1858, was the first delegate political 
convention held in the territory. O. D. Rich- 
ardson of Douglas county was its temporary 
and permanent presiding officer. 

The convention resolved to adopt the doc- 
trine of popular sovereignty as enacted in the 
Kansas and Nebraska act to its fullest extent ; 
"that the incorporation of banks by the legis- 
lature, whether under the present insecure 
system, or by any other, is unwise, impolitic, 
and anti-democratic" ; and in favor of a home 
stead exemption law. There was only one 
territorial officer to be elected in 1858 — an 
auditor to fill a vacancy — and so no nominat- 
ing convention was held. Democratic tickets 
were nominated in Douglas and Otoe counties, 
and in both cases they were opposed by inde- 
pendent tickets. A part of each ticket was 
successful in Douglas county, but the first dis- 
tinctly party ticket nominated in Otoe county 
was defeated by the "peoples ticket." which, 
however, the News averred stripped of its 



false tinsel, "is nothing more or less than a 
black republican ticket. There is nigger in it. 
The long heels, thick lips, and black hide are 
plainly discernible. It smells bad this zvarm 
tvcather." While the republicans at this time 
felt too weak to stand alone in an election con- 
test, they were growing strong enough to make 
a formidable showing under cover in the two 
leading counties. 

Postponement of Land Sales. As excite- 
ment over the action — or inaction — of the 
legislature was gradually dying a natural death, 
growing opposition to proposed public land 
sales in September took its place. The solici- 
tude of the squatters was increased by a de- 
cision of the land commissioner, Thomas A. 
Hendricks, on August 2d, that failure to 
make payment before the day of public sale 
would, under the law, forfeit all rights. The 
press of the territory, which represented the 
popular sentiment, led by the Advertiser and 
the Nezvs. made a stout campaign against the 
sales. Public meetings, which passed strong 
protesting resolutions, were held in many of 
the towns and settlements, and the settlers of 
the Nemaha land district, at a meeting held in 
Brownville, August 15th, requested J. D. N. 
Thompson and Richard Brown, of that dis- 
trict, and J. Sterling Morton and Judge 
Charles F. Holly, of the South Platte land dis- 
trict, to proceed to W^ashington with Hon. 
James Craig (member of Congress from the 
adjoining district of Missouri) to procure, if 
possible, the postponement of the approaching 
sales. The Advertiser announced that Judge 
Charles F. Holly, Colonel H. L. Martin, and 
Richard Brown started from Brownville for 
W^ashington on their mission. 

These delegates presented a pathetic and 
dismal address to the President — dated Au- 
gust 23, 1858, and endorsed by Mr. Craig — 
which set forth that "owing to excessive rains 
during the summer, not only was there an en- 
tire failure of the wheat and oats crop, but as 
a consequence an accumulation of sickness 
heretofore unknown in that region." There- 
fore scarcely a dollar could be obtained from 
the proposed sales, and after such sales, the 
land being subject to private entry, all preemp- 
tion rights having expired, the claims, settle- 



256 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




Henry A. Kosters 




'Alf-tJC^ (S:rcJiJLl^t^f-^' 




Mrs. Magdai^na Kosters 




^^^^^r-^ "^ ^^^S<^^QU^ 



[Note — Henry A. Kosters was a pioneer of Omalia, and Perry M. Peckham a pioneer of Sarpy 
county. He was an early and successful orchardist.) 



THE FIFTH LEGISLATURE 



257 



ment, and improvements of bona fide settlers 
would be "at the mercy of the land jobbers 
who are now hovering around the land offices 
and who will speedily monopolize all the de- 
sired unsold lands with military land war- 
rants, by entire sections and townships." 

It took a full week for the momentous news 
of the postponement to reach Nebraska ; and 
it is worth while, as an illustration of the 
status of means of communication at that time, 
to state that this news came at once to St. 
Louis by telegraph, then, in four days, evi- 
dently "on foot," to St. Joseph, and thence by 
the same means to Brownville in three days. 
The excitement over the postponement was 
great. The Advertiser proclaimed it under 
the heaviest display of headline at its com- 
mand: "Glorious News" — "Let the Settlers 
Rejoice" — "Nebraska Saved" — "Hendricks' 
Decision Spoiled," etc. A great demonstra- 
tion took place at Brownville. 

The whole city was brilliantly iluminated ; 
nearly every window was filled with burning 
candles ; bonfires were kindled in the streets, 
and on top of the surrounding hills ; fire balls 
flew in every direction, minute guns were 
fired from early in the evening until about 
8 o'clock. Honorary guns were fired for the 
president of the United States, Hon. Jacob 
Thompson, Brown, Craig, Holly, Martin ; and 
we hereby acknowledge the compliment paid 
our humble self, by honoring us with "three 
guns and three cheers." After which the 
crowd repaired to the Brownville House where 
they were entertained for a couple of hours by 
speeches from Messrs. [Thomas W.] Tipton, 
[Richard] Brown, [Daniel L.] McGary, 
[Robert W.] Furnas, [Andrew S.] Holladay, 
[Richard J.] Whitney, [James W.] Coleman, 
and [David] Siegel. 

At Nebraska City there was rejoicing in the 
same strain, and in the expression of public 
feeling is found, also, illustration of the time- 
liness of the relief: 

This will be joyful intelligence to many 
squatters, and will inure, it is believed, greatly 
to the benefit and prosperity of the territory. 
Cartloads of land warrants have been hauled 
into this city, and we presume have also been 
at Omaha and Brownville, for the purpose of 
locating them — securing for non-resident 
speculators land worth from ten to twelve dol- 
lars per acre at from ninety cents to one dol- 
lar per acre. 



The large amount of land which would have 
passed into the hands of land sharks will be 
reserved, for one year at least, for the settler. 

Both the newspapers named give credit to 
the ambassadors from the land district for the 
result, and the News turns a political and also 
an immigration penny by observing : "Such is 
the judicious care of the administration for the 
people now in Nebraska and who may here- 
after settle here." 

Reanimated by the postponement of the land 
sales the people see other rays of hope, and the 
press begins to find and inspire encouragement 
in the growth of population, shown by com- 
parison of the vote of 1857 and 1858, as fol- 
lows : Dakota county, 470-440, loss 30 ; Doug- 
las, 1,536-1,059, loss 477; Nemaha, 448-664, 
gain 216; Otoe, 876-1,090, gain 214; Richard- 
son, 2.52-524, gain 272; Sarpy, 513-401, loss 
112. The Nezvs exultantly exclaims that 
"there was a falling off in Douglas county in 
1858 of 477 votes. There was a gain in Otoe 
county of 214 votes. So much for the old 
rivals — rivals no more." It appears from the 
controversy that Nebraska City cast 865 votes, 
while Omaha cast but 675. 

Fifth Legislature. Following soon after 
the elections, which were held on the first Mon- 
day of August, Governor Richardson issued 
the following call for a special session of the 
legislature to convene September 21, 1858: 

Executive Department, Neb. Ter. 
August 14th, 1858. 
Whereas, great confusion and uncertainty 
characterize the existing laws of this territory, 
and whereas they are so conflicting with each 
other that reasonable fears are entertained 
that there is not that ample security to life 
and property that should be guaranteed to 
every citizen of the territory; and whereas, 
under this conflict of laws much unnecessary 
litigation must transpire; and whereas, noth- 
ing but speedy, judicious and efficient legisla- 
tive action can remove these evils, it is thus 
rendered necessary to convene the legislature 
in advance of the time fixed by law. Now, 
therefore, I, William A. Richardson, Govern- 
or of the territory of Nebraska, by virtue of 
the power vested in me by law, issue this my 
proclamation convening the legislative assem- 
bly on Tuesday, the twenty-first day of Sep- 
tember next, at the seat of government of the 
said territorv. 



258 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 






[NoTF, — A. Hall was one of the early chief justices of Nebraska territory] 



THE FIFTH LEGISLATURE 



259 



In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 
my hand, and caused to be affixed the great 
seal of the territory. 

Done at Omaha this 14th day of August, 
1858. W. A. Richardson, 

Governor of Nebraska. 
By the Governor, 
J. S. Morton, 

Secretary of the Territory. 

The newspapers indulged in some half- 
serious badinage as to the location of the seat 
of government — whether at Omaha, or at 
Neapolis, where the Florence act had author- 
ized it to go. 

We hear considerable talk among the newly 
elect as to where the seat of government is. 
and where the legislation is to be done this 
winter. Some talk of Neapolis ; but where is 
it? How far from a "local habitation"? 
What is the route, and what is the prospect 
of getting pay for services rendered? . . . 

But a portion of the commissioners met, if 
we are not in error, several weeks since at 
Bellevue and had their bond approved by the 
chief justice of the territory. A great ado was 
made at the time by the Florence journals. 
The approval of the bond by Chief Justice 
Hall was construed into an affirmative expres- 
sion of opinion touching the validity of the 
resolutions passed by the fugitive legislature. 
The capitol had been removed from Omaha 
and was to be located at once. Since which 
memorable time — the approval of the bond — 
we have heard nothing of the new capitol. Of 
course we are in blissful ignorance whether 
it is at Neapolis or at Omaha. 

The fact that the Omaha stay-at-homes of 
the fourth session were awarded their per 
diem by their federal paymaster while he de- 
nied it to the Florence emigrants would have 
a strong repressing influence on any recur- 
ring inclination to legislative tramping. The 
legislature convened at Omaha according to 
the call, and the full membership — thirteen 
councilmen and thirty-five members of the 
house — appeared and qualified. 

There is no available record or any new 
apportionment of members of this legislature 
and no record of the votes of counties in de- 
tail. In the lists of members in the news- 
papers and in the journals of the council and 
house there is no mention of Cuming county, 
which was in the same district with Burt, or 



of Clay, Lancaster, and Gage, which belonged 
to the Cass district. 

The exact partisan division of the two 
houses can not be ascertained. The meta- 
morphosis from democracy to republicanism 
going on at this time was in various stages — 
most of the subjects being merely embryonic, 
while few were full-fledged. This could not 
be said of partisan epithets, for they came 
forth in prolific maturity from the democratic 
press, and especially from the News. This 
journal complained — October 30th — that the 
house was one hundred and eighty bills be- 
hind the council, and because "the house is 
heavily black republican, while the council has 
a heavy democratic majority, in fact, accord- 
ing to the classification of the black republi- 
can journal at the capital, there is not an open 
and avowed republican in the council." The 
Advertiser classes Marquett, De Puy, Daily, 
Stewart, the two Davises, Taffe, and Collier 
as republicans, and Mason as a whig. Bowen, 
Furnas, Reeves, and McDonald, members of 
the preceding or fourth council, were again 
elected to the fifth, and Dr. George L. Miller, 
who was a member of the house in the second 
assembly and of the council in the third, is re- 
turned to the fifth council. William H. Tay- 
lor, from Otoe county, is an energetic, aspir- 
ing, and noisy politician. Though a Vir- 
ginian he is making up to the coming repub- 
lican party — is perhaps more nearly a repub- 
lican than any other member of the council. 
He is called "Handbill Taylor" because, 
though a public lawmaker, he is, as conveni- 
ence or whim moves him, a law unto himself, 
and is prone to post bills of warning of dis- 
astrous physical results awaiting those who 
ofiend him. 

McDonald's seat in the council was con- 
tested by ]51mer S. Dundy. After holding the 
seat until October 7th, McDonald complains 
that he has not been allowed time to establish 
his right, and resigns ; and thus opens the way 
for a man who is to cut an important figure 
in Nebraska politics. Mr. McDonald, in 
speaking of this contest, explained that some 
democrats were inclined to desert him and 
that they were cajoled into doing this by Mr. 
Dundy who, before he was seated, pretended 



260 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




^Sifc-' 



V 




Elmer S. Dundy 



[Note — Elmer S. Dundy was a prominent pioneer in law and politics of Falls City, Nebraska] 



THE FIFTH LEGISLATURE 



261 



to be a democrat and made democratic 
speeches, but soon afterward acted as a thor- 
ough republican. 

George W. Doane also begins a long and 
useful public career. Two members of the 
house, Oliver P. Mason and Turner M. Mar- 
quett — the latter reelected — are destined to 
be prominent figures in the commonwealth for 
near forty years. Both are ambitious for 
political place, both will achieve it temporarily, 
in about equal measure, and then alike they 
will win their substantial success and reputa- 
tion in the practice of law. John TafTe, also 
an incipient republican, will be well known 
for a time as delegate to Congress and edi- 
torial writer, and Daily will dominate for a 
season as a republican leader. H. P. Bennet, 
speaker of the house, belonged to the first 
council, as we have seen, and will also have a 
long and prominent career in Colorado. 

To win distinction in the private walks of 
life requires ability and character of a high 
order, and which are rather a hindrance than 
a help to political preferment ; while the suc- 
cessful politician, though inferior in these 
qualities, is kept in the public eye for a season 
by virtue of his ofScial place. It is not a 
pleasing or a promising reflection that the 
brainiest and best men of Nebraska, who in 
early life took an active part in politics or as- 
pired to political careers, have retired — or, 
more frequently, have been retired — to pri- 
vate life to the great injury of public interests. 
Our successful politicians or statesmen will not 
be offended at this observation ; for each will 
consider himself that exception which goes to 
prove a general rule. 

We see the incipiency of Nebraska republi- 
can organization in the legislature in the 
house of this fifth assembly. Speaker Bennet, 
himself hesitatingly making ready to desert 
the whig Baal that was, for republican god 
that is or is about to be, puts Mason, who is 
likewise halting between these two opinions, at 
the head of the judiciary committee. Daily, 
Davis, De Puy, Stewart, and TafTe, all classed 
as republicans, and perhaps others who are 
coming into the new party fold, "too late to 
classify," are each put at the head of impor- 
tant committees. 



Heretofore the executive messages had 
been either bright, but adolescent and unripe, 
or grandiose and verbose. In Governor 
Richardson's communication to the fifth as- 
sembly we have the sharp contrast of maturity, 
brevity, and straightforward simplicity, with 
a strong paternal effectiveness. As Cuming 
and Black have produced the most brilliant, so 
Richardson has produced the best state papers 
ever submitted to this commonwealth. He 
first states the case for the criminal code : 

The only law under which crime can be pun- 
ished in this territory, is the common law of 
England. All other criminal laws have been 
abolished by the act of a previous legislature. 
The common law of England is so uncertain 
and doubtful in reference to every proceeding 
and offense, and its punishment, that every 
point will have to be adjudicated before even 
the courts could tell what the law is. 

Thus, while serious doubts have been en- 
tertained as to whether some offenses can be 
punished at all under that law, it has been 
clear that perjury, forgeries, and all offenses 
designated as felonies, are punishable with 
death ; a penalty which renders the strict ad- 
ministration of that law repugnant to our 
ideas of justice and humanity, and inapplicable 
to the age and country in which we live. 

Next to the important necessity of enacting 
a wholesome and judicious system of criminal 
laws is that of "clearly defining the jurisdic- 
tion and duties of justices of the peace and 
other officers." It appears by the auditor's 
report that "the total outstanding liabilities of 
the territory are $15,774.95. It will be seen 
by the treasurer's report that 'five counties 
only, viz : Dodge, Douglas, Cass, Otoe, and 
Nemaha, have paid any revenue into the ter- 
ritorial treasury, and the counties mentioned 
have not paid the full amount due of them up 
to this time.' " 

The governor in his message makes this 
important announcement : 

I issued instructions, during the summer, 
to the district attorneys to file information in 
the proper courts against each of the banks 
that had failed to redeem their notes, when 
presented for payment, with the view to have 
their charters forfeited. The cases are now 
pending, as I am informed, and undecided. 
While I should not have approved any bank 
charter that has been adopted in the territory, 
and while believing the principle upon which 



262 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



the)' are based wrong, and the effect injurious, 
I had no intention to interfere with any cor- 
poration that had compHed with the law. 

On the subject of mihtary roads tlae mes- 
sage gives this information : "Appropriations 
have heretofore been made by Congress to 
construct two roads in the territory. One 
from Platte river to L'Eau-Qui-Court, the 
other from tlie Missouri river to Fort Kear- 
ney, but have proved inadequate to complete 
them as designed. A further appropriation 
is therefore necessary." The message con- 
gratulates the people of the territory on its 




From CI pholognij^h tnkcn in iS^'j cit the age of thirty- 
^evcn years. 

Ele.\zer Wakeley 
Commissioned associate justice of the su- 
preme court of Nebraska territory, January. 
1857. 



prosperous condition, and states that "We 
have enough produce to supply the wants of 
our own people together with those of the 
emigrant, and yet more for exportation to 
those upon whom the harvest sun has smiled 
less propitiously." Notice is taken of the 
discovery of gold at Cherry creek and of the 
desirability of a geological survey the better 
to disclose "those vast stores of mineral and 
coal which underly the greater portion of the 



territory." It then predicts that "the Pacific 
railroad, which thus far has only had its ex- 
istence in the thoughts and plans of men, will 
soon become a reality, having a permanent be- 
ing;" and the idea is reiterated that "the true 
route for the road and the true interests of its 
constructors will almost certainly lead it up 
the rich and beautiful valley of the great 
Platte." 

The fifth assembly was somewhat superior 
to any of its predecessors in its sense of duty 
and capacity for rational work. The improve- 
ment was due in part to the increasing con- 
sciousness of a more permanent character in 
the growth of population and institutions, 
largely also to the great influence of the gov- 
ernor. 

The list of enactments of this legislature is 
long and important, and comprises a criminal 
code, a code of procedure, a mechanics' lien 
law, an improved revenue law, a liquor license 
law, a general law giving county commission- 
ers power to grant licenses to operators of fer- 
ries, a law providing for a territorial board of 
agriculture, and a new apportionment of mem- 
bers of the legislative assembly. The civil 
code was copied from that of Ohio, the crim- 
inal code from that of New York, "as west- 
ernized and adopted by Illinois," and the new 
school law was the Ohio law, as near as could 
well be. The liquor license law, which super- 
seded the prohibitory law of the first session, 
was introduced in the house by Daily on the 
last day of the session and immediately rushed 
through the three readings and passage by a 
vote of 15 to 6. It was evidently a republi- 
can measure in this house, receiving the gen- 
eral support of the members of that party, in- 
cluding the leaders, Daily, Marquett, and 
Mason. It is a curious fact that four of the 
six opposition votes came from Omaha mem- 
bers. This apparent show of severe Puritan 
virtue in Omaha seems odd to a familiar, long- 
time acquaintance of our metropolitan town, 
and it should be presumed that these appar- 
ently prohibitory members preferred the un- 
licensed freedom of impotent prohibition 
above the restraints of a license law. The 
measure passed the council by a vote of 6 to 3, 
Dundy of Richardson, Porter of Douglas, and 



THE FIFTH LEGISLATURE 



263 



Scott of Washington county casting the nega- 
tive votes. Under the law, licenses were is- 
sued by the county clerk for not more than 
one year on payment, for the use of the school 
fund, of a sum not less than $25, nor more 
than $500; and reasonable restrictions were 
imposed upon the licensee. 

The act establishing a territorial board of 
agriculture named as members of the board 
Thomas Gibson, Harrison Johnson, Alfred D. 
Jones, Experience Estabrook, John M. 
Thayer, Christian Bobst, Robert W. Furnas, 
Jesse Cole, Samuel A. Chambers, Dr. Jerome 
Hoover, JNIills S. Reeves, Braud Cole, Justus 
C. Lincoln, Harlan Baird, Joel T. Griffin, and 
Edward H. Chaplin. It was the duty of the 
board to hold an annual meeting, "for the pur- 
pose of deliberating and consulting as to the 
wants, prospects, and conditions of the agri- 
cultural interests throughout the territory," 
and to receive reports from the subordinate 
county societies. On the 30th of October, 
1858, the territorial board of agriculture held 
its first meeting at the Herndon House, 
Omaha, when officers were elected as follows : 
President, Robert W. Furnas ; secretary, Al- 
fred D. Jones; treasurer, John M. Thayer; 
board of managers, Edward H. Chaplin of 
Douglas, Mills S. Reeves of Otoe, Harlan 
Baird of Dakota, Braud Cole of Cass, Chris- 
tian Bobst of Pawnee county. The board de- 
cided to hold the first territorial fair on the 
21st, 22d, and 23d of September, 1859, and the 
secretary was directed to "engage the services 
of an orator to deliver the address at the first 
territorial fair." The all-pervading youthful- 
ness of the commonwealth is illustrated by the 
fact that the orator selected — J. Sterling 
Morton — was twenty-six years old. 

The office of attorney-general was abolished 
and his powers and duties transferred to the 
several district attorneys. This general office 
was superfluous, since, under the organic act, 
there was an attorney-general whose salary 
was paid from the federal treasury. The ap- 
portionment act increased the members of the 
house from thirty-five to thirty-nine, the maxi- 
mum limit of the organic law. Six additional 
counties were included in this apportionment : 
Butler, Dixon, Calhoun, Greene, Hall, and 



Monroe, but of these only Butler, Dixon, and 
Hall were ever permanently organized, though 
Calhoun and Monroe undertook to vote once 
— in 1859. The organization of only two new 
counties. Hall and Merrick, was authorized at 
this session. The usual large numbers of bills 
for territorial roads and incorporations were 
passed. The salary of the auditor was raised 
to $800 and that of the treasurer to $400. The 
memorial to Congress for a geological survey 
recites that "it is well known that extensive 
coal fields underlie large portions of our fer- 
tile prairies," and that "gold exists at the base 
of the Rocky mountains to an equal extent to 
the placers and mines of California." An- 
other memorial prays Congress to place the 
school lands, sections 16 and 36, under con- 
trol of the legislature, but for leasing, not for 
selling. Still another memorial gives us the 
information that "a military or public road, 
beginning at L'Eau-Qui-Court, and extending 
southward across the territory, has been lo- 
cated and opened under the direction of the 
national government, and has become a great 
thoroughfare whereon military supplies may 
be expeditiously transported northward. It 
also aiifords an avenue of trade of great ad- 
vantage to the inhabitants of this territory 
and others and is now one of the prominent 
mail routes of the territory." But the memo- 
rial prays for the construction of a bridge 
across the Platte "at the point where said road 
reaches the same," for the reason that "this 
river constitutes an almost impassable barrier 
between the two great sections of our terri- 
tory, and on account of the great difficulty 
and very often imminent danger in crossing 
the same by means of a ferry, travel and the 
mails are much impeded, and at times are al- 
together stopped." 

A serious question arose early in this special 
session as to how it might be utilized to draw 
the federal expense stipend as if it were regu- 
lar, but the comptroller of the treasury cleared 
up that question in a communication to Secre- 
tary Morton as follows : 

If the convened session, which met on the 
4th instant, shall adjourn at the end of forty 
days from the commencement of the called or 
extraordinary session, thus constituting the 



264 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



two one continued session of that number of 
days, the entire per diem and mileage may be 
paid to the members and per diem to the of- 
ficers ; but if the session which convened on 
the 4th instant shall, of itself, continue forty 
days in addition to the thirteen occupied by 
that which was called by the governor, then 
you will pay the per diem and mileage of the 
regular or convened session only, and take no 
notice of the extraordinary session, leaving 
their compensation for the determination of 
Congress. 

iMr. Mason of the judiciary committee, to 
which a bill to make the special session regu- 
lar by changing the law of the previous session 
fixing the time for the convening of the regu- 
lar session, was referred, reported in its 
favor, while the majority of the committee, 
headed by Marquett, reported against the 
scheme, fearing that necessary legislation 
could not be passed in the regular forty days. 
A compromise was agreed to by which the bill 
was amended so that the regular session should 
begin on October 4th, the organization of the 
special session to continue through the remain- 
ing or regular part of the session, and Con- 
gress was memorialized to make an appropria- 
tion to cover the expense of the special portion 
of the sitting. 

A bill providing that in all suits in law and 
chancery there should be no trial until the sec- 
ond term raised a heated controversy, Rankin 
and Kline of the select committee, to whom 
the bill was referred, insisting that the finan- 
cial embarrassment of the people demanded 
such protection, while Mason and Collier con- 
tended that it was vicious and imconstitutional. 
In the council it was vigorously opposed by 
Doane, but it nevertheless became a law. In 
similar circumstances we have since seen the 
courts arbitrarily go much further than the 
provision of this act would allow, in delaying 
suits against creditors. A council bill and also 
a house bill which provided for the exemption 
of homesteads from execution aroused a re- 
markable discussion. The report of Mr. 
Mason of the judiciary committee of the coun- 
cil in favor of the bill is a sample of his well- 
known grandiose style. Judge Mason's singu- 
lar misconception at that time of an economic 
system which is the basis of the world's busi- 



ness is shown in the last paragraph of the re- 
port: 

Another great benefit, universal in its ap- 
plication, which would result from the passage 
of a liberal homestead law, would be the blow 
that would be given to the credit system, that 
most dangerous of all systems, which destroys 
alike all who trust to the plaudits of its ad- 
mirers. 

It seems safe to venture the opinion that in 
point of rhetorical inflation and floridity the 
report of Rankin of the house excels all other 
state papers recorded or otherwise. Our pres- 
ent day legislators might often equal it but 
seldom dare to on account of the ridicule of 
an ubiquitous and relentless press. A part of 
Rankin's remarkable plea follows : 

A homestead, in the true sense of the term, 
whether it be the humble cabin or the princely 
palace, is the center of the family circle, and 
the family affections with all the household 
goods and all sacred memories clustering 
around it. The very term suggests a some- 
thing which should be secured beyond the 
reach of misfortune, and its holy precincts 
should never be invaded by the ruthless tread 
of the oflicers of the law. Sheriff", spare that 
home ! 

If you tear it from the possession of the 
owner, and drive him with his wife and chil- 
dren to seek new scenes, you harden a sensi- 
tive heart, and strike a fatal blow at that love 
and pride of state which should swell the heart 
of every citizen. 

A home, with all of its endearments for 
every family, is the cotmtry's best guarantee 
of good citizenship and patriotic population. 
Without it we are Arabs on the plain of life, 
deprived of those attachments and affections 
which are awakened and kept warm by the 
thoughts of "Home, sweet Home." 

The shade tree planted by the father in early 
manhood, and protecting his children from 
the suns of stmimer; the murmuring brook 
which mirrored the smiles of infancy : the 
woodbine planted and trained by the mother 
who is no more ! Who shall give value to 
these, and who would not guard them from 
the sacrilegious touch of all invaders? 

The controversy in the council was over 
the question as to the number of acres which 
should comprise the protected homestead. Dr. 
Miller favored forty acres, Doane eighty, and 
Porter one hundred and sixty. There were- 
four votes out of nine for the largest amount. 



THE FIFTH IvEGISLATURE 



265 



and then Doane's motion for the exemption of 
eighty acres was carried by a vote of 7 to 3, 
and the bill itself was passed by a vote of 6 to 
3, the nays being Donelan, Moore, and Miller. 
In the house there was a struggle by the mi- 
nority to incorporate a limitation in value' of 
the exemption, and Clayes and Gwyer, a spe- 
cial committee, in their report said : 

Your committee are satisfied that the pass- 
age of a homestead law, without limitation of 
value, would result to the prejudice of a 
large majority of the people of the territory. 
It would enable the debtor to live in luxury, 
and enjoy a life of abundance and ease, while 
his many creditors, the victims of fraud, 
would be debarred all remedy. It would prove 
the refuge of fraud and injustice after a suc- 
cessful conspiracy to obtain the fruits of hon- 
est labor. Upon this subject the diversity of 
opinion between the majority and minority 
proved so great, that a compromise was im- 
possible. 

Thirteen motions were made to fix the value 
of the exemption at as many different amounts 
from one dollar to ten thousand dollars. 
Mason wanted $150 and Daily $1,000. Votes 
were taken on nine of these motions and all 
were defeated, and then Rankin's motion to 
fix the exemption limitation as to value at "160 
acres of land with the improvements thereon" 
was also defeated. The house then amended 
the council bill by inserting after "family 
homestead" the words, "every free white 
householder of this territory, male or female, 
being an owner or occupant of the premises," 
and passed it by a vote of IS to 13. The 
council refused to concur in the amend- 
ment. The Advertiser explained the objec- 
tion as follows : "An amendment was tacked 
on in favor of single white persons which the 
council refused to concur in." A majority of 
a conference committee recommended passage 
of the bill without the amendment, but 
Gwyer's minority report expressed the senti- 
ment of the majority of the house: "The 
imdersigned is firmly impressed with the opin- 
ion that a homestead bill having as its princi- 
pal feature a limitation value is best adapted 
to the wants of the people of the territory and 
will best subserve the interest of the creditor 
as well as the debtor." The house refused to 
recede, and the bill died from inaction. The 



Advertiser of November 4th says: "Messrs. 
Clayes, Daily, Marquett, Collier, Gwyer, Stew- 
art, Fleming, Steele, Steinberger, Kline, Ran- 
kin, and Mason, were the principal talkers, the 
first five being supporters of the money valua- 
tion clause, and the latter seven for the coun- 
cil bill which includes only a land limit." The 
Nebraska Nezvs of October 30th, under the 
mistaken notion that the bill had passed, fur- 
iously lashes the legislature for its folly. One 
who came to know Morton forty years later 
would easily discern his predilections and 
methods in these strictures : 

We understand our wise Solons and great 
men of integrity have passed an act which 
they term a homestead bill, but which is in 
reality meant as a plantation-saving act, and 
which with other acts passed by the present 
legislature will put a most eft'ectual estoppel 
upon all legal proceedings for the collection 
of debts. . . 

If our incomprehensibly wise and unfath- 
omably deep legislators really wanted to 
abolish the credit system instead of coaxing a 
man to run into debt, and then cheat his credi- 
tors out of their pay, why didn't they come out 
manfully and abolish all laws for the collec- 
tion of debts instead of sneaking about with 
this false appearance of legislative knowledge, 
judicial sagacity, and smart lawyer tricks with 
"stays" and "exemptions" and plantation-sav- 
ing acts under the name of homestead bills? 
. . . If our legislators expected to afford a 
purgative to the woefully costive and inex- 
pressibly tight times — if they desire to leg- 
islate men out of debt, they must of course be 
aware that they could do no such thing, how- 
ever much credit they expected to gain for 
themselves in their quack attempts in this di- 
rection. . . 

The advantages to be derived from such 
laws are, as we view them, small indeed, while 
the disadvantages and positive injury are sen- 
sibly felt and vividly witnessed upon the 
growth and prosperity of a country which 
enacts them. We cannot see the sense or ad- 
vantage in destroying our credit abroad, blast- 
ing our reputation, driving men of capital out 
of the territory and presenting an insuperable 
bar to the ingress of such ; we do not see sense 
in the practice of legislative tricks — ^ political 
ledgerdemain — inevitably leading to such re- 
sults. 

Though homestead and other property ex- 
emption laws have been validated since by the 
wisdom of most of the states, yet to the last 



266 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




^M^-/^z^ ^-. ^ 




[Note — Theron Nj-e was a prominent lumber and grain man and banker of Fremont, Nebraska] 



THE FIFTH LEGISLATURE 



267 



Morton never changed his opinion thus ex- 
pressed. This considerable attention to the 
first tumultuous discussion of homestead ex- 
emption in Nebraska seems warranted as an 
interesting illustration, when contrasted with 
the present general acquiescence in such laws, 
of the rapid adaptation of means to ends and 
of measures to environment which is common 
in western societies. 

Disgust with the Florence fiasco, the firm 
and eftective influence and attitude of Gov- 
ernor Richardson, the suspension of Morton's 
anti-Omaha hostility at the fourth session, and 
the growing general feeling that the removal 
of the capital at this time was impracticable, 
enabled Councilman Furnas to report early in 
the session that "the capital question is not 
spoken of by anyone." So great was the 
change, or the suspension of sentiment, that a 
representative — perhaps apostate — from im- 
placable and irreconcilable Sarpy dared to in- 
troduce a joint resolution and memorial to 
Congress praying for an appropriation of $30,- 
000 for completing the capitol, and it passed 
the house without division. The resolution 
reached the council on the next to the last day 
of the session, where, notwithstanding that 
the day before a like resolution introduced in 
the council had been laid on the table on mo- 
tion of Taylor of Otoe, it was at once adopted 
by a vote of 6 to 3, Donelan of Cass, Furnas 
of Nemaha, and Taylor of Otoe voting no. 
But the old spirit revived on the same day, and 
Dundy moved reconsideration, which was car- 
ried, and then, adding his vote to the hostile 
three, the resolution escaped defeat by the nar 
row margin of five to four. One North 
Platte member was absent, while of the South 
Platte members three were missing — includ- 
ing the implacable Bowen of Sarpy. A full 
vote would have gone against further expendi- 
ture on the capitol at Omaha, and this vote in 
the council still pointed the way to final re- 
moval. 

The memorial recited that a former govern- 
or had expended the first appropriation of 
$50,000 on a large and elegant building, leav- 
ing it but partially finished; that to make it 
available for use the city of Omaha had spent 
iibout $50,000 additional in enclosing the 



building and finishing some of the rooms; 
that the building was liable to sustain in- 
jury unless soon finished, and that in the 
opinion of the memorialists, $30,000 would 
complete it. 

The legislature was not graciously inclined, 
apparently, toward the work of the original 
code commissioners, O. D. Richardson, J. L. 
Sharp, and J. D. N. Thompson. A bill pro- 
viding a specific compensation for their ser- 
vice passed the council but was pigeonholed 
in the judiciary committee by Mason, who 
afterward substituted for it a joint resolution, 
which passed both houses, referring the whole 
question of the allowance to the judges of the 
supreme court with power of final action. 

This legislature was as nearly immune from 
the wildcat bank, as from the capital-moving 
malady. One bill was introduced — for the 
incorporation of the State Bank of Nebraska 
— which, on account of the exposure of at- 
tempts at bribery by its promoters, was killed 
in the house where it originated. It was 
sought to make this new project of adventur- 
ers plausible by providing that real estate 
should be the basis of its security. On the 
other hand, drastic action against the going 
banks was attempted by a bill to annul the 
charters of five of them, which passed the 
house — 21 to 5 — ^but was indefinitely post- 
poned by the council. A bill to repeal the 
charters of all the banks was introduced in 
the council, but did not escape from the judi- 
ciary committee. 

Two days before the close of the session 
twenty-eight members met in joint session 
and elected R. W. Furnas public printer, and 
this occurrence was the occasion for the first 
positive outbreak of partisan politics in the 
territory. Rankin, whom Furnas had sup- 
ported in the last congressional campaign, and 
Daily, whom, though a republican, Furnas, 
still a democrat, was to support against Mor- 
ton in the next congressional campaign, pushed 
Furnas forward for printer. The organic act 
clearly enough gave the control of the terri- 
torial printing to the secretary, and at the 
opening of the session that ofificer laid before 
the legislature the correspondence of the 



268 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



comptruUer of the treasury on the subject. 
To these Morton added a characteristicaUy 
expHcit statement of his own intentions : 

The above laws and instructions are all, 
I believe, which it is necessary to lay before 
your honorable body. They embrace all ex- 
penses to be incurred by the legislative assem- 
bly, including the public printing, both contin- 
gent and regular. And in this connection I 
may add that any necessary contingent print- 
ing your honorable body may desire to have 
executed will be promptly and cheerfully at- 
tended to, by notice being given at my office. 

Respectfully, your ob't servant, 
J. Sterling Morton, 

Sec'y. Nebraska Territory. 

On the 3d of March, 1859, Mr. Furnas 
answers alleged complaints of delay of the 
printing in this way: 

We have only to say in answer that we 
have not as yet received the copies of laws 
from which to print; and, to be frank, we do 
not expect we will. Had former usages, to 
say the least, been conformed to, justice to 
the public printer observed, and the interests 
of the people of Nebraska in the slightest de- 
gree consulted, the laws passed at the late ses- 
sion of the general assembly would before this 
have been printed and delivered, not only to 
the secretary of the territory, but to the several 
counties. 

We are told the Honorable Secretary is hav- 
ing the work done in Albany, New York. How 
true this may be, or if true, how soon we may 
expect copies, we are unable to say. This 
much we do know, however, and that is, the 
territory is in a deplorable condition on ac- 
count of the delay. Justices, lawyers and liti- 
gants are unable to move a peg, or if they do, 
grope their way in darkness and uncertainty. 
Complaints are universal. 

On the 7th of April, 1859, the Advertiser 
gives this notice: "Morton and Company, 
it is said, have received from Albany, New 
York, the printed laws passed at the last 
session of the Nebraska legislature." 

Furnas admitted the legality of Morton's 
control of the printing under the organic act, 
but opposed its exercise "because of precedent 
to the contrary." But the animus of the dis- 
pute and the beginning of the disorganization 
of the party which heretofore had held undis- 
puted sway in Nebraska was plain. 

Aside from the manifest injustice of again 
choosing a man who has so recently enjoyed 



the emoluments of the office, aside from the 
fact that the legislature has no more business 
to select a printer for the territory than they 
have to say who shall haul our wood or dig our 
potatoes, nothwithstanding that they have un- 
dertaken to meddle with matters that are none 
of their concern, notwithstanding that they 
have made insulting demands and encroach- 
ments upon another department of the govern- 
ment, we purpose to investigate their action 
to some extent and let it be generally known 
upon whom their choice has fallen. 

And first it must be remembered that in 
joint convention the opposition have a ma- 
jority in our legislature. That opposition for 
the most part is made up of the worst possible 
enemies of the democracy, and the demo- 
cratic organization — bolters, disaffected sore- 
heads, sleepy Janus-faced democrats, consist- 
ent in nothing but their persistent and diabol- 
ical opposition to the organization and suc- 
cess of the democratic party, at heart the 
blackest of black republicans but outwardly 
"people's men" and "people's candidates," 
these are the kind of men who have elected a 
pseudo-democrat, one of their number, and 
one of their leaders, territorial printer. 

The files of the Brownville Advertiser, the 
paper of which Mr. Furnas is editor and pub- 
lisher, for the last eight months abundantly 
show the deep and bitter hatred of Furnas to 
the administration and the party. 

The disorganizing conditions at work are 
set forth by a letter from the attorney at 
Washington whom the public printer had 
employed to take care of his interests there : 

I find, however, what the real difficulty is 
which stands in your way, and which will pre- 
vent any remedy for the injury you may have 
received by the conduct of the secretary. It 
is that you are an anti-Lecompton democrat, 
and the power and the patronage, as in Illi- 
nois, is given to the few, who profess to be 
Lecompton democrats, and in all things wor- 
ship at the shrine of Mr. Buchanan. There 
lies the real difficulty in your case, and hence 
I conclude that you are without a remedy. It 
is represented that there are but two Buchanan 
newspapers now printed in Nebraska, the 
Omaha N ebraskian being one ; and much pains 
has, I am confident, been taken to prejudice 
your case with the department, by the class of 
persons I have described, who are used as the 
instruments of persecution against all who do 
not admit that Mr. Buchanan "can do no 
wrong." 

I have not known such vindictive tyranny 
ever before practiced by any party in this 



RESIGNATION OF GOVERNOR RICHARDSON 



269 



country, as has been, and still is practiced 
towards the anti-Lecompton democracy of the 
west. It seems to be inexorable. So that, as 
matters now stand, nothing, in my opinion, can 
be done here for your benefit. 

But the beginning of the end of democratic 
supremacy in the territory lay in a bill, the first 
introduced in the legislature, to abolish sla- 
very. At this time it was a measure of repub- 
lican politicians rather than of republicans ; 
and when it was pushed forward on the last 
day of the session by Daily, who was little, 
if anything, more than an adroit politician, a 
motion for its indefinite postponement was 
lost only by a vote of 13 to 15. But the fear 
of going on record against the measure, which 
was to grow in the near future, was shown in 
the direct vote on its passage which was 23 to 
6. Of the republican — or incipient republi- 
can — leaders, Mason alone voted for post- 
ponement, but all of them, including Briggs, 
Daily, Marquett, Mason, and Taffe, and sev- 
eral democrats also, voted with the majority 
for final passage of the bill. It was promptly 
postponed in the council, Dundy alone sus- 
taining it. 

Though this legislature was doubtless supe- 
rior in practical working capacity to its 
predecessors, yet it still clung to the idol of 
special and local legislation, and a large 
amount of its too brief time was spent in the 
distinctively local work of changing the loca- 
tion of county seats. Councilman Furnas, to 
whom credit should be given for taking 
higher than the average ground on questions 
of policy and principle, complains of the abuse 
in question : 

I hold the people would not require the 
passage of this overwhelming majority of lo- 
cal bills, if their members would take a correct 
view of the matter, and be governed by a 
principle that could be consistently explained 
before their respective constituencies. There 
are general ferry, road, incorporation and 
county seat laws, under which the people of 
every county can obtain their rights at home 
without troubling the legislature or its indi- 
vidual members. And yet we see the Repub- 
lican takes the position that the "republicans 
and opposition members have at all times been 
in favor of such legislation as the people of 
Nebraska require at their hands." Now this 
is just in keeping with what I have considered 
their policy and principle. 



In the general assembly, the opposition to 
special legislation is sneered at and ridiculed, 
and the republicans do, nearly as a body, 
whenever a test comes, cast their votes in 
favor of special legislation, and are backed 
up and sustained by the leading republican 
papers of the territory, in plain and unequiv- 
ocal language that need not be misunderstood. 

Governor Richardson took it upon himself 
to rebuke this practice of special legislation 
when he returned to the council a divorce bill, 
stating that while he had signed this bill in 
deference to the legislature, yet he held very 
serious doubts as to its power to grant divorces 
at all. The continuing bad financial condition 
of the territory is shown in the communica- 
tion of Auditor Jordan to the legislature, ask- 
ing for an increase of the salary of his office 
to $1,500 and that of the treasurer to $1,000, 
in which he says that their salaries are now 
paid in warrants worth only thirty to forty 
cents on the dollar. But later — December 9, 
1858 — the Advertiser is able to take a more 
cheerful view of this heretofore chronically 
gloomy subject: 

Since the passage of the revenue law, which 
allows all territorial taxes to be discharged 
with territorial warrants, and county taxes 
with county warrants, and city taxes with city 
warrants and city scrip, there has been a rapid 
rise and a ready sale, especially in warrants 
given by the territory, and a reasonable per- 
centage on the others. Territorial warrants 
are selling here (Omaha) now at forty-five 
cents on the dollar, and appear difficult to ob- 
tain even at those figures. Capitalists are 
making purchases of all that can conveniently 
be found in the market, and consider the in- 
vestments as safe and calculated to yield them 
a handsome profit and timely return of the 
principal and interest. County warrants are 
also looking up. 

Resignation of Governor Richardson. 
The most important political event in the ter- 
ritory in the year 1858 was the resignation of 
Governor Richardson. On the 16th of August 
of that year he announced his intention of re- 
signing in the following letter : 

Executive Dept., N. T., 
Aug. 16, 1858. 
Hon. Lewis Cass, Secret. 
Dept. of State: 

Sir — I have the honor to inform you that 
on the first of January next I shall resign the 
office of governor of Nebraska. 



270 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



I deem it my duty thus to advise you of my 
resignation in advance so that the president 
may have time to select a successor. I have 
the honor to enclose a copy of my proclama- 
tion convening the legislature in advance of 
the time fixed by law. The decision of the 
courts renders early legislation important & 
I have deemed it my duty to defer the resig- 
ntaion to that time believing that I could ac- 
complish more than one not familiar with the 




Ddw.nkr T. Bramble 
Early legislator and merchant of Nebraska 

difficulties that exist and the laws necessary 
to obviate those difficulties. 

I acknowledge with gratitude the obligation 
I am under to you and the president for the 
confidence you have resposed in me and the 
courtesy that has characterized your inter- 
course with me while holding this office. 

(Signed) W. A. Richardson. 

But the governor hastened his contemplated 
resignation and left the territory for good on 
the 5th of December, 1858. 

The telegraphic dispatches to the Quincy 
(Illinois) Daily Herald of June 5, 1857, an- 
nounced the appointment of Mr. Richardson 
as governor of Nebraska, and commenting on 
the event said : "We presume there is some 
mistake about it as we have no idea that 
Colonel Richardson would accept the appoint- 
ment." On the 7th of Julv the Herald notes 



that Richardson has declined the appointment. 
On the 10th of December, 1857, the same 
paper notes that the governorship of Nebraska 
has been again tendered to Mr. Richardson 
and that he will notify the president of his 
acceptance the next day. The Herald com- 
ments : "The fact that it has been tendered 
again, and this time accepted, we regard as an 
indication that there is but little if any differ- 
ence of opinion among the democracy of the 
country upon the present aspect of the Kan- 
sas question." 

At a meeting of the bar of Quincy, Decem- 
ber 28, 1875, on the occasion of memorial ser- 
vices for Colonel Richardson, General Single- 
ton spoke as follows : 

He was benevolent, kind and amiable ; brave 
as he was generous ; confiding as he was hon- 
orable. His frankness was one of the promi- 
nent features of his character, and one of his 
most valuable traits. I remember the time 
he was appointed governor of Nebraska, he 
was requested by Judge Douglas to call on 
President Buchanan. The position had been 
tendered him twice, and both times declined. 
I accompanied him to the presidential mansion 
when he was asked to accept the appointment. 
He stated to the president that he did not ac- 
cord with him upon certain questions, and 
for that reason could not accept. Mr. 
Buchanan stated that he had confidence in Col. 
Richardson, and begged him to accept, al- 
though they did not agree upon all questions. 

General Singleton's statement that Presi- 
dent Buchanan urged Richardson to take the 
office, notwithstanding his well-known dis- 
agreement with him as to the Kansas question, 
is confirmed by other accounts of the appoint- 
ment ; and it appears that Senator Douglas 
moved Richardson's confirmation under sus- 
pension of the rules of the Senate. The 
Quincy Herald of January 26, 1858, in notic- 
ing the arrival of the governor in the territory, 
makes the following observation : 

In the gubernatorial reign of the departed 
"excellency," Gov. Izard, it was sometimes 
found convenient to bamboozle the old gentle- 
man, and the innocent executive was fre- 
quently led into the commission of acts which 
his better judgment did not approve. There 
is no hope in this direction with Richardson. 

O. H. Downing was appointed to succeed 
Douglas as United States senator after the 



RESIGNATION OF GOVERNOR RICHARDSON 



271 



latter's death in 1861, and Governor Richard- 
son was elected to fill the unexpired term, tak- 
ing his seat January 30, 1863. This partial 
term in the Senate rounded out Richardson's 
important political career ; for by this time 
his state had become strongly republican. 
Though he was too thoroughly seasoned, and 
too brave a democrat to leave his discredited 
party and join the popular party, as many 
other democrats in his state and throughout 
the North did — some for selfish, and some 
for patriotic motives — yet, like Douglas, he 
declared himself on the side of the Union. 
There were in the North two classes of critics 
of the abolitionist spirit manifest in the Demo- 
cratic party, the implacable copperheads, 
whose sympathies were with the rebellious 
South, and those who, while condemning the 
attitude and the acts of the republicans which 
they sincerely believed to be mischievous and 
otherwise unwarranted, yet put the preserva- 
tion of the Union above all other considera- 
tions. Though Richardson was individualistic 
enough to have stood alone in this respect, the 
unqualified expressions of Douglas for the 
Union must have strongly influenced him. His 
resignation of the office of governor of Ne- 
braska illustrated his loyal cooperation with 
Douglas in the latter's unbending opposition to 
President Buchanan's sympathy with the 
Kansas slavery expansion policy of the south- 
ern faction of the Democratic party. In a 
letter to Mr. M. M. Bane, of Payson, Illinois, 
dated May 4, 1861, after stating that aggres- 
sive disunionists of the South were deter- 
mined to destroy the Democratic party and 



the Union and had aided in the election of 
Lincoln to that end, and that resolutions sub- 
mitted in Congress in December, 1860, for an 
amendment to the Constitution, taking slavery 
out of politics, could have be-en passed with- 
out dishonor to the nation or to any individ- 
ual, but republicans defeated them all, he said: 




Oliver Pekry Mason 

"However much we have differed in the past, 
there are great present duties upon which we 
can all agree. Whether the laws that are 
passed are wise or unwise, whether the gov- 
ernment is wisely or unwisely administered, 
every citizen owes as a solemn duty to obey 
the law, to support the constitution, to repel 
invasion and to defend the flag:." 



272 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




O/A/r.Ji^'-MJ'/i.SoUd 



cn^X^ 



[Note — Sireno B. Colson was a pioneer banker of Fremont, Nebraska] 



CHAPTER XII 



Land Sales — Half-Breed Tract — United States Surveys — Appointment of Govern- 
or Black — First Territorial Fair — Chapman-Ferguson 
Contest — Annexation to Kansas 



TXT'HILK the sessions of the legislature — 
' ^ what they might or might not do, and 
chiefly in reference to sectional questions — 
were still the chief topics of public interest, 
they were becoming less exclusively so; and 
in the interval between the fifth and sixth 
sessions, consideration of land sales, the ter- 
ritorial fair, state government, party organiza- 
tions and conventions, and the annexation of 
the South Platte section to Kansas afforded 
Ijusy and healthful diversion, and the attempt 
to sustain some view of these important sub- 
jects served to strengthen the wings of a 
strenuous but still fledgling press. The news- 
papers boomed the gold mines for the sake of 
the resulting advantage of the traffic thereto 
across the Plains, and commendation of the 
route starting from their town and deprecia- 
tion of the others by the journals respectively 
of Omaha, Nebraska City, and Brownville, in 
point of energy and glowing headlines, are the 
reminders if not the full prototype of the 
present-day yellow journalism. 

Sale of the Public Lands. Sale of the 
public lands, which had been fought off, as 
we have seen, by heroic spirit and effort, was 
now accepted without remonstrance, not be- 
cause it was desired by the settlers, but rather 
because it was regarded as inevitable. The 
sale was advertised to take place at Nebraska 
City August 1st to 29th; at Omaha, July 5th 
to 25th; at Dakota, July 18th, and at Brown- 
ville, August 8th and September 5, 1859. The 
sales were confined to specific townships north 
of the base line and east of the 6th meridian, 
the Sac and Fox and the half-breed reserva- 
tions being excepted. 

The Half-breed Tract. By the treaty of 



Prairie du Chien, July 15, 1830, what is 
known as the half-breed reservation, in Rich- 
ardson county, was set aside for the "Omaha, 
loway, Ottoe, Yancton, and Santee Sioux 
half-breeds." The reservation was surveyed 
as early as 1837 and 1838, and the western 
line was retraced in 1855. As defined by the 
treaty, the reservation was bounded on the 
east by the Missouri river, on the north by 
the Little Nemaha, and on the west by a line 
starting from a point on the Little Nemaha 
ten miles from its mouth, on a direct line, the 
stream last named being the boundary line 
from the ten mile point to the mouth at the 
Missouri river. 

It was later found that a mistake had been 
made, and a resurvey was ordered by Joseph 
S. Wilson, acting commissioner for Thomas 
A. Hendricks, and all lines of the former sur- 
vey were obliterated. A portion of the land 
included in the former survey was according- 
ly offered for sale, and after the territorial 
organization, settlers and speculators occu- 
pied the lands up the line of the former sur- 
vey. The new survey threw a considerable 
tract of the settled land inside the reserve. 
The ambitious town of Archer, the first 
county seat of Richardson county, was a mile 
inside the reserve. The white claimants of 
the land between the new line and the old, 
induced Fenner Ferguson, then delegate to 
Congress, to procure the passage of a bill 
arbitrarily adopting the old survey as the 
western boundary of the reserve. The motive 
of the champions of the bill was impugned in 
the House and a lively debate ensued. In the 
meantime, the Missouri river had cut away 
some twenty thousand acres. 



274 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



The Appointment of Governor Black. 
Judge Samuel W. Black was appointed gov- 
ernor of the territory in February, 1859, and 
assumed the office on the 2d of the following 
May, Secretary Morton having been acting 
governor since the departure of Governor 
Richardson, December 5, 1858. The appoint- 
ment was gratifying to the people because the 
new governor was popular, but more because 



with the commonwealth. Indeed, compara- 
tively, he was an old citizen, and there had 
been a popular call for his appointment 
through the newspapers ; and there was "great 
rejoicing on the part of the entire press of the 
territory over the appointment." The Ne- 
braska City Neivs, "the first to raise the name 
of Black for governor," feels particularly 
jubilant and happy. "His brilliant talents, his 




The Iron Monument AIarking the Southeast Corner of Nebraska 

The above engraving is made from a recent photograph taken from a point looking north 
. and east, showing the Missouri river in the background and the south and west surface of 
the monument, with "40° N. Lat." in reUef letters on the west side and "Kansas" on the 
south. The figure standing by the monument is that of Mr. John Wright, staff artist of the 
Morton Historv. 



their home rule sentiment was gratified. 
Black's three predecessors had all been im- 
portations, or rather exportations from far- 
distant states, and though he had been sent 
from Pennsylvania as judge of the second 
judicial district in 1857, yet there was a 
popular feeling that he had become identified 



legal learning, his quick, active and sagacious 
intellect, his generous impulses and noble soul 
have endeared him to us — to the whole terri- 
tory." Evidently Morton was not looking 
over Milton Reynolds's editorial shoulder that 
day. For Black had a besetting sin, very 
common, it is true, among the politicians, and 



FIRST TERRITORIAL FAIR 



275 



even those who held the high places of that 
time, but in his case a serious clog to useful- 
ness. Later — April 16th — the News copies 
with great show of indignation the following 
animadversion of the Washington correspon- 
dent of the New York Tribune of March 8th : 



the charges against him, and is at the present 
time reduced to a sad condition." The raging 
News is soon to drive this comparatively mild- 
mannered newsmonger and utterer of "base 
and malicious lies, manufactured solely for 
the benefit of the black republican party," en- 




From photographs by John Wright, staff artist of the Morton History. 

east f.ace north and west view south face 

Three Views of the Iron Monument at the Southeast Corner of Nebraska 



"The opposition to the confirmation of Mr. tirely ofif the field by its own unbridled 

Black as governor of Nebraska was on the charges along the same line, 

ground that he was too intemperate. This was First Territorial Fair. The first Ne- 

about two months ago. Ever since that time he braska territorial fair was held at Nebraska 

has been in this city illustrating the truth of City, beginning Wednesday, September 21st, 



276 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




/pc/c^i-^e^*^ 



[Note — T. N. H. Patrick was quartermaster of Nebraska volunteers, 1861. He served four terms in 
the Nebraska state legislature from Douglas county.] 



CHAPMAN FERGUSON CONTEST 



277 



and lasting three days. Mr. Furnas, presi- 
dent of the first board of agriculture, gives the 
following account of this important function: 

Last week we attended the first Territorial 
Agricultural and Mechanical Fair at Nebraska 
City. The result of this, not only the first 
Nebraska Territorial Fair, but the first Terri- 
torial Fair ever held in the United States, was 
most gratifying. It was a perfect success, 
when we take everything into consideration. 
The times are hard, and many at a distance 
felt that they could not incur the expense of 
attending. The regular steamboat packets 
were all out of order — one sunk, and the 
other fast on a sand bar — and going to and 
fro in that way cut off; we are in the midst 
of election excitement, and everybody think- 
ing and talking politics. Taking everything 
into consideration, we repeat, the result was 
all the most sanguine friends of the enterprise 
could expect. . . 

The exhibition of stock, farm products, 
mechanism, works of art, etc., were creditable 
indeed. Of course there was not that variety 
to be found in the county or state fair in the 
states. What there was, however, was un- 
surpassed anywhere. The attendance on the 
last two days especially was large — all classes 
were there, from the chief executive to the 
humblest citizen. 

The records show that neither the president 
nor the orator of the occasion was a pre- 
tender, but that both had experimental knowl- 
edge of agriculture. Mr. A. D. Jones, of the 
board of agriculture, in his invitation to Mor- 
ton to deliver the address, assures him that 
he is eminently qualified to edify an audience 
of practical agriculturists by reason of his 
"position as a successful agriculturist," and 
in the list of premiums awarded we find these 
entries : Blooded horses, J. S. Morton, best 
stallion over four years old, $4; and again, 
best stallion for draught over four years old, 
$10; and still again, best Suffolk boar, one 
year old, $5 ; and President Furnas is credited 
with three first premiums for Devon cattle. 
But the most notable feature of the fair was, 
or rather is, the address by J. Sterling Mor- 
ton. It was delivered, as President Furnas 
states in his introduction of the speaker, "from 
the improvised rostrum of a farm wagon, 
placed in the shade of this native oak tree." 



The address is important because it is a his- 
tory of the first eventful formative five years 
of the territory — a remarkably realistic and 
lucid history by an active, keen-eyed partici- 
pant in the events he pictures — and because 
it brings us for the first time face to face with 
a notable figure of the commonwealth. In his 
exaltation of the home builder the young man 
of twenty-seven forecasts a leading charac- 
teristic and channel of influence of his ma- 
turer manhood. The closing, or prophetic 
part of the address discloses the ability to 
"see straight and clear" and to believe accord- 
ingly, while others, of only ordinary vision, 
doubted or disbelieved. 

Chapman-Ferguson Contest. The regu- 
lar biennial contest over the election of dele- 
gate to Congress was decided in favor of 
Ferguson, February 10, 1859, by a vote in the 
House of Representatives of 99 to 93. As in 
the Bennet-Chapman contest, the elections 
committee had reported in favor of seating 
Chapman, the contestant, by a vote of 6 to 2. 
The majority found that the total vote of 
Florence, as returned by the canvassers, was 
401, of which Ferguson had received 364 and 
Chapman 4, and that this vote should be 
thrown out entirely, insisting that it was 
greatly inflated, and that a year later it was 
only one-third as large — 159. Making some 
additional changes in minor precincts, they 
gave Chapman a majority of iJd. The mi- 
nority consented to throw out only 15 votes, 
which had been received at Florence after the 
hour for closing the polls, and, contending 
that only 159 votes had been counted by the 
canvassers for Florence, gave Ferguson 34 
majority. The territorial board of canvassers 
had given Ferguson 1,654 and Chapman 1,597. 
While the final vote does not show a division 
along party lines, yet there was a leaning to- 
ward Ferguson on the part of the most pro- 
nounced republicans, and on the part of the 
leading democrats toward Chapman. The 
three famous Washburne brothers — Elihu of 
Illinois, Cadwallader of Wisconsin, and Israel 
of Maine — already all republicans, voted to 
seat Ferguson; and Israel, who, with Boyce 



278 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 





Dr. John E. Summers, Sr. 
rrominent army surgeon. Medical director depart- 
ment of the Platte, 1874 



John Taffe 

Member of early legislatures and president of 

council 




William D. Brown 
Member second territorial legislature 



Dr. Erastus N. Upjohn 

Very early settler of Bellevue, Nebraska, 
geon during the Civil War 



Army sur- 



ANNEXATION TO KANSAS 



279 



of South Carolina, signed the minority report 
for Ferguson, ably conducted his case on the 
floor of the House. The testimony of our 
whilom councilman and capital commissioner, 
James C. Mitchell, tells us of the population 
of Florence at that time. It was charged by 
Chapman that a large illegal Mormon vote 
had been polled, and in answer to a question 
as to total population and the number of 
Mormons, Mitchell said : "I think not less 
than two thousand population and not more 
than one hundred actual Mormons." Though 
the testimony was very conflicting, Mr. Wash- 
burne urged with great force that Chapman's 
part of it was ex parte and hearsay, while 
Ferguson's was given by actual residents and 
in regular form. 

Annex,\tion to Kansas. The year 1859 
marked the culmination of sectional strife, 
and its last manifestation was in the attempt 
by the South Platte section to secede and be- 
come attached to Kansas. There appears to 
have been no mention of this project until J. 
Sterling Morton introduced a memorial to 
Congress in its favor, in the lower house of 
the legislature, on the 17th of January, 1856. 
The very boldness and originality of the im- 
portant movement which the memorial started 
would alone point to Morton as its author : 

To the Honorable, the Senate and House of 
Representatives of the United States in 
Congress Assembled: 

Your memorialists, the House of Repre- 
sentatives of the legislative assembly of the 
territory of Nebraska, desiring not only the 
welfare of the territory of Nebraska, but 
wishing harmony and quiet throughout the 
entire domain of our cherished government, 
respectfully represent to your honorable bodies 
that the annexation to Kansas of all that por- 
tion of Nebraska south of Platte river will be 
to the interests of this territory and to the 
general good of the entire Union. 

The great Platte river is a natural boun- 
dary mark, and seems as though intended by 
nature for the dividing line between two great 
states. It is almost impossible (and thus far 
has been perfectly so) to either ford, ferry or 
bridge this stream. It, therefore, separates 
both in identity of interests, and in fact, the 



portions of Nebraska lying upon opposite sides 
of it. 

Your memorialists most earnestly solicit, 
then, that their representations to your hon- 
orable bodies, though they may be ever so 
imperfectly set forth, may meet with due and 
favorable consideration. 

Lastly, your memorialists represent that 
this addition to Kansas of south Platte Ne- 
braska, will effectually prevent the establish- 
ment of slavery in either of the territories, 
and that it will guarantee to freedom the ter- 
ritory of Kansas, whose fate in regard to this 
great question is still undecided and doubt- 
ful : our interests are advanced, and the agi- 




JoHN Powers Johnson 

Surveyor of boundary line between Kansas and 
Nebraska 

lation and strife now rife throughout the 
Union upon the momentous query, "Shall 
Kansas be free?" is forever answered by an 
irrevocable affirmative.^ 

Though consideration of this movement 
was postponed by a vote of 20 to 5, yet 
the strength which it subsequently acquired 
shows that it was more than an audacious 
personal device of Morton's to alarm and 
harass the hated North Platte. But the pro- 
ject slumbered till the beginning of 1858, 

> House Journal, 2d ter. sess., p. 120. 



280 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



when it was awakened and started with a 
real vigor by the shock and suggestion of 
the Florence legislative dismemberment. The 
Neivs now pressed on the movement with 
vigor, and the Advertiser soon became an in- 
dustrious second. It was charged that all the 
federal appropriations had gone, and would 
continue to go for improvements north of the 
Platte, and an ardent annexation correspon- 
dent of the Ncius aptly "dropped into poetry" 
to enforce his plausible argument for division : 

"Lands intersected by a narrow frith abhor each 

other — 
Mountains interposed make enemies of nations 
That had else like kindred drops been mingled into 

one." ^ 

The News ^ itself begins a vigorous edi- 
torial bombardment against the hateful tie 
that binds it to the north country. 

As an ultimate result of the adjournment 
of the twenty-nine members of the Nebraska 
legislature, we see other than a doubtful 
triumph of an arrogant majority or the tem- 
porary success of a faction breeding minority. 
We see in it the cheering sign that Nebraska 
is to be politically dismembered; we see in it 
another and overwhelming argument, as we 
think, in favor of the speedy, peaceful, sep- 
aration of South Platte Nebraska from North 
Platte. . . 

Our purpose is to deduce from the fact 
that another session of the legislature has 
been frittered away, another and important 
argument in favor of a quiet, peaceable sep- 
aration of South Platte Nebraska from North 
Platte. Gentlemen may cry peace, peace, but 
there is no peace so long as we remain in the 
same political organization with North Platte. 
Is not three years experience enough to teach 
every thinking, sensible man south of the 
Platte that fact? To leave them is the only 
remedy we can see. Some may say, let us 
stay and fight it out. But what has been the 
result? What do we gain by "fighting it 
out?" The able communication of our corre- 
spondent last week showed what has been the 
result of three years "fighting it out." We are 
as willing to "fight it out" as any one when 
there is anything to be made by it for South 
Platte; but we submit that the tale of the 
Kilkenny cat battle does not convey philosophy 
particularly cheering or encouraging. 

A bill to create a new county — Strick- 
land—out of parts of Otoe and Cass helped 



to precipitate the trouble, and the day after 
Morton's motion to reject it was defeated — 
9 to 25, only two North Platte members sus- 
taining the motion- — he for the second time 
introduced an annexation memorial. It is 
characteristic of Morton that in spite of this 
plain provocation of the threatened dismem- 
berment of his county he remained in Omaha 
with the Douglas members when the Flor- 
ence secession occurred two days later. The 
Advertiser at first strongly opposed annexa- 
tion, insisting that nothing whatever would be 
gained by it, but on the contrary there was 
everything to lose, and it denounced those 
"who would tie us to Kansas in order to settle 
without doubt the slavery question." In the 
opinion of this journal not a hundred voters 
in the South Platte country favored annexa- 
tion. By the 2d of December, however, the 
Advertiser has become a positive annexation- 
ist : 

For two years past — in fact nearly ever 
since the organization of Nebraska and Kan- 
sas — there has been considerable said in 
Congress and out of it as to the practical 
operations and beneiicial results most likely to 
arise by annexing "South Platte" Nebraska to 
Kansas. . . We have opposed such a 
proposition for the single reason that we 
would thus become mixed up in the "Kansas 
difficulties." These difficulties being now re- 
moved, or settled, we are forced to admit that 
there are many and weighty reasons in favor 
of the movement. . 

In the first place, the Platte river is a 
natural boundary line ; has been, is, and al- 
ways will be, an almost insuperable barrier 
dividing the two sections of Nebraska, known 
as "North Platte," and "South Platte." Full 
one half the season it is utterly impassable. 
It cannot be bridged except at enormous ex- 
pense ; and should this be done, owing to the 
treacherous embankments and bed of the 
river, nine chances to one, the first freshet 
after its completion would sweep it away. 

Again, there has grown up a bitter sec- 
tional or local feeling between these two por- 
tions of the country, entering into almost 
every question that may be agitated ; which 
always has and always will prevent har- 
monious eflfort and retard the progress and 

= The Nebraska Netvs. Tannarv 9, 1858. 
3 January 16, 1858. 



ANNEXATION TO KANSAS 



281 



development of the territory. In short, there 
are no interests in common at stake. 

And still again, while we remain as we are, 
we cannot reasonably expect to be admitted 
into the great sisterhood of states short of ten 
years to come. We have not the population 
to gain admittance.. We have not the financial 
ability to sustain ourselves as an independent 
state government. 

In the second place, the line as it now ex- 
ists between Kansas and Nebraska is really 
only imaginary — on paper — in passing from 
one to the other it cannot be found ; not even 
a stone or stake denotes the separating line, 
except perhaps some private mark of the sur- 
veyor known only to himself. The natural 
interests of the two sections spoken of are 
one and the same ; nature has so arranged, 
and it cannot be otherv/ise. 

By annexation we assist to swell a popu- 
lation sufficiently large to gain immediate ad- 
mission into the Union, and thus take our 
place in the rank as a sovereign state, with a 
voice, votes, and influence in our National 
Council. We become identified with a portion 
of the country possessing a world wide noto- 
riety. And however much we may deplore 
the manner of obtaining, and the cost of that 
notoriety, yet must admit Kansas has an ad- 
vertisement unprecedented ; attention has been 
drawn to her from, we might say, almost 
every portion of the known world. 

The Advertiser is now able to find in 
Nemaha, Johnson, and Clay counties a very 
general opinion in favor of annexation; but 
Samuel G. Daily, who begins to assume a po- 
sition of leadership in the republican party in 
the territory, opposes annexation : 

If the object was to divide Nebraska and 
Kansas and take all between the Platte and 
Kansas rivers, and make a new territory, I 
would have no objections. But to annex all 
south of the Platte to Kansas I have many 
objections. . . As we now stand in Ne- 
braska, south of the Platte has the majority, 
and has the controlling power in this terri- 
tory. According to the apportionment passed 
at the last session, we have one majority in 
the House, and in another year will have more. 
We can control legislation to our own benefit, 
and have a due share of all public improve- 
ments. But if annexed to Kansas it will throw 
us away off in the northeast corner of the 
territory, without number or power to ever 
control legislation for the benefit of this por- 



tion of the state or territory, and all the 
improvements will be taken south of us, 
nearer the center, and we will be outsiders — 
mere hangers-on — only useful to them to 
help pay their enormous public debt, and with- 
out strength to help ourselves in any way. 

And again, all the good lands within one 
hundred miles of the Missouri river, in Kan- 
sas, are alread)' claimed or preempted, while 
we have much fine land unclaimed, within 
ten miles of the river. The consequences will 
be that with their twenty million acre grants, 
and numerous railroad grants, that will al- 
most certainly be given, they will literally 
sweep all our good lands near the river and 
hold them above Congress prices, and so they 
can neither be claimed or entered by actual 
settlers, thus virtually stopping all improve- 
ments for years. 

And still again, I am opposed to it because 
it is a Lecompton-English-Bill-Administra- 
tion measure, intended to give a chance to 
get out of, or rather to sustain, the position 
taken, that no more free states shall be ad- 
mitted into the Union unless she has the 93- 
000 in population. 

On the 1st of January, 1859, a mass meet- 
ing was held at Nebraska City for the fur- 
therance of annexation, and a numerous 
committee, of which Charles F. Holly was 
chairman, reported a resolution which de- 
clared that "the people residing south of the 
Platte river in Nebraska territory are nearly 
unanimously in favor of the incorporation of 
the proposed part of said territory within the 
boundaries of the proposed state of Kansas, 
and its speedy admission into the Union ; that 
the entire press south of the Platte (with one 
weak solitary exception) have proven them- 
selves correct exponents of the sentiments of 
the people, and we commend them as faithful 
sentinels on the watch-tower of the public 
weal ! Congress should immediately exercise 
the power reserved in the organic act of car- 
rying out the wishes of the people residing 
south of the Platte by providing for a change 
of the boundary line between the two territor- 
ies, as prayed for by this convention ; that the 
Platte river is a natural and almost impassable 
boundary while the country south in Kansas 
and Nebraska, now divided by an imaginary 
line, is perfectly similar in climate, soil and 



282 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



productions, and the interests of the people 
are as identical as the country is naturally 
indivisible." 

These rlietorical pyrotechnics were the mere 
firecrackers of the resolutions ; the sky-rocket 
was put off later : 

Resolved, That Kansas, bounded on the 
North by the Platte river, extending west to 
the 100th degree of longitude, or so as to 
include a suitable amount of territory, would 
soon become one of the most important states 
in the great west. With a mild and genial 
and healthy climate, and exuberantly fertile 
soil, valuable rocks and minerals, sylvan groves 
and sparkling streams, situated on the great 
national highway between Europe and Asia, 
and if her enterprising population were pro- 
tected by the aegis of a constitutional govern- 
ment of their own choice, her march to great- 
ness and power would be steadily, but 
speedily onward and upward. 

On the 5th of January the delegate con- 
vention was held at Brownville at which Clay, 
Gage, Johnson, Nemaha, Otoe, and Richard- 
'son • — all the South Platte counties except 
Cass, Saline, and Lancaster — were repre- 
sented. T. M. Marquett, we are told, though 
present, declined to act as a delegate because 
he had not been commissioned by the people 
of his county. For a man who is to run for 
Congress this very year and on a specific pro- 
fession of sympathy for South Platte interests, 
the question whether the voters of his section 
are for or against annexation must settle the 
question whether the principle of annexation 
is sound or unsound ; and so Daily becomes a 
member of the committee on resolutions which 
are to come out strong for the dismember- 
ment scheme, though his organ, the Adver- 
tiser, afterward defended him against the 
charge that he was an annexationist, by insist- 
ing that he spoke against annexation in the 
convention. Marquett, who was waiting to 
take his turn as candidate for delegate to 
Congress when the inevitable reaction against 
this temporary pro-annexation sentiment 
should be spent, but might be remembered 
injuriously in the North Platte, twice declined 
the invitation of the convention to take part 
in its proceedings. Stephen F. Nuckolls, of 
Otoe county, was president of the convention. 



and the still familiar names of Elmer S. 
Dundy, Robert W. Furnas, and Jefiferson B. 
Weston — the last even then from Gage 
county — were on the list of those who were 
to prepare an address "to the people of Kan- 
sas and South Platte." 

The memorial presented to Congress epi- 
tomized the resolutions passed at the conven- 
tion. There was dissent — though apparently 
weak — from this action, and "a few persons 
from four counties met at a private residence 
in Nebraska City," and adopted adverse reso- 
lutions. 

In the meantime — December 23, 1858 — 
Mr. Parrott of Kansas introduced a bill into 
the House of Representatives making the 
Platte river the northern boundary of that 
territory, but it was never reported from the 
committee on territories. A considerable num- 
ber of Kansas newspapers, among them the 
Leavenworth Herald and the Topeka Tribune, 
favored annexation. 

On the 2d of May a mass convention was 
held at Nebraska City and adopted more reso- 
lutions which recited, among many other 
things, that "the pestiferous Platte should be 
the northern boundary of a great agricultural 
and commercial state" ; that "we, the citizens 
of Nebraska, are invited to participate in the 
formation of the constitution" to be adopted 
by the Wyandotte convention which was to 
meet on the 5th of July; "that it is the in- 
alienable right of every people in the forma- 
tion of a state government preparatorj^ to 
admission into the Union to define the boun- 
daries of said state." The meeting decided 
that an election should be held in the several 
South Platte counties on the 7th of June to 
choose delegates to the Kansas convention, 
the basis of representation being "the same 
as it was for the lower house of the Nebraska 
legislature." This meeting appointed a cen- 
tral committee for each county to organize 
the election machinery in the precincts, com- 
posed as follows : Cass county, William 11. 
Spratlin, Samuel M. Kirkpatrick, Alfred H. 
Townsend; Gage county, Jefferson B. Wes- 
ton, Dr. Herman M. Reynolds, Capt. Albert 
Towle; Johnson county, Charles A. Goshen, 



ANNEXATION TO KANSAS 



283 



William P. Walker, William R. Spears ; 
Nemaha county, Robert W. Furnas, Seymour 
Belden, Dr. Jerome Hoover ; Otoe county, 
Allen A. Bradford, William E. Pardee, Wil- 
liam L. Boydston ; Pawnee county. Christian 
Bobst, H. G. Lore, Pleasant M. Rogers ; 
Richardson county, William P. Loan, Elmer 
S. Dundy, Abel D. Kirk. 

The Advertiser relates that, though the 
elections in Nemaha county "were poorly at- 
tended as we had every reason to expect," 
yet "the expression in favor of annexation 
was seven to one, which we think really about 
the feeling in the county on the subject." 
The Neii's says that every county south of 
the Platte river had elected delegates. In 
Otoe county there was a light vote because 
the opposition "played the Black Republican 
game of Kansas and refused to vote," yet, 
while 1,078 ballots were cast at the previous 
election on a full vote, 900 electors had signed 
ah annexation petition. 

We may assume that the sentiment of Otoe 
and Nemaha counties touching this weighty 
matter was representative of that of the whole 
South Platte district. Its remarkable strength 
and approximate unanimity should be attrib- 
uted to three nearly distinct sources: The 
bitter sectional feud, the physical impediment 
of the Platte river, and the prospect of much 
earlier admission to statehood by annexation 
to an already important territory than by con- 
tinual unnatural connection with the insig- 
nificant North Platte country. And then the 
still lingering sense of the uncertainty of the 
future of the little-tried Plains country, stim- 
ulated, too, by the ever-present sense of iso- 
lation, had evidently and naturally produced 
a feeling of dependence. The prospect of the 
exchange of a physically unnatural, sentimen- 
tally hateful, and therefore weakening union, 
for a union to whose completeness there was 
no obstacle, physical or sentimental, and which 
promised immediate strength and importance 
in a political, and also in a wider sociological 
sense, might well have been alluring. This re- 
markable annexation movement may be really 
understood only from this psychological view- 
point. 



The Wyandotte constitutional convention 
was organized by the election of James M. 
Winchell as president and John A. Martin, a 
prominent figure in our contemporary Kan- 
sas, as secretary. Winchell was elected by a 
vote of 32, to 13 for his democratic opponent, 
J. T. Barton. This fact suggests a reason 
why the convention wished, and was able to 
reject the proposition for the annexation of 
the democratic South Platte. On the 12th of 
July "Messrs. Nichols, Reeves, Furnas, Hew- 
ett. Keeling, Chambers, Taylor, Niles, Crox- 
ton, Bennet, Dawson, and Doane, the Ne- 
braska delegates, are given seats as honorary 
delegates with the privilege of discussing the 
northern boundary question. On the 15th the 
Nebraska delegates were heard. On the 16th 
it was voted by 25 to 13 that the northern 
boundary remain unchanged." Of the Ne- 
braska delegates named, Samuel A. Chambers, 
Robert W. Furnas, Obadiah B. Hewett, and 
William W. Keeling were from Nemaha 
county, and William H. Taylor, John H. 
Croxton, Jacob Dawson, and Mills S. Reeves 
from Otoe county. On the morning of July 
1 1th "the credentials of the delegation to this 
body from the territory of Nebraska" were 
referred to the committee on credentials, and 
the next day Mr. Thatcher presented a me- 
morial from "the delegation to this convention 
elected by the people of that portion of Ne- 
braska lying south of the Platte river," and 
moved that it be referred to the committee 
on preambles and bill of rights ; but on motion 
of Mr. Forman it was referred to a special 
committee of thirteen which was appointed 
the next day. On the 12th the Nebraska 
delegates were admitted to the floor of the 
convention, but were not permitted to vote. 
On the 15th Mr. Reeves and Mr. Taylor, "the 
gentlemen representing southern Nebraska 
upon the floor," delivered addresses which 
occupy thirteen pages of the report of the 
proceedings. Tried by their home reputation 
and achievement, Nebraska's oral represen- 
tatives in the convention must have been quite 
moderate. Taylor had been dubbed "The 
Oratorical" in the legislature of 1858, and 



284 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



the voice of Reeves was all but as ubiquitous. 
The Wyandotte correspondent of the Law- 
rence Republican writes as follows : "Four 
delegates are here from Nebraska urging the 
Platte river as our northern boundary. They 
will receive the courtesy of a seat on the floor 
to discuss the boundary question. I do not 
think the boundaries, north or south, will be 
altered." 




CouoNEt, LoRiN Miller 
Pioneer of Omaha 

On the 22d of July Mr. McDowell offered 
the following resolution : 

Resolved, That congress be memorialized 
to include within the limits of the state of 
Kansas that portion of southern Nebraska 
lying between the northern boundary of the 
territory of Kansas and the Platte river. 

After a debate covering pages 270 to 287 
of the report, the resolution was rejected by 
the decisive vote of 19 to 29. 

The Nc-ivs was furious at the rebuff, and in 
letting out its feelings it lets in some light on 
the motives of the Kansans. After stating 
that, "a vast majority of citizens residing 
south of the Platte had been vigilant and 
extremely active" in the project for state gov- 



ernment, "so much so that strong overtures 
were made to our neighboring sister of Kan- 
sas for annexation to her soil and thus secure 
more speedy admission into the sisterhood of 
states" ; and that "the movement was strenu- 
ously opposed by our brethren north of the 
Platte, mainly, as we suppose, because it would 
tend to retard the march of Nebraska to state 
organization," this leading organ of South 
Platte sentiment breaks into the core of its 

subject: 

By sheer infatuation, or most likely by cor- 
ruption or its equivalent, political scoundrel- 
ism, the Kansas Constitutional Convention, 
largely Black Republican, has refused to ex- 
tend the boundaries of Kansas to the Platte 
river, has refused to memorialize congress on 
the subject, has refused to refer the proposi- 
tion to congress, and has virtually said to this 
great South Platte countrv, we don't want 
your valuable salt springs, your inexhaustible 
coal beds, your one hundred and fifty miles 
of river boundary, your thousands of acres 
of rich and fertile soil, interspersed with plea- 
sant groves and valleys and rich bottom lands 
— your rich prairies we don't want, your 
great geographical and central advantages we 
won't have. The curious may wish to know 
why this rich boon was refused by the Black 
Republican Constitutional Convention of Kan- 
sas. It was for this reason: Its acquisition, 
it was believed by these worthies, would oper- 
ate against their party. They_ said South 
Platte Nebraska was democratic, and that 
being added to northern Kansas, which is 
largely democratic, would make Kansas a 
democratic state, would deprive the Black Re- 
publican party of two United States senators, 
a congressman and other officers. They were 
dragooned into this position, too, by the re- 
publican party outside of Kansas. Kansas, 
they are determined at all hazards, shall be an 
abolition state. 

But outside appreciation of the indispen- 
sable value of the gift the Kansans had so 
lightly regarded was not wanting, for, in op- 
posing admission under the Wyandotte con- 
stitution. Senator Green of Missouri insisted 
that not over two-sevenths of the area of 
Kansas could be cultivated, though the west- 
ern line had been moved eastward to the 25th 
meridian, its present western boundary. He 
urged that thirty thousand square miles should 
be taken from southern Nebraska and an- 
nexed to the proposed state. "Without this 



ANNEXATION TO KANSAS 



285 



addition . . . Kansas must be weak, pue- 
rile, sickly, in debt, and at no time capable of 
sustaining herself." A sample prophecy ! At 
the present time "bleeding Kansas" is, figura- 
tively at least, bleeding in all her borders with 
agricultural riches. 

While the overwhelming defeat of the Le- 
compton constitution at the popular election 
of August 2, 1858, might well have reassured 
the anti-slavery party of Kansas that final suc- 
cess was within their reach, and determined 
them to avoid entangling alliances, yet the 
Lawrence legislature, which was controlled by 
free state members, a few months earlier had 
adopted a joint resolution and memorial to 
Congress, the preamble of which recites that 
the Platte river is the natural boundary of 
Kansas and ought to have been adopted at the 
time of the organization of the territory, and 
that "it is well ascertained from reliable infor- 
mation that such change of boundary would 
meet with the cordial approval of a large ma- 
jority of the inhabitants resident upon that 
portion of Nebraska in question." The reso- 
lution •\\as referred to the committee on terri- 
tories of the lower house of Congress. On 
the other hand a similar resolution was intro- 
duced in the Kansas legislature, January 27, 
1858; but though the free state element pre- 
dominated there the measure was not pushed 
to adoption. The success of the Republican 
party in the national election of 1860, which 
assured the admission of Kansas under the 
Wyandotte, or some other free state constitu- 
tion, ended the annexation scheme. It seems 
fair to conclude that the direct cause of its 
failure was the refusal of the Wyandotte con- 
vention to follow the legislature of 1859 in its 
approval. And, in view of the discouraging 
failure of repeated attempts of the territory of 
Kansas to cross the Jordan which separated 
it from statehood, it seems probable that the 
refusal was due as much to fear of further 
complicating the passage as to the specific mo- 
tive which the Nezvs assigned. Though the 
leaders of the Nebraska movement were ready 
to abandon it when they felt the Wyandotte 
rebuff, yet, for some months after, the scheme 
was pressed from the Kansas side. In the 
early part of 1860 a number of leading demo- 



cratic politicians from Kansas were in Wash- 
ington in the interest of admission, and they 
proposed to extend the western boundary from 
the 25th meridian back to the Rocky moun- 
tains, and the northern line of the Platte 
river. "Marcus J. Parrott, Gen. Samuel C. 
Pomeroy, Judge W. F. M. Arny, and other 
republicans from Kansas, who are in Wash- 
ington, insist on the admission of Kansas 
under the Wyandotte constitution, without any 
alteration, that constitution being already rati- 
fied by two-thirds of the citizens of the terri- 
tory." All this points to the dual motives for 




Samuel G. Daily 
Fifth delegate to Congress from Nebraska territory 

opposition to the annexation project and the 
causes of its defeat. But sectional, or South 
Kaw opposition was not wanting. The fol- 
lowing letter written by the son and secretary 
of Governor Medary to annexation promoters 
at Nebraska City indicates that southern Kan- 
sas opposed annexation for reasons of its own : 

Lecompton, K. T., May 16, 1859. 
Gentlemen: — Gov. Medary is at present out 
of the territory, in consequence of which I 
take the liberty of replying partially to your 
communication of May 10th. I have con- 
sulted one or two gentlemen known to be 
favorable to the measure now being agitated in 
your section of Nebraska, and have concluded 
to give you the result. The measure was 
brought before the last legislature of this ter- 



286 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ritory, and a memorial passed both houses and 
was transmitted to congress, as also to the 
governor of your territory, requesting that the 
southern portion of Nebraska, viz., that lying 
south of the Platte river, be attached to the 
territory of Kansas. The only opposition met 
with was from members living south of the 
counties bordering on the Kaw river, and they 
are still opposed from local reasons. 

I would suggest that you proceed to elect 
your delegates to the convention quietly, as it 
would only create an vmnecessary issue in 
southern Kansas at the time were it freely 
talked of. I speak only for myself. Gov. 
Medary when he arrives will reply to your 
letter as he may see proper. He will be in 
Kansas within a week. Members of the con- 
vention will be more free to act if they are not 
compelled to pledge themselves before their 
election. By this day's mail I send a copy of 
the constitutional convention act. 
Very respectfully, 

Sam a. Med.\ry, 
Private Secrctarv- 

To W. H. Taylor and M. W. Reynolds. 

After the annexation spirit had died down 
in the South Platte, newspapers of the North 
professed that it was now favored in that sec- 
tion, and the Ncbraskian as late as October 27, 
1860, made these spirited remarks : 

The Nebraska City Press inquires the rea- 
son sentiment has changed north of the Platte 
river on the subject of annexing Southern Ne- 
braska to Kansas. We gave the reason in a 
former number of the Nebraskian. There is 



no community of interest between the two sec- 
tions of the territory ; southern Nebraska has 
too many turbulent agitators, "rule or ruin" 
men ; the people south of the Platte, if we can 
believe the papers of that section, all desire to 
be annexed to Kansas, and we "second the mo- 
tion." As a part of Kansas, you claimed, a 
year or two since, you'd have a "hotter cli- 
mate" — although wdiether it would then be as 
hot as you deserve remains an open question. 

It was a short cry of the South Platte coun- 
try from statehood through annexation to in- 
dependent statehood, and the latter was now 
urged by the leading journals. The agitation 
for annexation had created a general senti- 
ment in favor of statehood. A meeting held 
at Nebraska City on the 6th of August recom- 
mended that meetings in the interest of state- 
hood be held in all the counties of the territory, 
and that for the same purpose the governor 
should call a special session of the legislature 
at the earliest practicable time. The reasons 
assigned for this movement were that the ter- 
ritorial government had failed to give security 
to life and property, to secure the prompt ad- 
ministration of justice, to enact wholesome 
legislation, and had not responded with due 
deference to the will of the people. With 
statehood would come stability and confidence, 
resulting in investment of capital, immediate 
control of school lands, and grants for interna! 
improvements. 



CHAPTER XIII 

The Territory uxder Party Organization — The First Party Campaigns — Daily- 
EsTABRooK Contest — Sixth Legislature 



TPIE first territorial democratic ticket was 
nominated by the convention held at 
Plattsmouth, August 18, 1859. General Lea- 
vitt L. Bowen of Sarpy county called the con- 
vention to order. Mills S. Reeves of Otoe was 
elected temporary chairman and John W. Pat- 
tison, the early journalist of Omaha but at 
this time of Dodge county, temporary secre- 
tary. Silas A. Strickland of Sarpy was per- 
manent chairman, and x\bel D. Kirk of Rich- 
ardson. IMerrill H. Clark of Douglas, and 
John W. Pattison of Dodge were permanent 
secretaries. According to the report of the 
committee on credentials, delegates were pres- 
ent from all of the twenty-four counties rep- 
resented in the apportionment law of the 
preceding general assembly. 

The following special resolution was of- 
fered and adopted : 

Resolved, That to carry out the object set 
forth in resolution number five of the reso- 
lutions adopted by this convention, it is neces- 
sary that a special session of the general as- 
sembly of Nebraska territory be called for the 
purpose of authorizing the people to form a 
constitution preparatory to admission into the 
union as a state ; and we recommend to his 
excellency. Governor Black, to call a special 
session of the general assembly for that pur- 
pose at such time as to him may seem proper. 

The chief interest of the convention cen- 
tered in the choice of a candidate for delegate 
to Congress ; and though Dr. Miller had won 
his home county — Douglas — in a contest 
with Estabrook, the latter was taken up by 
the convention and nominated on the ninth 
ballot. 

The first territorial convention which may 
fairly be called republican met in the school 
house at Bellevue, at 11 o'clock in the fore- 
noon, August 24, 1859. 



Mr. Daily was on motion declared the unan- 
imous nominee of the convention, and in a 
speech he said that he was not a candidate 
of any section. Thayer and Bennet promised 
to support the nominee of the convention. 
John H. Kellom of Douglas county was nomi- 
nated for school commissioner, Henry W. De 
Puy for auditor, James Sweet for treasurer, 
and Oscar F. Davis for librarian. 

Orsamus H. Irish, who led the "peoples 
party" delegation from Otoe county, strongly 
objected to acquiescence in the Philadelphia 
platform, and the convention was by no means 
harmonious. 

Though manned by the leading republi- 
cans of the territory this convention stealthily 
if not sagaciously declined to denominate itself 
as republican, and it christened its nomina- 
tions the people's territorial ticket. Its dec- 
larations of principles werg as many-sided as 
its name was equivocal. It sought compre- 
hensively to embrace all "those citizens of 
Nebraska who disapprove the policy of the 
national government during the last six 
years." Its demand for a homestead law, for 
a Pacific railroad, and for statehood, and its 
denunciation of the slave trade paralleled dec- 
larations on the like subjects in the democratic 
platform, while its heroic expression of devo- 
tion to popular sovereignty outran that of its 
rival, until at the end it was emasculated by 
the saving clause, "subject to the regulations 
of Congress." 

In the principal counties the democrats nom- 
inated straight legislative and local tickets, 
while the opposition was called fusion or inde- 
pendent. The democrats elected their entire 
territorial ticket by a majority of about 400, 
and two-thirds of the members of the house 
of representatives. The council elected the 



288 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




Experience Estabrook 



THE FIRST PARTY CAMPAIGN 



289 



year before being democratic, that party was 
again completely in the saddle. The canvass 
of Daily and Estabrook was energetic. Esta- 
brook's advantage in education and legal and 
political experience was more than set of¥ by 
Daily's natural ability. In edge and staying 
power Daily was something of a diamond, but 
in the rough, and his forcefulness was not 
impeded by delicate moral scrupulousness. 
At the beginning of the canvass — September 
10th — the Nezvs said of him : "We are only 
giving general circulation to a plain, unvar- 
nished truth when we state that Mr. D. ranks 
among the most illiterate of republicans," and 
he won the sobriquet of "Skisms" by the re- 
assuring statement in a speech at Nebraska 
City, just after his nomination, that his party, 
unlike the Democratic party, was united and 
free from "skisms" (schisms). The witty 
Irish editor of Dakota county observed that : 
"Daily is such a black republican that to call 
him an abolitionist rather improves his color." 
By accident or design Daily gained a material 
advantage over his opponent by his opposi- 
tion to annexation. When Estabrook began 
to make capital charges against him in the 
North Platte by charging that he was a mem- 
ber of the Brownville annexation convention 
and there favored the scheme, his South 
Platte organ retorted that on the contrary he 
had made a very strong speech in the con- 
vention against annexation, and that as a dele- 
gate from Nemaha county he had voted for it 
under instructions but also imder protest. 

In political contests both sides still con- 
tinued to depend upon illegal votes, and an 
important feature of every election was a 
race for irregular returns, with the advantage 
of course on the side of the democrats, who 
were the final judges. The territorial board 
of canvassers, consisting of Governor Black, 
Chief Justice Hall, and Leavitt L. Bowen, 
United States attorney for the territory, found 
300 majority for Estabrook and gave him 
the certificate of election. But if the demo- 
cratic candidate had ctny advantage in this 
beginning his opponent could count on at least 
an equal advantage in the end — at the hands 
of the now republican House to which his 
appeal would lie. 



On the 27th of October Daily made a 
lengthy public demand for the certificate of 
election, setting forth in particular that the 
292 votes of Buffalo county, all returned for 
Estabrook, were invalid because that county 
had never been organized. Daily hinted that 
there were fraudulent returns from properly 
organized counties, but conceded that under 
the laws the territorial canvassers could not 
revise returns from such counties. He knew 
that the elections committee of Congress would 
take care of that part of his case. Though 
there was no minority report from the com- 
mittee, the declaration that the report was 
unanimous, and that, "even Gartrell of 
Georgia, a democrat of the strictest sort, was 
compelled to join in condemning them (the 
election frauds) by such a report," was incor- 
rect. Though Mr. Gartrell, who did most of 
the talking for Estabrook at the hearing before 
the House, had voted in committee, on the 
evidence it had, to oust Estabrook, he com- 
plained that no opportunity of seeing the 
report was offered him until the day when 
it was under discussion in the House. The 
republicans of the House, led by Mr. Camp- 
bell of Pennsylvania, who represented the ma- 
jority of the elections committee, and Mr. 
Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts insisted 
on pushing the question to a vote on the show- 
ing of the committee, while the southern 
democrats asked for delay so that Estabrook 
might offer some evidence on his side. Mr. 
Dawes stated that Estabrook "omitted entirely 
to take any testimony on the subject simply 
because, as he says, he supposed the con- 
testant had made a blunder which would be 
fatal to his case, and that he could not have 
a hearing on his testimony." 

The committee found that Bufifalo county 
had not been organized and that the election 
was therefore invalid; that 238 of the 292 
votes returned were cast, if at all, at Kearney 
City, situated on the south side of the Platte 
river, which stream was the southern boun- 
dary of the county as defined by the act of 
the legislature authorizing its organization ; 
and that "the proof is that there are not over 
eight houses and not exceeding fifteen resi- 
dents at Kearney City." The entire vote of 



290 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Buffalo county was therefore rejected. The 
thirty-two votes of Calhoun county — twenty- 
eight for Estabrook and four for Daily — 
were rejected because, the county not being 
organized, but attached to Platte county for 
election purposes, those in charge of the elec- 
tion there should have sent returns to the 
clerk of Platte county ; while instead they 
were sent direct to the governor. The com- 
mittee also found that the whole voting popu- 
lation of the county did not exceed six. So 
the vote of Calhoun was thrown out. The 
twenty-four votes of Izard county — twenty- 
one for Estabrook and three for Daily — were 
rejected because there were no voters at all in 
the county. The twenty-three votes of Genoa 
precinct, Monroe county — all but three for 
Estabrook — were rejected because that pre- 
cinct was within the Pawnee reservation. 
Sixty-eight of the one hundred and twenty- 
eight votes of L'eau-qui-court county were 
rejected because the committee concluded that 
there were not more than sixty voters in the 
county. There were thus subtracted 429 from 
Estabrook's total of 3,100 votes, leaving him 
2,671. Daily lost ten of his original 2,800 and 
was left with 2,790, or 119 majority. 

The committee on elections were no doubt 
technically right in finding that the attempt 
of Governor Black to organize Buffalo county 
by appointing the county officers himself was 
invalid ; but since it appears by their finding 
that there had been an informal election of 
the officers, it may be inferred that the wish 
of the committee stood in close relationship 
to their thought. A legally formal election 
on the Nebraska frontier in the '50s was 
about as rare and impracticable as a social 
function with Parisian manners in the same 
region. The act creating Plall county spe- 
cifically authorized the governor to appoint 
the first county officers, and Black, without 
authority, seems to have imitated the like ac- 
tion of Acting Governor JNIorton a few months 
before. 

The legislature at the last session passed an 
act to organize the county of Hall, and Hon. 
J. Sterling Morton, acting governor, has judi- 
ciously appointed and commissioned the fol- 
lowing officers for said county : Probate judge, 



Richard C. Barnard ; sheriff, Hermann Vas- 
old ; recorder, Theodore F. Nagel ; treasurer, 
Joshua Smith: justices of the peace, William 
A. Hagge, Isaac Thomas ; constables, George 
Schultz, Christian Menck ; county commission- 
ers, Frederick Hedde, Daniel B. Crocker, Hans 
Vieregg. The name of "Hall" was given to this 
county as a compliment to Chief Justice Hall. 

Then follows this interesting descriptive 
paragraph : 

Grand Island City is the county seat of Hall 
county, and is situated forty miles west of 
Columbus. It is the extreme western settle- 
ment of Nebraska and is surrounded by a 
thrifty, intelligent farming population. The 
country about it is upland bottom, very fertile, 
and timbered and watered. Grand Island it- 
self is seventy-five miles in length, and aver- 
ages four miles in width, being heavily tim- 
bered with oak, hickory, Cottonwood, and red 
cedar. 

Then comes this prophecy — in those inex- 
perienced times little more substantial than 
the stuff that dreams are made of, but which 
nevertheless has already all come true : 

Hall county is destined to be one of the 
richest and most thickly settled counties in 
Nebraska, located as it is in the fertile valley 
of the Platte and on the great highway between 
Omaha and the Pacific. 

And next comes the inevitable political ap- 
preciation : 

Governor Morton has been peculiarly for- 
tunate in the selection of his officers, and we 
know they give entire satisfaction, and are 
heartily endorsed by the people of Hall county. 
They are men of sterling integrity and sound 
democrats, and have long resided in our ter- 
ritory. 

If the names of these officers are a cri- 
terion, our early foreign immigrants must 
have been quick to appreciate the advantages 
of Hall county. 

The opposition freely charged fraud in the 
Daily vote, and especially in Richardson and 
Pawnee counties. The growing feeling on the 
slavery question is reflected by the contem- 
porary press : 

Our worst apprehensions, we fear, have 
been more than realized with regard to illegal 
voting in Pawnee, Richardson and the entire 
lower tier of counties. The delectable lead- 
ers of the fever-heated and blood-hot abolition- 
ists of Falls Citv, an interior, seven by nine 



DAILY-ESTABROOK CONTEST 



291 



town near the Kansas line in Richardson 
county, that supports a half dozen whisky 
shops, an equal number of dilapidated dwell- 
ing-houses and one horse taverns, boasted that 
they could "import" all the voters they wanted 
from Kansas. This is the celebrated town 
founded by Jim Lane, and peopled by him with 
a scurvy horde of rapscallions fresh from the 
"sands" of Chicago and the Five Points of 
New York, as he was on his way to the mem- 
orable invasion of Kansas. Is it to be won- 
dered that in a democratic county such a town 
within a stone's throw of the Kansas line, 
should cast for the republican candidate for 
congress one hundred and forty-three votes 
out of one hundred and seventy-two? The 
town could legitimately cast perhaps seventy- 
five votes. 

Every intelligent man at all conversant with 
politics in Richardson county knows that that 
county is democratic by at least two hundred 
majority. Yet the democratic candidate for 
congress gets barely thirty-nine majority. 
Pawnee county out of one hundred and forty- 
six votes gives the democratic candidate barely 
twenty-two votes. Does any one doubt that 
the Kansas abolitionists have played their high 
game of fraud and illegal voting ? 

The Dakota City Herald made a statement 
in regard to the Buffalo county part of the 
case, which, while it may have been colored 
by partisanship, yet throws an interesting light 
on the facts and conditions pertaining to the 
elections of that year : 

The Republican papers say that there were 
frauds perpetrated in Fort Kearney and 
L'Eau Qui Court county, both which places 
gave Estabrook a goodly number of votes ; the 
former yielding him 292 majority and the lat- 
ter 128. On the other hand it is charged that 
the republicans polled a large number of il- 
legal votes in Douglas, Richardson, Pawnee, 
Clay and Gage. . . The Omaha Repub- 
lican says that not fifty legal voters reside 
in the two counties of Hall and Buf- 
falo. Had we not known that this 
statement was, to say the least, incorrect, 
it might have passed for what it purported to 
be in this part of Nebraska ; but having visited 
Fort Kearney several times during the past 
three years, we know from personal knowledge 
that there are more than fifty legal voters there. 
At no time we were there was there less than 
three times that amount. As voters, w^hether 
they might be termed "legal" or not we leave 
others to judge. They were chiefly government 
teamsters, herders, employees about the fort, 
Majors, Russell & \\'addeirs employees, sut- 



lers and their clerks, trappers, traders, and a 
few gamblers. Last spring it would be safe 
to say there were three thousand voters at the 
fort, including those a few miles above and 
below. W'e know several who became dis- 
couraged at the report from the mines, but 
determined not to go back. One party went 
and settled on the Little Blue ; another crowd 
laid off a town six or eight miles below the 
fort. A number of others went a few miles 
above to fashion a city and called it after an 
illustrious Pole. The probability is there are 
a large number of persons there, and that they 
have daily increased since spring. While we 
state these as matters of fact, we do not say 
there were no illegal votes polled. Indeed, it 
would be strange if there were not, when it is 
charged that in the city of Omaha, in the face 
of the law, and despite the vigilance of the sen- 
tinels of both parties, a negro cast a democratic 
vote and ten citizens of Iowa who were just 
passing through the town on their way home, 
voted for Daily. We do say, however, that in 
the absence of proof to the contrary, we accept 
and believe the 292 majority for Estabrook to 
be all right. Now for L'Eau Qui Court. We 
never were in that county, nor any nearer to it 
than Dakota City, and cannot speak by author- 
ity. But what strikes us as strange is this 
fact : that county is represented to be republi- 
can. They elected a republican county ticket 
and gave Judge Taffe, a republican, a large 
majority over Judge Roberts, democrat, for 
float representative. Being of the conserva- 
tive kind, and not having their republican be- 
lief tinctured with abolitionism, they voted for 
Estabrook to a man. Since the election not 
one of these republicans has breathed a breath 
of "fraud," nor anyone else that we know of, 
nearer than the Republican office at Omaha. 

Daily was declared entitled to his seat with- 
out a roll call. May 18, 1860. It is not likely 
that Estabrook's blunder in not offering any 
contradictory testimony would have changed 
the result. There was a richer field for ir- 
regularities in his section of the territory than 
in Daily's, and so it would have been difficult, 
and probably impossible for him to overcome 
this natural presumption against himself be- 
fore a more or less prejudiced committee and 
house. After the certificate had been given 
to Estabrook by the territorial canvassers con- 
servative opinion was averse to a contest on 
this ground: "One great reason why so little 
has heretofore been secured for Nebraska is 
that she has never yet had a delegate so situ- 



292 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




1 


■|P 


r 


p 


1 


^^^^^^^M^ln^Ht -^i^^^^ 






■ 








1 


^^^^^H # IL ^^V 






1 




y 


^ 


1 




M 


^ 


Pjj 


I^^^H^KP^ 




^^! 


p 


^^^^^B 




^.-s=i 


K^ 


^^-i^lHHIL..,.. 




--^«^- 



Dr. JETI/S k. CoXKIJNG, l).MAH.\ 



Mrs. Jknnie H.vnscom Conkling 





Dr. T.\mes H. Pe.vbody, Omah.\ 



Mrs. Jennie Yates Peabody 



THE SIXTH LEGISLATURE 



293 



ated that he could work for the territory ; he 
has always devoted the most of his time to 
watching and defending his seat." 

Judge Alfred Conkling, father of Roscoe 
Conkling, prepared Daily's protest . to the 
board of canvassers. He came to Omaha to 
practice law, but finding the methods of the 
profession at that time not to his liking, soon 
returned to New York. Roscoe Conkling was 
a member of the House of Representatives at 
this time. 

The Nezvs proclaims that Otoe is still the 
banner county, having polled fifty-three more 
votes than Douglas — • the next in rank — at 
the late election. 

It had taken six years of time and the work 
of five legislative assemblies to get the terri- 
torial organization into fair working order, 
and a serious obstacle to its progress had been 
bitter local sectionalism. The remaining years 
of the territorial existence were to be inore 
or less seriously distracted by sectionalism on 
a national scale. At first the republicans are 
chiefly bent on party formation and supremacy 
in the territory, and then, for the rest of the 
territorial period, will follow the passions and 
distractions of the war. At first the demo- 
cratic leaders are on the defensive, and then 
they bitterly attack the policy of their victors. 
The democrats are divided, the majority fol- 
lowing Douglas and jealous of the minority, 
led by the federal office-holders, who must 
needs stand more or less openly on the side 
of the breach between Buchanan and the hero 
of popular sovereignty occupied by their chief. 
This division doubtless accounts for the demo- 
cratic aid given to republicans to pass a bill 
prohibiting slavery and its veto by the gov- 
ernor. 

But on the whole the sixth territorial assem- 
bly, which convened December 5, 1859, was 
the tamest of all the legislative assemblies up 
to this time. Thomas J. Boykin of Sarpy. 
Thomas J. Collier of Dakota, and William A. 
Little of Douglas county took the seats left 
vacant in the council by the resignation of 
Leavitt L. Bowen, H. C. Crawford, and Wil- 
liam E. Moore, and Dr. Edmund A. Donelan 
of Cass county was elected president. Elmer 
S. Dundv of Richardson county and William 



H. Taylor of Otoe county were the only re- 
publicans in the council. 

The seat of Richard C. Barnard of the dis- 
trict of Monroe and Hall was unsuccessfully 
contested by Leander Gerrard. R. S. Parks 
applied for a seat "as member elect from the 
gold regions." The committee on privileges 
and elections reported that it was impossible to 
seat Mr. Parks because the maximum number 
of members under the organic law had already 
been apportioned ; but they stated that the pe- 
titioner represented a very important portion 
of the territory and a community greatly in 
need of legislation, and eminently deserving 
the consideration, attention, and favor of the 
house. The committee recommended that the 
petitioner be admitted within the bar of the 
house at pleasure. 

Of the thirty-nine members of the house 
twenty-five were classed as democrats ; the 
rest were republicans, full-born or in embryo. 
There was a struggle over the organization 
between the administration democrats, led by 
the governor and secretary of the territory, 
and the opposing faction, led by Rankin, in 
which the latter won. Strickland of Sarpy 
county, the democratic candidate, was elected 
speaker over Marquett of Cass, the repub- 
lican candidate, by a vote of 24 to 12. Names 
on the list of members familiar to present-day 
Nebraskans are George B. Lake and Andrew 
J. Hanscom of Douglas ; Turner M. Marquett, 
Samuel Maxwell, and Dr. William S. Latta 
of Cass; Stephen F. Nuckolls of Otoe; John 
Taffe of Dakota, and Eliphus H. Rogers of 
Dodge. 

Governor Black's message was devoted 
mainly to refuting common slanders as to the 
bad climate and unproductivity of the soil of 
the territory, and to an argument justifying its 
admission as a state, in the course of which he 
estimates the population at 50,000 to 60,000. 
A historical paragraph of the message is 
worth quoting: 

This territory was organized at the same 
time with Kansas, on the 30th day of May, 
1854, and the first legislature met at Omaha, 
on the 16th day of January, 1855. In that 
body eight counties were represented. Now, 
at the expiration of less than five years, 
twenty-five counties have their representatives 



294 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




John Steinhart, Piunkkk m- Otoe Col.nty 



JoHN Dunbar, Pioneer oV Otoe Louxty 



THE SIXTH LEGISLATURE 



295 



in the legislature, and thirty-five counties have 
been fully organized, or their boundaries de- 
fined by law. With the exception of those 
which lie immediately upon the Missouri river, 
nearly all the counties have been so laid off as 
to cover a surface of exactly 24 miles square. 
The lands in Nebraska actually surveyed 
amount to 8,851,758.59 acres. The surveys 
have been extended from the dividing line be- 
tween Kansas and Nebraska, on the 40th 
parallel, to the latitude of 42 degrees and 51 
minutes, while the average depth from the 
Missouri river is about 140 miles. 

Bad conditions and not much better eco- 
nomic ideas are illustrated in this paragraph : 

It is a matter of bitter experience that the 
people of this territory have been made to 
pass through the delusive days of high times 
and paper prices, and the consequent dark and 
gloomy night of low times and no prices. We 
have had our full share of the financial spasms 
which for two years have afflicted the great 
body of the American people. They are grad- 
ually passing away, but they will never alto- 
gether disappear until the producing causes 
are removed. One chief and manifest cause 
so far as new states and territories are con- 
cerned (not the only one), is the enormous 
and overwhelming rate of interest which is 
exacted for the loan of money, for a common 
credit in many cases, even for the necessaries 
of life, or for a brief extension and forbear- 
ance of an existing debt. It is idle to look 
for relief, except in stringent and effective 
legislation. I am not sure that the evil can be 
entirely banished by law, but it is worth the 
trial. I therefore recommend the passage of 
a usury law, contrived in the best possible way 
to overturn the present system and practice of 
extravagant and ruinous rates of interest. 

Financial conditions are set forth as follows : 

According to the auditor's report, the pres- 
ent liabilities of the territory are $31,068.23. 
On the 20th of September, 1858, they amount- 
ed in warrants to $15,774.95. Between the 20th 
of September, 1858, and Novemljer 1st, 1859, 
in accordance with various laws, warrants 
were issued for $16,459.95, making the cur- 
rent expenses for that time appear to be the 
whole of that sum. But fully one-half the 
amount of those warrants was for liabilities 
incurred during the year 1857-58, making the 
actual current expenses for this year to be in 
fact only about $8,000. The revenue from 
taxes, due January 1st, 1859, as reported by 
the different counties (Pawnee county ex- 
cepted), amounts to $19,387.57, so that the 



whole debt of the territory may be set dovi^n 
at $n,680.66 more than the estimated re- 
sources of the year ending December 1st, 1859. 

In his recommendation as to taxation the 
governor hits on the idea of "the unearned 
increment," and wins the everlasting esteem of 
the present day single tax advocates : 

It is true that the man who labors and im- 
proves his own land, may be recompensed for 
all that he does, but still he serves, in some 
degree, both the government and the com- 
munity, in the very work that he does for him- 
self. Further, he adds to the value of every 
acre of vacant land in or near his neighbor- 
hood. If that land is held for mere specula- 
tion, is it not clear that the owner looks to the 
labor of others for the gains which are to fol- 
low the enhanced value of his estate? In re- 
gard to this subject I wish to be explicit and 
plain. It is a fact very well known that hun- 
dreds of thousands of acres of the best land 
in Nebraska are held by individuals who have 
never broken a single foot of sod with spade 
or plough. These lands, being unimproved, 
pay only at present a comparatively small tax. 
The man who lives on and improves his prop- 
erty, in town or country, has generally a rea- 
sonable amount of personal property. For 
the purpose of making the burdens as light as 
possible, where they should be light, I recom- 
mend that real estate shall be made the chief 
basis of revenue. I think it would be well if 
there was a special exception, to a limited ex- 
tent, from all taxation made in favor of the 
different kinds and varieties of stock and cat- 
tle. As, for instance, a certain number of 
sheep, swine, oxen, horses, cows, etc. ; the ob- 
ject being mainly to encourage the tax-payers 
of the territory to rear and keep stock, espe- 
cially such stock as is valuable and of the most 
improved description or breed. 

Though the criminal law of the territory 
had been restored, the governor complains 
that it is rendered ineffectual for lack of a 
penitentiary or other public prison, and he 
states that a large and enterprising gopulation 
in the western part of the territory, mostly in 
the mining region, are without the benefit of 
county organization, and consequently in a 
great measure without the protection of law. 

The message is a well-worded and occa- 
sionally eloquent address, and sustains Gov- 
ernor Black's reputation as a brilliant stump 
speaker. The last paragraph is a fine sample 
of this kind of oratory. No other public man 



296 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



of Nebraska has written so "finely" — with 
such rhetorical taste or oratorical effect as 
Governor Black wrote. Two veto messages 
of this session are notable, one at great length 
in objection to the anti-slavery bill, the other 
a deserved but ineffective rebuke of the now 
settled and vicious cvistom of granting special 
charter privileges to individuals, 

For the first time the auditor feels justified 
in stating in his report that the revenue law 
is fairly effective, and his optimism is based 
upon the fact that the counties now comply 
with the law so far as to levy the taxes ; but 
a year later the treasurer is compelled to com- 
plain that they are not paid. The territory 
is still living almost wholly on credit in the 
form of fast increasing warrants. 

The principal enactments of the legislature 
were as follows : An act providing for an 
election to be held the first Monday in March, 
1860, to decide whether or not the people de- 
sired state government, and to elect delegates 
to a convention which should prepare a state 
constitution; concerning the jurisdiction of 
justices of the peace and procedure before 
them ; providing that a delegate to Congress 
should be elected in 1860 and every two years 
thereafter, and that his term of office should 
begin on the 4th of March next after his elec- 
tion ; a homestead and personal property ex- 
emption law. A bill prohibiting slavery in the 
territory was passed by both houses, but was 
vetoed by the governor. The legislature au- 
thorized the organization of the counties of 
Dawson, Kearney, Morton, Nuckolls, Shorter, 
West, and Wilson, and legalized the previous 
organization of Gage county. Dawson and 
Kearney counties continue as small parts of 
their originals ; Holt takes the place of West ; 
Morton and Wilson lay partially adjacent in 
the region where the Sweetwater flows into 
the North Platte river, now in south central 
Wyoming. Shorter county, whose name was 
changed to Lincoln in 1861, adjoined Kearney 
on the west; both held elections in 1860, but 
for some reason the board of territorial can- 
vassers counted out the vote of Shorter. 
These two counties were assigned legislative 
apportionment in 1861. Neither ^Morton, 



West, nor Wilson appears to have performed 
any organized function. About the usual 
number of special acts for incorporations and 
ferries and bridges were passed. Joint me- 
morials to Congress were adopted asking for 
school lands in lieu of those covered by the 
Indian reservations in Nemaha and Richard- 
son counties ; for indemnity for the cost of the 
Pawnee Indian campaign ; for appropriations 
to build a penitentiary ; to construct a military 
road from Nebraska City to Fort Kearney ; 
and for $30,000 to complete the capitol. The 
memorial for the capitol appropriation recites 
that "under a degree of mismanagement, 
wholly unpardonable, upon the part of the 
executive, Mark W. Izard," the whole appro- 
priation of $50,000 was expended, "and the 
building only just begun." The first act pro- 
tecting game animals in Nebraska was passed 
at this session. 

The statehood measure was generally fa- 
vored and party lines were not drawn in con- 
sidering it. Party animosity was concentrated 
on the anti-slavery bill, and it was as bitter 
between the democratic factions as between 
the two parties themselves. A speech on the 
usury bill, delivered in the house by S. F. 
Nuckolls, illustrates the pinched financial con- 
ditions of those times as well as the insight 
into economics of a man untrained in its prin- 
ciples. Mr. Nuckolls conducted a large across- 
the-plains freighting business besides other 
important enterprises. Our county of Nuck- 
olls was created by the sixth assembly, of 
which he was a member, and received his 
name. 

The death of Judge Fenner Ferguson oc- 
curred at his homestead farm at Bellevue, 
October 11, 1859. Judge Ferguson was the 
first chief justice of the territorial supreme 
court and was a resident of Michigan at the 
time of his appointment. He possessed fair 
ability, commanded general respect, and had 
the good will of the citizens of the territory 
to an unusual degree, especially for a public 
ofiicer of those days. He served one term 
as a delegate to Congress, from December, 
1857. 



CHAPTER XIV 

PoLiTicAi, Conventions — Congressional Campaigns of 1860-1862 — Seventh Legisla- 
ture — Morton-Daily Contest — Departure of Governor Black — Appointment of 
Governor Saunders — Military Affairs — Eighth Legislature 



AT the statehood election of March 5th, 
2,372 votes were cast against, and 2,094 
for a state government. The main issue was 
so compHcated with cUques and prejudices that 
the vote was scarcely a true expression of pub- 
lic sentiment in relation thereto ; "not one-half 
the democratic voters participated in the elec- 
tion, treating the whole thing as a farce." 
The statehood scheme was put forward, and 
in the main supported by the old South Platte 
element, and particularly by Otoe county. 
Thus the heavy majority for state government 
came from the following counties : Cass, 303 ; 
Otoe, 249; Washington, 202; and Nemaha, 
96; while against the proposition Douglas 
gave 456; Dakota, 174; and Sarpy, 226. 
Sarpy had by this time accepted the inevit- 
able, given up capital hopes, and was adjust- 
ing herself to her local interest, while the con- 
siderable influence of Daily doubtless had 
something to do with throwing Richardson, 
which gave 154 against the state proposition, 
out of gear with her South Platte traditions 
and locality. 

The Omaha Republican contented itself 
with insisting on the choice of free state — - 
that is, republican — delegates to the consti- 
tutional convention ; while the Ncbraskian, the 
democratic organ at the capital, stoutly as- 
serted that democrats would put an anti- 
slavery provision in the constitution. Douglas, 
or popular sovereignty, democrats were un- 
doubtedly in the majority in the territory, and 
they resented the insistence of Governor 
Black, in his recent veto of the anti-slavery 
bill, that the people of the territory, through 
the legislature, did not possess the power 
under the orranic act to deal with the slavery 



question. It was charged also that the admin- 
istration, or Buchanan faction, kept Douglas 
democrats off the delegate ticket in Douglas 
county. Of the fifty-two delegates to the 
constitutional convention the republicans 
chose about forty, and while, because the state 
proposition was defeated at the same election, 
there was no constitutional convention held, 
the democrats were left in a bad plight. 
Among the well-known names of the dele- 
gates were Alfred Conkling, Gilbert C. Monell, 
grandfather of Gilbert M. Hitchcock, John M. 
Thayer, John Taffe, Thomas L. Griffey, Oli- 
ver P. Mason, Thomas W. Tipton, Thomas P. 
Kennard, Judge Augustus Hall, Isaac Pollard, 
Dr. Jetus R. Conkling, and William Cleburne. 
The republican territorial convention for 
1860 was held at Plattsmouth on the 1st of 
August. Daniel L. Collier of Burt county 
was temporary chairman and T. W. Tipton 
of Nemaha, temporary secretary. W. F. 
Lockwood of Dakota county was president 
of the regular organization. Samuel G. Daily 
was a candidate for renomination for delegate 
to Congress, and J. M. Thayer of Douglas, 
W. H. Taylor of Otoe, T. M. Marquett of 
Cass, and John Taffe of Dakota county were 
his principal opponents. At the first Thayer 
ran even with Daily, but the latter was nomi- 
nated on the tenth ballot. The resolutions 
reported by G. C. Monell of Douglas county 
endorsed the nomination of Lincoln and Ham- 
lin for president and vice president; declared 
in favor of a homestead bill, and of a bill 
giving the school commissioner of the terri- 
tory the right to lease the school lands; 
favored appropriations by Congress for com- 
pleting the capitol, for building a penitentiary 



298 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




^^^ ey/^r. 



I XoTE — Victor Vifquain was a pioneer of Saline county, Nebraska. He was a general in the Union 
army during the Civil War and prominent in Nebraska politics.] 



POLITICAL CONVENTIONS 



299 



at Bellevue, for building a government road 
from Nebraska City to Fort Kearney, for 
bridging the Platte at a point on the direct 
line of communication between Nebraska City 
and Omaha; declared that increased- popula- 
tion in the mining regions and the resulting 
immense travel along the Platte valley de- 
manded a Pacific railway ; denounced the 
appointment of non-residents to fill the federal 
offices ; and declared that the anti-slavery bill 
passed by the last legislature "was demanded 
by the continued attempt of slavery propa- 
gandists to establish the institution in this free 
territory." The demand of the address of 
Alfred Conkling, chairman of the reptiblican 
committee, for sober men in office, was not 
uncalled for, and is suggestive of a marked 
phase of social conditions of that time. 

The democratic convention was held at 
(Jmaha on the 15th of August. A. J. Hans- 
com of Douglas county was temporary chair- 
man and Mills S. Reeves of Otoe county 
was permanent president. J. AL Woolworth, 
chairman of the committee on credentials, in- 
corporated in his report this interesting state- 
ment : "Your committee find that Victor 
\'ifquain holds a certificate of election as a 
delegate to this convention from said county 
[Saline] and report the matter to the con- 
vention without recommendation." This was 
the first introduction of General Vifquain into 
the politics of the commonwealth, in which 
for more than forty years he was an impor- 
tant and interesting figure. On his admission 
as a delegate Air. Vifquain made a speech 
whose brevity was equaled only by its patri- 
otism, quite characteristic of the speaker. 

Gentlemen of the convention, and fcUozv 
democrats: 

I thank you in the name of the democrats 
in my own county for the resolution taken in 
reference to Saline county. 

It is not necessary for a Frenchman to 
promise fidelity to the stars and stripes — La- 
fayette's memory and the French blood spilled 
for the independence of this beautiful country 
is a guarantee of it. I swear to the demo- 
crats fidelity and devotion until death. 

On the 11th of August the Nezi's acknowl- 
edges a call from "Victor Vifquain, Esq., an 
enterprising and intelligent Frenchman who 



resides at Beranger on the Blue, seventy-five 
miles west of this city. Last fall his county 
polled sixteen votes, every one of which was 
for the entire democratic ticket." General 
\^ifquaiirs oath of fidelity to his party was 
kept during the intervening forty years "until 
death," without swerving so much as a hair's 
breadth. J. Sterling Morton was nominated 
for delegate to Congress on the fourth 
formal ballot. The other principal competi- 
tors for the nomination were A. J. Poppleton. 
S. A. Strickland, Stephen Decatur, and J. F. 
Kinney. Judge Eleazer Wakeley received fif- 
teen votes on the informal ballot, but he then 
immediately withdrew his name from further 
consideration. Judge Kinney also notified 
the convention that, owing to the fact that 
he had recently been appointed chief justice 
of the supreme court of Utah, he could not 
become a candidate; but he received fifteen 
votes on the last ballot. 

Air. Poppleton evidently transferred his 
strength to Alorton on the decisive ballot, 
and it is interesting to observe this evidence 
of the early friendship of these two eminent 
citizens of Nebraska, which lasted to the end 
of Poppleton's life. At the ratification meet- 
ing at Nebraska City, says the chronicler of 
the event, "Mr. Poppleton commenced with 
a most feeling and eloquent eulogy of the 
many traits of character developed in Air. 
Alorton — that he had known Alorton from 
the time they were school boys together ; and 
he was proud to follow so gallant and noble a 
leader in the present canvass." But ruinous 
factional strife was not wanting. "The little 
squad of Douglasites of this city" dominated 
the convention, and Alorton was thrust down 
the throat of Governor Black as the bitterest 
pill for him to be found, and then, to meet 
this inconsistency, they wanted to lay Alorton, 
also an administration office-holder, up to dry. 
too. In the hearing of the AIorton-Daily 
contest Alorton threw a ray of light on this 
subject : 

I will state in reply to the statement that 
Colonel Black awarded a certificate to a po- 
litical opponent, that in that election Colonel 
Black and every appointee of that adminis- 
tration, with one exception, sustained Daily, 



300 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




/i^^i^t.^C'^ 



jf/^.^. 



[XoTE — Jonas Welch was a pioneer of Columbus, Nebraska, and prominent in local politics. He was 
a delegate to the national democratic convention.] 



CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN OF 1860 



301 



either by voting for him or by working for 
him, or by refraining from working for me. 
Governor Black did make two 
speeches for me in this way : In endorsing 
the Buchanan platform and the veto message 
prohibiting slavery in the territory, which was 
the burden of his speech ; at the end he also 
said : "I endorse Mr. Morton as the candidate 
of the party, although he is not such a demo- 
crat as I can heartily support." 

It was charged against Black that he did 
everything in his power to defeat Morton — 
worked, spent money, and voted against him. 
On the other hand it was insisted that the 
Douglas democrats were slighted in the con- 
vention and that the Buchanan-Breckenridge 
faction dictated its proceedings ; but the skill 
with which Morton steered between the fac- 
tional rocks and over the factional rapids was 
conceded. Dr. B. P. Rankin, in a speech 
at Nebraska City, refused to support Morton 
for Congress, and asserted that in the legis- 
lature, in 1857, Morton did all he could to 
kill his resolution eulogizing Douglas as the 
champion of popular sovereignty and called 
him a Douglas democrat as an epithet. Ran- 
kin also complained that Morton kept on draw- 
ing his salary of $2,000 under Buchanan 
while he pretended to support Douglas. 

Resolutions of both party conventions fa- 
vored internal improvements in substantially 
similar terms, but the democratic resolution 
specifically asked for a grant of land to build 
a Pacific railroad, having its eastern terminus 
at or near Fort Kearney with four branches 
from that point to the Missouri river, the 
territorial legislature to select the routes. The 
convention also pledged itself to demand "a 
grant of land to establish a university in Ne- 
braska, and that said university should be 
established in Cass county, as the most central 
point in the territory." 

The attitude of the convention toward na- 
tional questions was both discreet and wise. 
After the preamble, which vainly recited that 
the people of Nebraska had no voice in the 
election of a president and that their own in- 
terests demanded their energies, the conven- 
tion pointed to "the unprecedented degree of 
prosperity" to which the party of Thomas 
Jefferson had carried the countrv, and then 



frankly and unequivocally pledged the party 
to make Nebraska a free state. The political 
attitude of the two parties is now reversed, 
the republicans for the first time acknowl- 
edging and marching aggressively under their 
national standard, the democrats somewhat 
evasive of national, and emphasizing local 
issues. The Omaha Nebraskian, one of the 
two leading democratic organs of the terri- 
tory, had insisted, as early as January 14th of 
this year, that, "vmtil an all-wise Providence 
shall remove Nebraska four or five degrees 
further south slave labor cannot be profitably 
employed in this territory. We venture to 
predict that when a convention shall assemble 




Engraving from an old daguerreotype taken in the 
early '50s and now owned by Charles L. Saunders of 
Omaha. 

Alvin S.-VUNDERS 

War Governor of Nebraska territory Mav IS, 1861, 

to February 21, 1867' 



to frame a constitution for this state of Ne- 
braska not a delegate will vote for a slavery- 
constitution." As we have seen, this asser- 
tion was vindicated by the declaration in the 
party platform in the fall of this year; and 
it is significant as showing the determination 
of the democrats — even though it may not 
have reflected their independent anti-slavery 
feeling — to acquiesce in the prevailing senti- 
ment of the Northwest, before the countn' had 



302 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



come to the final parting of the ways in the 
national election of that year. 

Even the democratic organ of the North 
Platte presented the standard-bearer and the 
situation in this light : 

Mr. Morton, the nominee, is well, and we 
may add, very favorably known to Nebraska. 
He has been identified with the interests of 
the territory ever since its organization, and 
during the last two years has acquired no little 
celebrity as the faithful, efficient and untiring 
secretary of Nebraska. Endowed with fine 
talents and possessed of a liberal education, 
with a pleasing address, and those better quali- 
ties of the heart that draw around him hosts 
of friends, none can deny his fitness for the 
high position assigned him by his party. 
Probably no man in Nebraska is so cordially 
hated and feared by the small coterie of ras- 
cals that prowl around certain localities of 
this territory, as J. Sterling Morton. Daily 
and his coadjutors are particularly bitter 
against him. The members of that little cabal 
of spoils hunters, have made sundry and 
sweeping charges against him, as disbursing 
officer of Nebraska. The democracy of Ne- 
braska have taken up the gauntlet thus thrown 
down by Daily and his toadies, and avow 
their confidence in the integrity of the man 
so grossly assailed. Mr. Morton, too. has al- 
ways been known as an earnest friend to ap- 
propriations for the various purposes men- 
tioned elsewhere in this paper. Daily is known 
to be as decidedly opposed to those appropria- 
tions. The issue is therefore made up, and 
the canvass may be regarded as begun. ^ 

Morton's home paper presented a picture 
of the man, and aimed to restrict the issues: 

Hon. J. Sterling Morton, democratic candi- 
date for delegate in congress, is a pioneer 
squatter, having emigrated to the territory in 
1854. His interests are all here. For six 
years his best energies, his time and his tal- 
ents have been devoted to the development of 
the material interests and resources of Ne- 
braska territory. His has been the strong arm 
and the sturdy hand of productive industry. 
It is instituting no invidious comparisons to 
say that probably no other man in the territory 
has done more for the fostering and develop- 
ment of our agricultural resources — the im- 
portation of the best and choicest breeds and 
varieties of stock, &c., &c. . . 

Not only is Morton as an individual deeply 
interested in fostering the development of Ne- 
braska and hastening in of the bright future 
that awaits her — the platform of principles 



upon which he stands pledges him to use his 
utmost exertions as the delegate of the people 
of Nebraska, irrespective of party, to secure 
for the territory, not only all "needful appro- 
priations," but certain special appropriations, 
which it is submitted Nebraska stands greatly 
in need of at this present time. These need- 
ful appropriations are specially mentioned in 
the platform of principles and measures of the 
democratic party of Nebraska. - 

The republican war cry in the campaign 
was raised against Morton for disregarding 
the election of Furnas as public printer, for 
the alleged frauds in the frontier counties in 
the election of 1859, and against the adminis- 
tration for the veto of the homestead bill — 
a dangerous question in Nebraska. The re- 
publicans also charged that the democrats 
were responsible for the sale of public lands 
which forced many of the squatters to pay 
for them. It was urged that "five per cent a 
month is the enormous rate of interest paid 
by hundreds of settlers in Nebraska" for 
money, "which they were forced to submit to 
or lose their lands," that Morton petitioned 
for the sale of the lands, and afterward re- 
fused to sign a remonstrance against it ; that 
the enforcement of these sales at a time when 
settlers could not pay for their land ruined 
nine-tenths of them; and the bill of particu- 
lars specified that the books of the register of 
deeds of Nemaha, Richardson, and Pawnee 
counties showed that the enforced land sales 
had saddled a debt of $43,130 on Nemaha 
farmers secured by trust deeds on 27,340 
acres and drawing interest from twenty-five 
to sixty per cent per annum ; on Richardson 
county of $25,966,11. 15,102 acres, interest as 
above; on Pawnee county, $16,103, 6,985 
acres, nine-tenths of this drawing sixty per 
cent, which must be forfeited ; total $85,109.11, 
at an average rate of fifty per cent, making 
interest $42,595. To this charge the demo- 
crats answered, in plausible palliation, at 
least, that Judge Holly of Nebraska City, 
Richard Brown of Brownville, and James 
Craig of Missouri, all democrats, went to 
Washington at their own expense and secured 
the postponement of the sale of lands for a 

1 Omaha Xchraskiaii, August 18, 1860. 
- Nebraska City .\czi<s, August 25, 1860. 



CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN OF 1860 



303 



year. It would have taken almost indefinite 
postponement of the time for payment to 
avoid inconvenience or hardship, and these 
extravagant complaints were no doubt largely 
a partisan afterthought. 

Democrats themselves were vexatiously di- 
vided upon the slavery question. While most 
of them were against slavery it was asserted 
that Governor Black was a Breckenridge 
democrat, and that in his speeches in the cam- 
paign for Morton he advocated letting slavery 
into all territories and the admission of more 
slave states. 

The republican journals assailed Morton 
violently, and the completion at this time of 
the gradual change of the Advertiser from a 
democratic to a republican organ was a seri- 
ous injury to his cause. Furnas had kept at 
the head of the editorial columns of the Ad- 
vertiser, during the preceding eight months, 
the names of Douglas and Andrew Johnson 
of Tennessee — the latter subsequently nomi- 
nated for vice president on the ticket with 
Lincoln — as his choice for president and vice 
president, but after the Charleston convention 
he withdrew this last pretense of democracy. 
He assailed Morton with virulence because 
he had refused to recognize him as public 
printer in 1858. Notwithstanding that Mor- 
ton was then, as always afterward, too much 
devoted to his political opinions to sufficiently 
sacrifice or neglect them for success, his 
lirightness and skill in discussion were already 
proverbial. "Morton is a pleasant looking, 
pleasant spoken man — very cautious — al- 
ways spoke of his opponent as Samuel, or my 
friend Samuel — would deal heavy blows 
sometimes, but always dealt them with a smile 
on his lips — made some awful charges which 
he must have known were all moon-shine — 
is as much superior to Estabrook, as the sun 
is superior to the moon." 

But Morton, with his college and urban 
breeding, was a shining mark for the bucolic 
wit, humor, and malice of his extreme fron- 
tier environment. 

Daily's abolition organ at Nemaha City 
charges Morton with a fine foppish air. As 
to ^Nlorton's fine foppish air we think it will 
be taken as a fine joke wherever he is known. 



and he is known pretty generally throughout 
the territory. We have seen Morton among 
his "Suffolks" when we thought he didn't pre- 
sent a very foppish air. We have seen him 
making fence, hauling posts, and the like (we 
believe he is not a rail splitter) when we have 
thought his air was very fine but not very 
foppish. Morton and his family presented 
rather a humid and humorous air, but not a 
very foppish one when, six years ago, they 
woke up of a morning in their log hut in 
Nebraska and found the snow on their bed to 
the depth of twelve inches.' 




Dr. John McPhf.rson 
Member of territorial constitutional convention 
and credited with establishing the first Nebraska 
newspaper, the Advertiser, at Brownville. 

Daily's homely art and artfulness were put 
to powerful use, and the now thoroughly re- 
ceptive anti-slavery sentiment in the North- 
west lent peculiar force to his assaults on 
"this yer dimmicratic party" and his uncom- 
promising and ultra-conservative opponent. 

In an agreement signed at Beatrice, on the 
26th of September, the two candidates agreed 
to give up discussion at Austin, Clay county 
because "we are cre'dibly informed that no 
audience" exceeding six persons can be raised 
at that place." 

The territorial board of canvassers found 

3 Nebraska City News, September 8, I860. 



304 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



that of the 5,900 votes cast Morton received 
2,957 and Daily 2,943. and they gave the cer- 
tificate of election to Morton, but through the 
remarkable action of Governor Black, one of 
the canvassers, Morton's cup of victory was 
to be dashed from his very lips. 

There is contemporary statement that Buf- 
falo county was unorganized in 1859 and that 
Butler, Calhoun, Cuming, Izard, Jones, Kear- 
ney, Monroe, and Saline counties were 
unorganized in 1860. As has already been 
indicated, the application of the term "organ- 
ization" to these new counties was very in- 
definite and variable in its meaning. The 
table of election returns throws some light on 
their status. 

The republicans carried the council 8 to 5, 
and the house stood republicans 28, democrats 
11. But the seat of Asa M. Acton, democrat 
of Richardson, was contested by E. J. Daven- 
port, and both were excluded. There was a 
bitter partisan contest for the seat of council- 
man from Richardson county between Elmer 
S. Dundy and William C. Fleming. Thayer, 
republican, voted to oust Dundy, making the 
vote a tie ; but the president of the council 
gave the casting vote for Dundy and saved 
him. The democratic organs, the Nezvs and 
the Nebraskian, attacked Dundy, the man as 
well as the politician, with a violence which 
is seldom indulged in by the most yellow 
journals of the present day. It was the case 
of the half-breed vote again, and it was al- 
leged that Dundy, acting in the capacity of 
deputy county clerk, threw out the votes of 
white men living on the half-breed tract and 
gave himself the certificate of election ; but 
the part of the charge that Dundy acted as 
clerk in his own behalf was not well founded. 
When Secretary Morton came to administer 
the oath to members of the council, Dundy 
refused to take it in vindictive and threaten- 
ing language: "I have often been sworn but 
have never yet taken an oath. I desire to say 
to the secretary, that neither he nor any other 
man, can cram an oath* down my throat, so 
help me God. It is an insult to which I will 
not submit, and Secretary Morton and his 
friends and admirers shall find that they can- 
not insult me with impunity." 



Dundy kept his word, as Morton was to 
realize soon in his congressional contest. 

The seventh general assembly convened De- 
cember 3, 1860. William H. Taylor of Otoe 
county was chosen president of the council, 
and Henry W. De Puy of Washington county 
speaker of the house. Taylor had been a 
Douglas democrat as lately as two years be- 
fore that time. 

The statute of 1856 provided that the gov- 
ernor should apportion the representation for 
both houses of the general assembly, and the 
statute of 1858 specifically apportioned the 
members of the house. The organic act made 
it the duty of the governor to apportion the 
membership of both houses of the first legis- 
lature and then provided that "thereafter 
. the apportioning representation in the 
several counties or districts to the council and 
house of representatives according to the num- 
ber of qualified voters shall be prescribed by 
law." But the governor, presumably under 
color of the unrepealed part of the act of 1856. 
attached Johnson to Nemaha for a council 
district, and Cedar, Dixon, and L'eau-qui- 
court to Dakota for another council district. 
In attempting to trace enactments and account 
for acts of administration one is tempted to 
designate irregularity of procedure as the 
genius of those territorial times. 

The governor's message was practical, di- 
rect, and business-like, the best of his papers 
in this respect — and its closing appeal, invok- 
ing a spirit of devotion to the Union and the 
Constitution, evinces so clear, deeply patriotic, 
and sympathetic a conception of the impend- 
ing danger to both as to stamp him as much 
more than a stump speaker of rare skill. The 
messages of the two eloquent territorial gov- 
ernors, Cuming and Black, were given to rhe- 
torical style, and both men loved perorations ; 
but, considering the peculiar and doubtful 
economic conditions in Nebraska and the po- 
litical cataclysm which then menaced the whole 
country, this closing prophecy and exhorta- 
tion by the most graceful and engaging politi- 
cal orator of the territorial period, if not of 
the entire life of the commonwealth, was not 
out of place : 

I can not close this communication — the 



THE SEVENTH LEGISLATURE 



305 



last regular message I shall have the honor to 
submit — without uttering the voice of direct 
appeal to you in your own behalf and that of 
the people at large. Our internal affairs call 
for the exercise of wisdom, sound judgment, 
patience, and an honest purpose. These will 
not fail of producing prosperous results now, 
and permanent good in time to come. I be- 
lieve today, and with no broken nor dimin- 
ished confidence, in the wonderful capacity of 
Nebraska and in her ultimate and complete 
success. A soil so rich and prolific, a climate 
for most parts of the year so pleasant, and at 
all seasons so full of health, was not meant 
for a waste place nor a wilderness. God has 
written His decree of her prosperity deep in 
the earth, and develops His designs in the re- 
joicing harvests which return in smiling abun- 
dance to them who, betimes, have sown in 
tears. With an unfaltering trust it becomes 
us to believe, and to say that we believe that 
He will not suffer His own ordinances to fail, 
and the plain purposes of His own will to come 
short of completion. 

The relation of a territory to the general 
government is peculiar, and one, in many re- 
spects, of entire dependence. Without the aid 
and fostering care of the federal government 
the territorial condition, especially at the be- 
ginning, would be deplorable indeed, and the 
great oljject of ultimate hope, the admission 
into "the Union" as a sovereign state, would 
be sadly distant and uncertain. The sugges- 
tion of self interest, and the loftiest patriotism 
should combine to make the people of the ter- 
ritories faithful to the constitution and firm in 
their attachment to "the Union." When one 
is the subject of open and frequent violation, 
and the other trembles on a sea of troubles, 
every good and conscientious citizen will ask 
himself the question. What can I do that my 
country may be saved? You can not shut 
your eyes, nor can I close mine to the fearful 
fact that this confederacy is shaken to the 
center, and vibrates with intense feeling to its 
farthest borders. If it is not in our power to 
do something towards bringing back the days 
of other years when peace prevailed, let us at 
least do nothing towards making the present 
more gloomy, and the future at best, but hope- 
less. Rather with one accord let us invoke 
the God of all peace, for "even the wind and 
the sea obey Him," that He will subdue the 
storm and quiet every angry element of 
alienation and discord. 

The message and the reports of the auditor 
and treasurer repeat the familiar doleful finan- 
cial refrain. The territorial debt has risen in 



five years to $52,960.37, with $30,259.10 of 
taxes remaining unpaid, and the public busi- 
ness is still done in depreciated and rapidly 
increasing warrants. The treasurer complains 
that "many of the organized counties have 
failed to make any returns whatever, and 
some others only a small part of the amount 
assessed to them," and the auditor learns 
"that some counties in the southern part of 
the territory have taken it upon themselves to 
discard the levy of taxes made in 1859 by the 




€ 




Samuel Findley Buktch 
Member of constitutional convention, former 
treasurer of Sarpy county, member of legislature, 
1877, and receiver of United States land office. 

territorial board of equalization, and have 
made a levy to suit their views." Of a levy 
on the several counties of $19,615.47, for 
1859, only $4,813.36 had been paid. The mes- 
sage recommends the funding of the war- 
rants, then worth only fifty or sixty cents on 
the dollar, into five or ten year bonds. It 
complains also that the territorial officers who 
receive fees are getting extravagatit compen- 
sation. Exemption from taxation of a por- 
tion of individual holdings of land to encour- 



306 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



age growth of trees is also recommended. 
Other conditions are set forth as follows : 

It is not to be denied that appropriations to 
this territory have been both indifferent and 
few. Legislative memorials have hitherto ac- 
complished but little, and we have all become 
familiar with disappointment. They may not 
always fail, and if properly enforced, we are 
not without hope of their ultimate success. An 
appropriation for the building of a penitenti- 
ary is of immediate necessity. The completion 
of the capitol building is equally necessary and 
I will cheerfully cooperate with you in every 
endeavor that may be made to obtain from 
congress the required appropriations. With- 
out a bridge over the Loup Fork, the govern- 
ment road up the Platte valley is but a w^ork 
half done. This improvement is both a public 
and a military necessity ; and not less required, 
but indeed a matter of fair and just demand 
is an appropriation for at least one military 
road from some suitable point on the Mis- 
souri river, and south of the Platte to Fort 
Kearney. The question of gold in the west- 
ern part of this territory and of Kansas, is no 
longer doubtful nor open to debate. The 
travel to and from the mines during the past 
season has been, as you are well aware, im- 
mense. The incoming year will show a large 
and material increase. The vast emigration 
has been attended with considerable sickness 
and suffering, and in many instances death has 
ensued from the lack of accommodations, 
nursing and care. The hospital ■ attached to 
Fort Kearney is perhaps the only place oti 
the whole route where those overtaken by sick- 
ness have any opportunity of being nursed and 
furnished with medical attendance. I have 
received the gratifying intelligence that the 
officers of that post, including those of the 
medical staff, have done everything in their 
power to relieve the sick and mitigate their 
sufferings. Their means are necessarily lim- 
ited and the accommodations small. 

The only political question of importance 
considered at this session was the bill abolish- 
ing slavery. In view of the liberal attitude of 
the democratic platform toward that subject, 
and the fact that the Douglas popular sover- 
eignty element was in the ascendency, demo- 
cratic members could not consistently oppose 
the prohibition measure, and it passed the 
council with only three members voting no, 
Belden, Bennett, and Little, and the house 
with only two opposing, Acton and Porter. 
The governor again vetoed the measure, giv- 



ing the far-fetched reason for his objection 
that by the terms of the treaty of the Louisi- 
ana Purchase the prohibition could be legally 
made only after admission of the territory as 
a state, and further that the Dred Scott deci- 
sion stood in its way. But since the decision, 
or the dictum, only decided that a law of Con- 
gress — the Missouri Compromise — prohibit- 
ing slavery in territory of the LTnited States 
was unconstitutional, the question of the 
power of the local legislature in the premises 
was at least an open one. Both houses passed 
the bill over the veto, the council by the vote 
by which it had originally passed, and the 
house with the same number in opposition, 
but Downs taking the place of Acton, who 
had been unseated. 

In accordance with the governor's recom- 
mendation, acts were passed as follows : Fix- 
ing the annual rate of interest at ten per cent 
in the absence of agreement and a maximum 
of fifteen per cent by agreement, with a pen- 
alty of forfeiture of interest for violation of 
the law ; a law providing for the refunding of 
outstanding warrants, which by the act of 
1857 drew ten per cent interest, at seven per 
cent : reducing the fees of officers paid by that 
method, and the salaries of the territorial 
auditor and treasurer from the extravagant 
sum of $800 and $400 respectively to the 
munificent sum of $600 and $200. And to 
show beyond a peradventure that economy 
was rampant, the offices of territorial school 
commissioner and librarian were abolished 
and their duties imposed upon the auditor — 
presumably to give that officer no time to 
grieve over his own reduced stipend. An- 
other attempt was made to amend the reve- 
nue and school laws so that taxes might be 
collected. The manufacture of sugar was en- 
couraged by a law requiring county treasurers 
to pay out of any money in their hands not 
otherwise appropriated five cents for eacli 
pound of merchantable sugar manufactured 
from cane raised within the county. 

Congress was memorialized to organize the 
already provisionally organized territory of 
Jefferson for the following reasons : 

Your memorialists, the legislative assembly ^ 
of the territory of Nebraska, would most re- 



THE SEVENTH LEGISLATURE 



307 



spect fully represent to your honorable body 
that the people residing in the western portion 
of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, 
commonly known as the provisional territory 
of Jefferson, have, through their delegate to 
this assembly, expressed a desire to obtain a 
separate and distinct territorial organization, 
and your memorialists believe that the great 
distance intervening between the capital and 
the extreme western portion of this territory 
renders it impracticable to organize counties 
therein, and that a territorial organization is 
necessary to protect the lives and property of 
the people of that remote region. 

And your memorialists further represent 
that the gold mines of that region, are lo- 
cated in a portion of the territories of Kan- 
sas, Nebraska, Utah and New Mexico, which 
renders it expensive to the general govern- 
ment, and inconvenient and unsatisfactory to 
the inhabitants thereof to be represented in 
the legislatures of their respective territories. 

A somewhat reduced number of incorpo- 
ration and other special acts were passed at 
this session. 

Still determined to get the public printing 
from the control of the democratic secretary, 
the republican majority, by a joint resolution, 
appointed Edward D. Webster, publisher of 
the Omaha Republican, and Alfred Matthias 
public printers. But Judge Wakeley decided 
that under the organic act Secretary Morton 
was the rightful custodian of this business, as 
he had insisted from the time he became sec- 
retary. In view of the pending change of the 
national administration, a fierce controversy 
was raging at this time for apportioning the 
honors and emoluments of the newly trium- 
phant republicanism: 

The "irrepressible conflict" rages in the 
ranks of the republicans in this territory at 
a terrible rate. It is worse than the black 
tongue among the cattle in these parts, which 
in all conscience is bad enough. The leaders 
are fairly foaming and "slobbering at the 
mouth." Copperas and salt won't save them. 

It is a war of individuals and masses. The 
individuals, the aspirants for office, the Daily 
legislative clique are led by Taylor, Webster 
of Omaha, and some say Matthias of Nebraska 
City. We are induced to hope that the latter 
has' not yet got his foot full in the trap. The 
masses are led by Thayer and Monell of 
Omaha, and, it is said, Alason, Cavins, and 



Irish of this city. The war was opened in the 
legislature by the attempt of Dictator Taylor 
to read out of the republican party the "War- 
horse of Freedom," Gen. Thayer. The gen- 
eral wouldn't stay read out, and proved con- 
clusively that Taylor was never fairly in the 
party. Thayer having fairly squelched Tay- 
lor, Webster of the Omaha Republican turns 
upon Thayer and attempts to prove that he 
( Thayer) has always been a democrat. This 
looks a little strange to us who have had many 
a tilt with the general while he was editing the 
Republican. We remember to have character- 
ized that journal under his management as 
very black. WHien the moon turns into a great 
big head of green cabbage, and Thayer turns 
democrat, we'll inform our readers. For a 
faithful portrait of \\'ebster the curious are 
respectfully referred to Thayer's letter to the 
public. 

The census of 1860 gives the population of 
the territory as 28,841 — whites, 28,696 ; free 
colored, 67; slaves, 15; Indians, 63. Of this 
total, 1,761 whites and 4 Indians were in that 
portion of the territory north of latitude 40° 
and west of longitude 103° ; and in that por- 
tion bounded on the north by latitude 42°, 
east by longitude 101° 30', south by latitude 
40° and west by longitude 103°. Of the fif- 
teen slaves, 10 were in Otoe and 5 in Kearney 
county. Of the counties, Douglas led with 
4,305, next came Otoe, slightly below her 
rival, with 4,194; then Cass, 3,369; Nemaha, 
3,097; Richardson, 2,834; Washington, 1,249; 
Sarpy, 1,199. None of the other counties 
reached a thousand. But Nebraska City still 
had the satisfaction, no doubt keen enough, of 
out-ranking Omaha with 1,922 against 1,883, 
Bellevue coming next and showing astonish- 
ing vitality with 929. No other town in the 
territory reached 500. The population found 
west of longitude 103° and latitude 40°, 
amounting to 1,765, were mainly in the new 
gold mine region at the base of the Rocky 
mountains, and now a part of Colorado. 

The political event of the summer of 1861 
was the biennial contest for the seat in Con- 
gress, of more than usual interest this time 
on account of the unusual circumstances in 
which it arose and the ability and prominence 
of the men which Morton's brilliant qualities 
had attracted to his side. W. A. Richardson 



308 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



of Illinois, Daniel W. Voorhees of Indiana, 
and George H. Pendleton and Clement L. 
Vallandigham of Ohio advocated the cause of 
Morton on the floor, and Henry L. Dawes, 
chairman of the committee on elections, very 
ably conducted the case of Daily. Richard- 
son, who of course had become acquainted 
with Morton while he "had the misfortune to 
be governor of Nebraska," as he said in dis- 
cussing this case, in urging that he be per- 
mitted to present his own case to the house, 
made this confident prophecy as to the future 
of his young protege : 

I know him. I will say of him that of all 
the young men in the country, and I am fa- 




VVmtiAM F. LocKwooD 
Early judge of the third judicial district of Nebraska 

miliar with a very great many of them, he has 
the greatest intellect and the most promising 
future. I pass this compliment upon him. I 
have known him for years, and I have watched 
him well. Beyond the ( )hio river there is not 
a brighter intellect. Gentlemen, you will hear 
of him hereafter: mark my words. 

The organic act of the territory provided 
that "the manner of holding the elections (for 
delegate to Congress) shall be prescribed by 
law." and that "the person having the highest 
number of votes shall be declared by the gov- 



ernor to be duly elected." The election oc- 
curred October 9th. Under the law, the gov- 
ernor, the chief justice, and the United States 
attorney for the territory were the canvassing 
board. They met to canvass the returns of 
the general election on the 2d of November, 
and on their finding that Morton had the high- 
est number of votes Governor Black issued 
a certificate of election in his favor, Novem- 
ber 2, 1860. On the 29th of April, 1861, the 
governor issued a certificate in favor of Mr. 



Daily, 



follov 



I, Samuel W. Black, governor of Nebraska, 
do hereby certify that, at an election held in 
the said territory on Tuesday, the 9th day of 
October, 1860, for delegate to congress of the 
United States for the thirty-seventh congress, 
Samuel G. Daily was duly and lawfully elect- 
ed delegate to the said congress ; and whereas, 
after the canvass of the votes at the said elec- 
tion, a certificate of election was given to J. 
Sterling Morton, he having apparently the 
highest number of votes, having nominally 
fourteen votes more than Samuel G. Daily, the 
only opposing candidate ; and it being a fact 
that one hundred and twenty-two votes were 
counted to the said J. Sterling Morton in what 
is called the northern precinct of L'eau-qui- 
court county, that being the whole number of 
votes returned and claimed as cast therein at 
the election aforesaid. 

And it further appearing conclusively since 
the date of the said canvass and certificate 
issued to the said J. Sterling Morton, that the 
election in the said northern precinct of L'eau- 
qui-court was a fraud throughout, and should 
have been rejected and not counted, which 
would have shown a legal majority of one hun- 
dred and eight votes in favor of- the said Sam- 
uel G. Daily. 

Therefore. I. Samuel W. Black, governor 
of Nebraska territory, do hereby revoke the 
certificate of election issued as aforesaid to 
J. Sterling Morton, as delegate to congress 
to the thirty-seventh congress, and do certify 
that Samuel G. Daily was, according to a 
fair and just count, duly elected as delegate 
to the thirty-seventh congress of the United 
States for Nebraska territory. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set 
my hand and caused the great seal of the ter- 
ritory to be afiixed. 

Witness my hand at Omaha, this 29th day 
of April, A. D. 1861. 

[l. s.] Samuel W. Black. 

By virtue of this certificate the clerk of the 



AIORTOX-DAILY CONTEST 



309 



House, John W. Forney, entered Mr. Daily's 
name on the roll, and he was seated when the 
House met in special session on President 
Lincoln's call, July 4, 1861. In January, 1861, 
after the alleged frauds in L'eau-qui-pourt 
and other counties had been thoroughly dis- 
cussed in the newspapers, Governor Black was 
called as a witness in the contest case insti- 
tuted by Daily, and testified as to his own 
powers and his action in this case as follows : 

The board were unanimously of the opin- 
ion that when abstracts of the votes cast were 
transmitted by the county clerk, we could 
not in any case go behind his return to in- 
quire into the legality of the election in any 
precinct or all the precincts of any county, 
and this decision is precisely the same as the 
decision of the board in 1859, when Mr. Esta- 
brook and Mr. Daily were candidates, and 
in 1857, when Judge Ferguson, Mr. Chap- 
man and others, were candidates. Mr. Chap- 
man then insisted that the board should go 
behind the returns of the county clerks, alleg- 
ing fraud, etc., which they refused to do. 
Two of the board had supported him at the 
election, and it was decided unanimously that 
under the law of February 13, 1857, the gov- 
ernor had no power except to cast up the 
votes transmitted by the several county clerks. 
The decision of the last board was, that not- 
withstanding certain irregularities in the ab- 
stracts of returns transmitted by the clerks, 
still it was our duty to decide in favor of the 
franchise, provided the return seemed to be 
substantially correct. 

Mr. Pendleton, after quoting this testimony 
in the debate, said : 

And upon the following page of this printed 
record, when he is called upon to explain the 
grounds upon which the board of canvassers 
acted in counting the returns of L'eau-qui- 
court county, he justifies their action upon the 
ground that neither the governor alone nor 
the board of canvassers had any authority to 
go behind the papers that were placed before 
them, authenticated by the hand of the clerk 
and the seal of his county; and that he must 
have issued the certificate to Morton, and 
could not possibly have issued it to Daily. 

The following remarkable affidavit which 
is given with the running comment of Mr. 
Voorhees as he presented it in his speech 
shows when and how the second certificate 
was issued : 

I hold in my hand the affidavit of Mr. 
Pentland, which will show the character of 



this case in its legitimate colors. It is as 
follows : 

"District of Columbia, City of Washing- 
ton, ss : 

"I, Andrew W. Pentland, formerly resident 
of the territory of Nebraska, but more recent- 
ly connected with the army of the Potomac, 
upon my oath depose and say : I am a rela- 
tive of Samuel W. Black, formerly the gov- 
ernor of Nebraska ; that I was at his house in 
Nebraska City one day in May last, after he 
(Black) had been removed from the govern- 
orship of Nebraska, and Alvin Saunders had 
been appointed and had arrived in Nebraska, 
and had gone to Omaha — " 

That was after Governor Black's term of 
office had expired, after he had ceased to be 
governor of Nebraska — 

"And that at the private residence of the 
said Samuel W. Black, at Nebraska City, in 
the month of May, 1861, in the presence of 
Samuel G. Daily and Samuel W. Black, I 
copied for the said Black and Daily a cer- 
tificate of election to congress which he 
(Black) then and there in my presence and 
in Daily's presence, did sign and give to Mr. 
Daily, first, however, sticking upon the said 
certificate a green wafer, which had been 
under the great seal of the territory ;" 

I would not vote for any man, I care not 
what else he would present in the case, who 
would bedaub and defile his title deed by a 
transaction of this kind — 

"And the said certificate was made by date 
to appear to have been issued some time pre- 
vious, and by Black in his executive capacity 
of governor of Nebraska. 

"Furthermore this deponent is willing to go 
before the committee of elections for the 
House of Representatives of the thirty-sev- 
enth congress, and be examined and cross- 
examined upon all the above subject-matter. 
"A. W. Pentl.\nd. 

"Sworn and subscribed to before me this 
4th day of March, A. D. 1862. 

"F. I. Murphy, /. P. [l. s.]" 

Ah, this is not evidence, say the commit- 
tee. Why not? Under the resolution I have 
quoted from the extra session, it is clear, 
legitimate, and proper evidence. But further, 
if that would not do, Mr. Morton ofifered to 
bring the witness himself before the commit- 
tee in proper person. That was refused, and 
it is to be observed here that it was not for 
the want of proper notice. 

But by the 7th of May, 1862, Mr. Daily 
was able to produce another affidavit from 
Pentland, dated the 30th of April, 1862, in 
the course of which he declared : 



310 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




Cyioe^^T^y C:«o 0/5>i$^-2^^ 



[Note — Henry A. Koenig was an early miller, himln-r man, and banker of Grand Island, Nebraska] 



MORTON-DAILY CONTEST 



311 



I said, in my affidavit of the 4th of March, 
that I copied said certificate some time in 
May last, after he ( Black ) had been removed 
from the governorship of Nebraska, and Al- 
vin Saunders had been appointed. I am. now 
quite certain that it was on the 9th of May. 
1861, four days before Governor Black re- 
moved from the territory. But by saying 
that it was after he had been removed from 
the governorship of Nebraska, I did not mean 
to be understood that he was not then the 
governor, for I am certain he was ; I only 
intended to say that it was after his removal 
so far as the appointment of Governor Saun- 
ders removed him ; but he was the governor 
up to the time he left the territory, as Gov- 
ernor Saunders had not yet been qualified, 
nor entered upon the duties of his office — in 
fact, I think he arrived at Omaha on the 12th, 
and Black left on the 13th of May. The orig- 
inal of the certificate was in Governor Black's 
handwriting, and was not very legible, and 
the paper was rumpled. I put the same date 
in the copy as was in the original, and placed 
a green wafer on it that had been under the 
seal. Governor Black had such wafers in his 
possession, and used them when necessary to 
facilitate business, as his residence was fifty 
miles from Omaha City, the capital of the 
territory. 

But an imjiortant change in this facile affi- 
davit-maker's fortunes changed his point of 
view and materially alTected his memory. Mr. 
Richardson explained Pentland's change of 
attitude thus : 

One or two days after Morton had offered 
to introduce Pentland as a witness before the 
committee, the sitting delegate recommended 
the appointment of that witness as a clerk in 
one of the de])artments here. I ask the clerk 
to read the letter of the secretary of the in- 
terior. 

The clerk read as follows : 

Department of the Interior, 
"April 22, 1862. 
"Sir: In reply to your letter of the 21st 
instant, I have the honor to inform you that 
Mr. A. W. Pentland was appointed a tem- 
porary clerk in the General Land Office, the 
15th March, 1862, on the recommendation of 
Hon. S. G. Daily, of Nebraska territory. 
There are no papers on file in the department 
in behalf of Mr. Pentland. 

"Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
"Caleb B. Smith. 
"Secretary of the Interior. 
"Hon. W. a. Richardson, 

"House of Representatives." 



Contiiuiing, Mr. Richardson said: 

If you will examine the date of Pent- 
land's affidavit, and the appointment of Pent- 
land by the Secretary of the Interior, upon 
the recommendation of the sitting delegate, 
you will find that they occurred within twO' 
or three days of each other. 

Mr. Pendleton put this severe construction 
on Black's action : 

I will not inquire into the arguments which 
changed the opinion of the governor, nor 
into the motives of the change. But having 
seen what was done, I was not surprised to 
find the sworn testimony of a witness brought 
before the committee for cross-examination, 
showing that this second certificate was issued 
after the man had ceased to be governor of 
Nebraska ; that it was issued from his private 
residence, although dated at the executive 
chamber; that it was issued from Nebraska 
City, although dated at Omaha; that it was 
verified by an impression of the seal of the 
territory, which had been fraudulently taken 
from a paper on which it had originally been 
rightly put, in order that it might be more 
fraudulently put on this false and spurious 
certificate. . . The second certificate was 
issued in face of the only legal count had. I 
submit to gentlemen whether they ever heard 
that one member of a court consisting of three 
could, at his own residence, in his own cham- 
ber, of his own motion, review and reverse 
the decision that had been made by the whole 
court? And yet that is what the governor of 
Nebraska attempted to do in this case — no, 
not the governor, he had ceased to be gov- 
ernor then — but the gentleman who had been 
governor. 

As to the seal placed on the Daily certifi- 
cate Mr. Voorhees said : 

I hold in my hand the certificate brought 
here by the sitting delegate. It was before 
the committee. I would submit it to any 
sworn jury of twelve men whether it does 
not bear upon its face the evidence of for- 
gery. I will submit it to any fair-minded 
man in the House whether it is not a for- 
gery, not in the name, but a forgery in the 
seal. I do not ask you to take my assertion, 
for I have here the evidence. The paper 
bears upon itself the evidence that the "great 
seal of the territory of Nebraska has been 
forged and stuck on with the finger, not by 
the legal stamp. The paper has not the mark 
of the iron upon it, which constitutes the 
seal. 

Mr. Dawes himself testified to the culpa- 



312 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 





Charles A. Speice, Columbus 



John Carrigan, Blair 





Thomas F. Hall, Omaha 



Manley Rogers, Fremont 



'4 



MORTON-DAILY CONTEST 



313 



bility of Black in giving the second certifi- 
cate: 

I said in the House last July, . . . what 
I am willing to state anywhere, that after the 
governor of Nebraska had given one certificate 
to the now contestant he had no authority to 
give another. 

The hardships and injustice that Morton 
suffered from Black's fraud upon him were 
expressed by Voorhees : 

By an unjust, certainly by an unreflecting, 
vote of the House. Mr. Daily was allowed to 
take his seat as sitting member ; and the man 
who came here with his certificate — as good 
as yours or mine, or that of any man on this 
floor — was turned from the bar of the House 
and compelled to contest his way back to this 
Hall, or abandon his clear and legal right to 
a seat. Now, starting with a proposition of 
this kind, I generally find, in my transactions 
with men, that nothing fair follows such a 
beginning. That is my experience. 

Not the least source of Morton's mortifica- 
tion and hardship was the fact that the issuing 
of the second certificate was concealed from 
him until he went to take his seat at the spe- 
cial session of Congress in July, 1861, eight 
months after he had received his own cer- 
tificate and four months after his term of 
office had begun. Said Mr. Dawes : "The 
gentleman came here with a certificate from 
the governor precisely like our own, without 
any intimation from anybody that he was not 
entitled to take the seat." 

Following is Morton's own account of this 
part of the case : 

On the morning of the 4th of July last I 
arrived here to take my seat in this House. 
I had been duly and legally certificated a 
member of this House. I had no more sus- 
picion or thought that any other person than 
myself would be sworn in as delegate from 
Nebraska than you, ]\Ir. Speaker, had that 
some other person than yourself would be 
qualified to represent your district from the 
state of Pennsylvania. . . Six months or 
more after the canvassing board had awarded 
the certificate of election to me, and Governor 
Black had issued it ; three months after the 
death of Chief Justice Hall, whom the law 
of the territory made a member of the board 
of canvassers, and who had acted in that ca- 
pacity, and concurred in the award of the 
certificate to me; nearly two months after the 



term of my office as delegate in congress be- 
gan, (that is, after the 4th of March, and 
ostensibly on the 29th of April, 1861), Sam- 
uel W. Black, without notifying the district 
attorney, without a recount of the votes, with- 
out notice to me, without the authority of law 
or precedent, secretly, fraudulently, and per- 
fidiously issued a pseudo certificate to Mr. 
Daily, and attempted to revoke mine without 
notifying me. He did this because he hated, 
and desired to injure me. It was the ven- 
geance of an assassin and a coward wreaked 
upon one who had, by loaning him hundreds 
of dollars, saved himself and family from 
shame and mortification, saved even their fam- 
ily carriage from public auction at the hands 
of the sherifl:. Mr. Black owed me money, 
and he became indignant because I, after he 
had enjoyed for three years the use of a few 
hundred dollars, which he had borrowed to 
return in three days, pressed him for pay- 
ment. He owes that money yet, though I 
may possibly reach a part of it as follows : 

"sheriff's S.\LE. 
"J. Sterling Morton 

vs. 
"Samuel W. Black. 

"Notice is hereby given, that by virtue of a 
special execution to me directed, from the 
clerk of the district court of Otoe county, Ne- 
braska territory, against the goods, chattels, 
land, and tenements of Samuel W. Black, de- 
fendant, in favor of J. Sterling Morton, plain- 
tiiif, I will offer at public sale, to the highest 
and best bidder on Saturday, the 17th day of 
May, A. D. 1862, at the hour of ten o'clock, 
A. M., all the right, title, and interest of the 
said defendant in and to the following de- 
scribed property, to-wit : 

"The north, half of the northwest quarter 
of section thirteen; and the east half of the 
south half of the southwest quarter of sec- 
tion twelve, township seven, range nine, east; 
and south half of the northeast quarter of 
section twenty-six, town seven, range thirteen, 
east of sixth principal meridian, Otoe county, 
Nebraska territory. 

"Sale to take place on said day in front of 
the door of the room where the last term of 
the district court was held in Nebraska City, 
Otoe county, Nebraska territory. 

"Given under my hand, this 11th day of 
April, A. D. 1862. 

"George W. Sroat, 
"Sheriff of Otoe County, N'cbraska Terri- 
tory." 

It can not be that the House of Represen- 
tatives would become the coadjutor of an in- 
dividual in his pursuit of revenge, and I am 



314 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



therefore confident that, could I liave been 
allowed time at the beginning of the extra 
session, I could have prevented the swearing 
in of Mr. Daily upon his fraudulent certifi- 
cate, and I might now show that Black's ava- 
rice and malice were jointly gratified by the 
issuance of the second certificate. 

Daily admitted that Black had requested 
him to say nothing about the issuance of the 
second certificate. "He said he was hounded 
liy this man Morton who had a debt against 
him upon which he would stop his property 
and prevent him from going away." But 
Daily stated further that after he had arrived 
at Washington, and doubtless filed his own 
certificate and had his name entered on the 
roll, he gave the fact out to the newspapers 
that he had a certificate. Daily's version of 
the story of obtaining the certificate is as 
follows : 

Governor Black and I, at his solicitation, 
not mine, went to the city of Omaha — -Gov- 
ernor Black's residence was at Nebraska City, 
fifty miles from Omaha — and there, at the 
seat of government. Governor Black made out 
this certificate to me, which I took to my at- 
torney, Judge Conkling, and asked him 
whether I should accept it or not. He ad- 
vised me not to accept it. I then went to my 
other attorney, Mr. Lapp, and asked him. He 
advised me to accept it, saying that it could 
do no harm, and perhaps it might do good. 
He said it was good and right in law. I 
therefore told Governor Black that I would 
accept the certificate. Governor Black took 
the certificate and put it into his pocket and 
started for home. For some reason, he got 
off the boat before he got home. In a day 
or two he came home. I went then to him 
and asked him for the certificate. He deliv- 
ered it to me, but said it was so rumpled and 
such a poor handwrite (being his own hand) 
that it should be copied, and he gave it to 
Pentland, his clerk, to copy it. Pentland cop- 
ied it, gave it to Black-, and Black took from 
his desk a blank seal which had been stamped, 
and which he had in his house at Nebraska 
City, and attached it to the certificate, and 
then gave the certificate to me. He was then 
still acting governor of Nebraska territory. 

In the discussion before the House, at a 
special session in May, 1862, Richardson 
strongly urged that a great wrong had been 
done Morton in allowing Daily to be seated 
at the last session on his fraudulent certifi- 



cate and that the wrong should be righted by 
acknowledging Morton's priiiia facie right to 
the seat now ; and at the regular session, in a 
powerful speech, Voorhees took the same 
ground. But Dawes, while admitting the in- 
validity of the certificate on which Daily had 
been seated in July, 1861, had no mind to 
yield the advantage to a hostile partisan, and 
insisted that the case should be decided on its 
merits ; and though the time for the regular 
notice had passed, Morton v\'as permitted to 
take testimony as contestant. Daily had pro- 
ceeded to take testimony as contestant after 
he had obtained the concealed certificate. 
Morton, however, refused to open up the case 
extensively at that late day, knowing that if 
he did so the term would expire before the 
decision could be reached. The case was 
heard in May, 1862, at the regular session. 
The principal efifort of Dawes on the part of 
Daily was to throw out 122 votes from a 
northern precinct of L'eau-qui-court county, 
which had been counted for IMorton. On this 
point Mr. Voorhees said: 

Well, the sitting delegate has held the seat 
here for nearly a year, as we have demon- 
strated, wrongly, and by an invalid title, and a 
ruse of that kind deceived nobody. His object 
was to throw open the whole question again, 
and prolong the controversy, and thus obtain 
another year's lease upon his mileage and per 
diem and a seat in this House, upon this 
paper which should be the object of the scorn 
and hissing of every honest man within the 
sound of my voice. The offer was resisted, 
and General Todd was not allowed to be called 
as a witness, except upon conditions that 
would inflict still further wrong. 

Mr. \'oorhees then read an affidavit made 
by Herman ^Vestermann which recited that 
he had emplo)'ed W. W. Waford and Jacob 
He,ck as witnesses on Daily's behalf to prove 
that the 122 votes in question were fraudu- 
lent, and that he had paid Waford $100 and 
Heck $50 for this testimony. I\Ir. Pendleton 
argued strongly against throwing out this 
vote, but Dawes insisted that it had been 
proved fraudulent and the recommendation of 
tlie committee was adopted by a vote of 69 to 
48, and Morton lost his seat. 

It would be idle to pass positive opinions 
upon the charges of irregularity and fraud in 



MORTOX-DAILY COXTEST 



315 



the votes of L'eaii-qui-court, ButYalo, Paw- 
nee, and Richardson counties under conditions 
where fraud and irregularity were regular 
and normal. There was enough taint of 
fraud and irregularity in Butifalo and L'eau- 
c(ui-court to give color to the act of a hostile 
partisan House in ousting Alorton, just as 
there was enough fraud and irregularity 
shown in Pawnee and Richardson counties to 
have justified the House, if it had been demo- 
cratic instead of republican, in seating Alor- 
ton. It is doubtful if human skill and judg- 
ment, however honest, could ever have ar- 
rived at a true solution of this question on its 
merits. The only safe position to take in the 
case of almost any election contest in early 
Nebraska is that of Lord [Melbourne, who, dis- 
appointed in not receiving the order of the 
garter, promptly decided that, "There's no 
damned merit in it." And yet Morton's 
right to the seat in the first instance was based 
on grounds so strictly regular and so strong 
that to deprive him of it was clearly a gross 
outrage ; and the evidence adduced would not 
have warranted ousting him. In course of 
the hearing in the House there was much ex- 
pression of disgust because contests from Ne- 
braska were the regular thing, and Daily made 
the misstatement that every delegate election 
since the organization of the territory had 
been contested. This is not true of the first 
election. But the perfidy of the second cer- 
tificate affair is unquestionable, and, consid- 
ering the general character of Black, inex- 
plicable. Men still living, who were his 
friends and companions at that time, esteem 
him as a man of warm and generous im- 
pulses and a magnetic and attractive person- 
ality, genial and affable towards his friends 
but bitterly resentful against his enemies. 
The reply to a charge of the Nebraska City 
Press that the reported vote from L'eau-qui- 
court county was a "base, palpable, infamous 
fraud"; that if it was so Governor Black 
knew it, "and knowing it he is a perjured vil- 
lain for not refusing the certificate to Mor- 
ton," was no less unassailable than savage. 

By this perfidious, stealthy trick Morton 
lost his last opportunity to gratify a long 
cherished ambition to become a member of 



Congress; for after that republicanism and 
then populism became so strong" that there 
was no chance for a democrat as he counted 
democracy. And yet should it not be counted 
as fortunate for Morton that fate — or, what 
was the same thing, his lack of the gift or vice 
of prudent acquiescence necessary to political 
success — kept him out of the pitfall of politi- 
cal place? By force of ability and character 
he constantly maintained a position of great 
])rominence in Nebraska, and in later years 




WlLLlA.M t'm ktl.UiWj 
Third chief justice of Nebraska territory' 

was a national figure, while many of his suc- 
cessful rivals in politics, that is, in office-get- 
ting, lived a brief day of notoriety and then 
passed into normal insignificance. Mr. 
Daily, like most men who ventured far upon 
the uncertain sea of politics at any early age, 
was prominent for a few years after this con- 
test, and then felt constrained to accept the 
office of deputy collector of customs at New 
Orleans, under the notorious ex-chief justice 
of Nebraska, William Pitt Kellogg, where he 
died in September, 1864. This Kellogg is now 
remembered as the famous trainer of the J. 
Madison \\^ellses, the Andersons, the Eliza 
Pinkstons, and other jugglers in the remark- 



316 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



able feat of "returning" the vote of Louisiana 
in 1876 so that it should elect the republican 
presidential electors, and defeat the republi- 
can state ticket with 7,000 more votes than 
the electors ; and before he had left Nebraska 
the Omaha Republican had credited him with 
ample craftiness for this formidable feat. 
Dundy pursued ]\Iorton relentlessly in this 
campaign, as he had previously promised 
to do ; and while his aid was not necessary to 
secure the inevitable defeat of Morton, his 
devotion to Daily laid the foundation for his 
long career upon the federal bench for the ter- 
ritory and the state. He was the object of 
much contemptuous animadversion on the 
part of Morton's champions in the House for 
the anxious part he took in the contest; and 
while Morton on the whole controlled his 
tongue with skilful discretion, yet it seemed 
as if there was only the more venom to spare 
for every allusion to his relentless enemy. 
"Dundy," said he, "is one of the ablest jour- 
neymen witnesses in the world and his style, 
as a practical and pointed evidence-giver, ad- 
mirable." In another part of his statement 
of his case to the House, a paragraph given 
up to Dundy is one of the severest philippics 
ever spoken. 

Daily, while no match for Morton's cultiva- 
tion and brilliancy, yet conducted his part in 
the controversy with ability, readiness, and 
skill, though often provoking laughter by his 
unlettered manner and method. When Voor- 
hees flayed him for turning on his benefactor. 
Black, for his copperhead politics, he, in un- 
dertaking a retort, remarked : "It is said in 
the Scripture that. 

'While t!ie lamp holds out to burn 
The vilest sinner may return.' " 

And when Lovejoy interjected, "I feel bound 
to interfere in behalf of Scripture," Dailv 
quickly retorted, "It is a good doctrine and 
ought to be there if it isn't. I have read 
Watts and the Bible so much together that I 
sometimes mistake one for the other." 

Mr. Loomis of Connecticut offered a reso- 
lution providing for the payment to I\Ir. Mor- 
ton of the usual compensation without mileage 
from July 25, 1861, to May 7. 1862 — the 
period covered by the second trial or contest 



on its merits. Mr. Frank of New York ob- 
jected that the custom of over-liberal allow- 
ance for contestants had grown into an abuse ; 
and Mr. McKnight of Pennsylvania said that 
where the delegate came from a far distant 
state or territory the mileage was enormous, 
and a contestant ought to be satisfied with it 
and not to expect any salary. Inquiry showed 
that Mr. Morton had already received from 
the beginning of his term, IMarch 4, 1861, to 
July 25, 1861, the first session, $1,180.40 as 
salary and $1,508 as mileage — $2,688.40 in 
all. After a sharp discussion the resolution 
passed by a vote of 61 to 58. This second 
allowance was about $2,300. During the de- 
bate over the merits of the contest Daily had 
accused Morton of receiving $300 more in 
mileage than he himself had received. 

It appeared that for this second session 
Daily had received $75 less mileage than was 
paid to Morton for the first session, but Rob- 
inson of Illinois accused Daily of deceit and 
misrepresentation as follows : "He has evi- 
dently endeavored to create the impression 
that he had only drawn the amount of mileage 
as read at the clerk's desk (for the present 
session). He drew for the 36th Congress 
$2,160 for each session. He now draws 
$1,433.60, which the committee on mileage 
has compelled him to take. At the last ses- 
sion he drew $2,100 mileage on his own mo- 
tion." In the course of the debate Daily 
had charged INIorton with "disloyalty," at that 
time a grievous accusation, and Mr. Blake of 
Connecticut said, "I have a communication 
here in which Morton's loyalty is impeached 
and I want the House to know it," but the 
House did not receive the communication. 

Governor Black's character and fine gen- 
tlemaidy qualities were highly regarded by his 
associates, and his part in this transaction is 
perhaps the old story of the compensating 
weakness so often associated with strongly 
developed emotional and sentimental quali- 
ties, and which often make their possessors 
popular and the most successful leaders of 
the crowd. And perhaps this gallant soldier's 
seemingly servile acquiescence in Buchanan's 
subserviency to the destructive madness of 
the slave oligarchv was due to an overween- 



DEPARTURE OF GO\"ERNOR BLACK 



317 



ing or exuberant sense of loyalty which, in a 
noble cause, inspired him to noble deeds. 

Governor Black left the territory May 14, 
1862, for his old home, Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- 
vania, where he was born in 1818, and on his 
arrival he raised the Sixty-second regiment of 
Pennsylvania volunteers. On the 27th of 
June, 1862, he was killed in the battle at 
Gaines' Mill while leading his command in a 
desperate charge. The last letter of public 
import which he wrote in Nebraska illus- 
trates the grace and eloquence which character- 
ized his utterances. Thought of his tragic 
but glorious fate, so soon to end his career, 
lends peculiar interest and pathos to the clos- 
ing words of this letter written to friends at 
Nebraska City, where he had resided since 
coming to Nebraska, declining the invitation 
to a farewell banquet to be given in his honor : 

On the morrow I shall start to Pennsyl- 
vania to stand there, as here, very close to the 
flag that she follows. I think I shall recog- 
nize it as the same which has always waved, 
and always will wave over the heads of her 
strong and brave battalions. It is a goodly 
flag to follow, and carries a daily beauty in its 
folds which makes all others ugly. But for- 
give me — I have altogether digressed when 
I meant only to thank you, and say, farewell. 

The change of administration in the spring 
of 1861 was the sunrise of a long day for the 
republicans, and the sunset which ushered in 
an equally long night for the antipodal demo- 
cratic politicians of the territory. 

That Nebraska exhibited true western en- 
terprise and contributed her full quota in the 
appalling siege of Washington for the spoils 
of office, which was incident to the first ad- 
vent into power of a great party vmder our 
even then colossal spoils system, and had 
been quick to exact from President Lincoln, 
as early as March 26, 1861, the removal from 
office of so ultra-patriotic a soul as Governor 
Black, we have the testimony of Mr. Thomp- 
son, editor of the republican Plattsmouth 
Herald, in a letter to his paper, written from 
the national capital, February 25, 1861 : 

Cicero once said that Rome contained all 
the bilge-water of the ship of state. Wash- 
ington, at this time, seems like a vast reser- 
voir into which all the political sewers of the 



continent are emptying their filth. There are, 
doubtless, very many great and good men 
here (besides ourself) — patriots, statesmen, 
divines — yet, if Gen. Scott's battery of flying 
artillery were to open a running fire on the 
crowded thoroughfares of the city to-morrow, 
we fancy the country would be benefited 
rather than injured by the indiscriminate mas- 
sacre of the pestilential crew. . . W. H. 
Taylor of Nebraska City is our room-mate. 
Among the Nebraskans are: Webster, Pad- 
dock, Hitchcock and Meredith, of Omaha ; 




Fourth governor of Nebraska territory May 2, 1859, 

to ^lay 11, 1861, and associate justice of the supreme 

court of Nebraska in 1857 



Irish, Taylor, Cavins, and one or two others 
of Nebraska City; Elbert of Plattsmouth; and 
several whose names we have forgotten, from 
various parts of the territory. 

To which the delighted Nebraska City 
Nc'ii's appends: "Shoot away. General 
Scott !" 

By the middle of June the deposed outs 
were disposing themselves as follows : 

Some of our readers may wish to know 
where and what the well abused late govern- 



318 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ment officials of this territory are doing. Gov. 
Black is in command ofthe western division 
of Pennsylvania troops. He is rampant for 
the Union. 

Secretary Morton, now delegate in Con- 
gress, is at present raising corn, cabbage and 
"some pumpkins" on his farm one mile west 
of this city. 

The talented and facetious Judge Hall, chief 
justice, is in his grave. (Died at Bellevue. 
February 13, 1861.) After life's fitful fever, 
he sleeps well. The judge was learned in the 
law, and was altogether the wittiest, and rac- 
iest on a story of any man in the western 
country. 

Judge Wakeley is still at his post of duty. 
Tlie man who declared the American Union 




J.\MEs Wilson Coleman 
Soldier and early sheriff of Otoe county, Nebraska 

"a failure" has been appointed to succeed him, 
but we think will not hold court just yet. 

Judge Miller is still on duty. A man by 
the name of Milligan has been appointed in 
his place, we believe, Init will not be apt to 
officiate right away. 

Ex-Marshal Moore is at his home in Ken- 
tucky. He is too good a fellow, it seems to 
us, to be a secessionist, though of his exact 
position on the great ciuestion we are not at 
jjresent informed. 

Andy Hopkins, former register of the land 
office in this city, is waging a gallant fight 



with his vigorous pen, on Erie's shores, for 
the Union in its integrity. 

E. A. Des Londes, former receiver in the 
land office in this city, has an appointment in 
the Confederate army, and is at the city of 
Richmond. 

Rivalry between republican leaders became 
intense as high honors and emoluments came 
within reach ; and one faction, including the 
Omaha Republican and the Nebraska City 
Press and W. H. Taylor undertook to read 
Thayer out of the party ; but he has man- 
aged to outlive most of his rivals, both politi- 
cally and physicially. Consistency is not a 
high merit, but only the few distinctively 
original men will flout it, and only the very 
strong leaders of men may flout it with impu- 
nity. The Herald, therefore, paid a compli- 
ment to Thayer's superior prudence when it 
said : "He rides one horse and sits the animal 
badly." 

Alvin Saunders, of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, 
succeeded Black as governor, May 1 1th, and 
Algernon S. Paddock, of Washington county, 
Nebraska, succeeded J. Sterling Morton as 
secretary of the territory. May 18th. About 
the same time William F. Lockwood of Da- 
kota county and of the Elyria, Ohio, trinity — 
Judge E. Wakeley and Bird B. Chapman be- 
ing the other two — was appointed judge of 
the third judicial district, succeeding his for- 
mer fellow-townsman who had been reap- 
pointed shortly before the close of Buchanan's 
administration. The democrats being out 
now, raised the same cry of carpet-bag ap- 
pointments against the republicans which the 
latter had dinned in democratic ears during 
the whole period of their incumbency, and the 
disappointed republicans joined lustily in the 
protest. As Governor Saunders appeared to 
be only a boarder in the territory for some 
time after assuming his office, he was sarcas- 
tically assigned to the carpet-bag class : "Gov. 
Saunders, of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, is in Ne- 
braska on a visit. He arrived at Omaha on 
last Wednesday." 

The outbreak of the Civil war aiifected Ne- 
braska as a frontier settlement, and not- 
withstanding that Governor Black was in 
daily expectation of turning over his office 



MILITARY AFFAIRS 



319 



to his successor, he felt that conditions were 
such as to require him to issue an order for all 
volunteer military companies to report forth- 
with — those of the First brigade to Major- 
General Thayer and those of the Second bri- 
gade to Brigadier-General Downs. 

It will be seen that the legislative act of 
1856 was followed in this order, and that two 
of the generals elected by the legislature under 
the act were recognized as still in office, though 
the original attempt at organization had not 
been successfully prosecuted. Brigadier- 
General L. L. Bowen of the Second brigade, 
or South Platte division, had gone to Colo- 
rado where he was an unsuccessful candidate 
for the legislature in 1861. On the 30th of 
April, Governor Black issued a proclamation 
recommending the organization of military 
companies throughout the territory on account 
of "the withdrawal of United States troops 
from some of the forts of Nebraska and the 
disturbed condition of the country." These 
companies were not required to report to the 
regular military organization. 

The right view of the case is presented by 
his excellency in his proclamation. His ac- 
tion had. however, rather been anticipated by 
the people. Already there are four full com- 
panies organized in this city. Omaha, we be- 
lieve, has an equal number already organized ; 
and the other towns in the territory have gen- 
erally effected similar organizations. We 
trust these companies will at once be supplied 
with arms. We don't believe there will be 
anybody "hurt" if the territory is armed; but 
it is best to prepare for war in times of 
peace. . . Nebraska is abundantly able to 
take care of herself, with or without the pro- 
tection of the administration at Washington.'' 

But on the 28th of the following August 
this First Nebraska regiment, under the com- 
mand of Colonel John M. Thayer and Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Hiram P. Downs, left Ne- 
braska for active service in Missouri. 

On the 18th Governor Saunders issued the 
first proclamation for the territory calling for 
volunteers for the Civil war as follows : 

Whereas, The president of the United 
States has issued a proclamation calling into 
the service of the United States an additional 
volunteer force of infantry cavalry to serve 



for a period of three years, unless sooner dis- 
charged; and the secretary of war having as- 
signed one regiment to the territory of Ne- 
braska, now, therefore, I, Alvin Saunders, 
governor of Nebraska, do issue this, procla- 
mation, and hereby call upon the militia of 
the territorv immediately to form in different 
companies with a view of entering the service 
of the United States, under the aforesaid call. 
Companies, when formed, will proceed to 
elect a captain and two lieutenants. The 
number of men required for each company 
will be made known as soon as the instruc- 




Nancy Jane CotEMAN 
Wife of James W. Coleman 

tions are received from the war department; 
but it is supposed now that it will not be less 
than seventy-eight men. 

As soon as a company has formed and has 
elected its officers, the captain will report the 
same to the adjutant general's office. 

Efforts are being made to trample the Stars 
and Stripes, the emblem of our liberties, in 
the dust. Traitors are in the land busily en- 
gaged in trying to overthrow .the government 
of the United States, and information has 
been received that the same traitors are en- 
deavoring to incite an invasion of our fron- 
tier by a savage foe. In view of these facts 
I invoke the aid of every lover of his coun- 

* Nebraska Citv Nen'S, May 11, 1861. 



320 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



try and his home to come promptly forward 
to sustain and protect the same. 

Done at Omaha, this 18th day of May, A. 
D. 1861. Alvin Saunders. 

It was thought improbable that troops 
would be ordered from this sparsely settled, 
unprotected frontier for active service in the 
East, especially when there were thousands of 
men already refused by the government ; but 
it was deemed probable that the design was to 
garrison the forts from which the United 
States troops had been withdrawn. "This ter- 
ritory cannot well spare 1,000 troops, coming 
as they would from the productive classes, 
mechanics and men who work for a living." 
The still straitened condition of territorial af- 
fairs is reflected by a "military gentleman" 
thus : 

Our military organization is a most difficult 
question. Were there now a sudden emer- 
gency demanding the transportation of a few 
hundred men any material distance north, 
south or west, I do not believe that we could 
procure on the credit of the territory the 
horses, wagons, provisions and ammunition 
that would be necessary for the purpose, 
much less to supply them for many days in 
the field. 

So heavy are our taxes pressing upon the 
people that I do not suppose that anyone 
would for a moment contemplate increasing 
them ; while to effect anything for military 
purposes would be to demand a very large in- 
crease. 

We cannot anticipate our future resources. 
A very slight increase of our debt would 
prostrate our credit utterly; our territorial 
warrants would be worthless, and bonds 
could not be sold, I fear, at any price. 

The present harvest has just shown us that 
there are scarcely hands enough, even with 
the aid of machinery, to secure our crops. Yet 
if we can do anything it will be to spare the 
men, provided their families are supported — 
in other words that they are paid. . . 

If the U. S. Government would arm, equip, 
subsist and pay a proper number of men to be 
placed, say 300 at Fort Kearney to move 
along our frontier, 100 at Brownville or some 
point in that vicinity, and 100 up toward 
L'Eau Qui Court, they would constitute a 
sufficient guard for the present, and with an 
efficient organization of our militia could be 
re-enforced, whenever required. 

But the U. S. must foot the bill — -we are, 
I conceive, utterlv unable to do it.^ 



The anxieties and terrors of the Civil war 
for a time subdued the petty feelings and 
strifes of partisanship, and it was announced 
that "the republican and democratic central 
committees which recently convened at 
Omaha, after full consideration very wisely 
determined upon the inexpediency of drawing 
party lines this fall." There was a prevailing 
sentiment that there were no party questions, 
only the question of loyalty or disloyalty to the 
Union. William E. Harvey, a democrat, 
was elected auditor over Stephen D. Bangs, a 
republican, and Augustus Kountze was elected 
treasurer without opposition. The call to 
arms made many vacancies in the council, and 
William F. Sapp of Douglas county was 
elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resig- 
nation of John M. Thayer; C. Blanchard of 
Sarpy, in place of Silas A. Strickland ; John 
McPherson from Nemaha and Johnson, in 
place of Thomas W. Tipton, and Samuel M. 
Kirkpatrick from Cass, Dodge, and Otoe, in 
place of Samuel H. Elbert. The other nine 
members held over from the previous session. 
The eighth session of the general assembly 
opened December 2, 1861. John Taffe, re- 
publican, of Dakota county, was chosen presi- 
dent of the council, receiving seven votes, his 
democratic opponent, David D. Belden of 
Douglas, receiving four votes. Robert W. 
Furnas of Nemaha county was elected chief 
clerk. Party lines were not drawn in the 
choice of speaker of the house, and Alfred D. 
Jones of Douglas county, was chosen on the 
sixth ballot, receiving thirty-one votes against 
five for Milton W. Reynolds of Otoe and one 
for Barnabas Bates of Dakota. George L. 
Seybolt of Cass county was elected chief 
clerk. Among the names of other officers of 
the house familiar to present citizens of Ne- 
braska are those o'f Isham Reavis of Richard- 
son, enrolling clerk, and Joseph J. Imhofl: of 
Otoe county, fireman. Turner M. Marquett 
was the youngest member of the council and 
Robert IM. Hagaman, who, as county clerk of 
L'eau-qui-court county, laid the foundation 
for keeping J. Sterling Morton out of the Con- 
gress of the United States by rejecting the 



s Nebraska Advertiser, October 3, 1861. 



THE EIGHTH LEGISLATURE 



321 



election returns from the northern precinct of 
that county in 1860, was, it was said, the 
youngest and also the handsomest member of 
the house. John Taft'e of Dakota county, 
president of the council, and subsequently 
delegate to Congress, and an Omaha journal- 
ist, was a native of Indiana and thirty-three 
years of age. "While there was at least an 
equal amount of assembled talent ; a greater 
degree of sobriety and 'good looks' ; more 
sociability and general good feeling . . . 
we are constrained to assert that we witnessed 
at no previous session such an exhibition and 
exercise of downright contrariness."'' For the 
first time in the history of the territory the re- 
publicans were in the saddle in both the execu- 
tive and legislative departments. And such 
were the impetus and the inertia of the Union 
sentiment and the cohesive power of the pas- 
sions and spoils of war, that, no matter what 
the shortcomings or the trespasses of this war 
party, it could not be unhorsed for a quarter 
of a century to come. 

Governor Saunders in his message reiter- 
ated the oft-told tale of the providential prep- 
aration of the Platte valley for a railway to 
the Pacific, and added that "the intelligent and 
far-seeing telegraph company have made this 
discovery already, and have located their Pa- 
cific line and staked out the very route where 
they expect soon to be followed by this great 
highway of commerce." He states that the 
valuable salt springs of Saline and Lancaster 
counties, with the adjacent lands, have been 
reserved from sale by the general government, 
and recommends that Congress be memorial- 
ized to place these lands under the control of 
the legislature, or that Congress pass some 
law authorizing the springs to be worked 
under the control of the government. He 
states further that the secretary of the inte- 
rior has recently decided that school lands may 
be leased for the support of the public schools, 
and advises legislation to that end, in case the 
legislature is of the opinion that a revenue 
might be derived from them. It appears 
from the report of the auditor that the indebt- 
edness of the territory has now reached 
$50,342.98, represented by $16,000 in bonds 
and $34,342.98 in warrants. The governor 



points out that the capitol is still uncom- 
pleted and that neither legislative hall is 
ready for use, and recommends that the legis- 
lature ask Congress for an appropriation suf- 
ficient to fit the legislative halls for occupancy. 
The governor informs the legislature that "ex- 
perience has shown that an agricultural com- 
munity cannot prosper without a safe medium 
of exchange," and without stopping to eluci- 
date the rather remarkable economic implica- 




Bruno Tzchuck 
Pioneer of Sarpy county, secretary of state, and act- 
ing governor of Nebraska 

tion that other than agricultural communities 
might thrive on an unsafe medium of ex- 
change, he soundly advises that "nothing but 
gold and silver, and the paper of well-guarded 
and strictly specie-paying banks should be 
tolerated," — in an agricultural community. 

The auditor points out that because war- 
rants draw ten per cent interest and bonds 
only seven, many prefer the warrants ; and 

" Nebraska Advertiser, January 23, 1862. 



322 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




[Note — J. P. Becker was an early Nebraska miller in Colfax county] 



THE EIGHTH LEGISLATURE 



yet the latter are worth only thirty-five or 
forty cents on the dollar. This officer re- 
minds the legislature that he has often urged 
the passing of regular appropriation bills 
specifying certain sums for particular pur- 
poses, and he again presses his recommenda- 
tion so as to form some check upon the issue 
of warrants. 

The legislation of this session consisted of 
sundry amendments to the codes and to other 
general laws. The other enactments com- 
prised the repeal of that part of the refund- 
ing law limiting its application to warrants 
presented on or before December 1, 1861 ; an 
act assigning the new republican judges ap- 
pointed by President Lincoln to the several 
districts — Chief Justice William Pitt Kel- 
logg to the first, Associate Justice Streeter to 
the second, and Associate Justice Lockwood to 
the third ; an act providing that property to 
the value of one hundred dollars belonging to 
any person who should maintain an acre of 
grapes in a good state of cultivation and in a 
single tract, should be exempt from taxation, 
and for an exemption of a valuation of fifty 
dollars for each additional acre of grapes ; an 
act attaching all territory lying west of the first 
guide meridian to the first judicial district ; an 
act to encourage the growth of wool : and an 
act to resurvey the saline lands in Lancaster 
county. The law to encourage the growth of 
sheep was as follows : "All sheep not to ex- 
ceed five hundred in number are hereby ex- 
empted from forced sale on execution and tax- 
ation." How this gracious concession was to 
be distributed among the various sheep own- 
ers if there should happen to be more than five 
hundred of the favored animals in the terri- 
tory is left to conjecture after the fashion of 
so much of the territorial legislation. The 
preamble of the law for the resurvey of saline 
lands recited that "certain lands in the south- 
ern portion of Lancaster county, known to be 
the richest saline lands perhaps in the world, 
have been entered at the L'nited States land 
office in Nebraska City by private individuals 
by virtue of a conspiracy with the United 
States surveyor," and that the general land 
office had recalled the patents for these lands 
and ordered an investigation. 



The counties of Buffalo, Hall, Kearney, and 
Lincoln were constituted a new representative 
district ; the territory known as Jones county 
was attached to Gage for the purpose of tax- 
ation. The name of Green county was 
changed to Seward, and Calhoun to Saun- 
ders. The first organization of Holt county 
was legalized and also the acts of the covmty 
commissioners of Platte and L'eau-qui-court 
in 1861. Gage and Jones counties were at- 
tached to the council district of Richardson 
and Pawnee, and that part of Polk county 
north of the Platte river was joined to Platte 
county for election, judicial, and revenue pur- 
poses. 

Two sets of resolutions favoring the prose- 
cution of the war for the Union were adopted 
by the house on motion of Reynolds, demo- 
crat, of Otoe county. A joint resolution was 
adopted recjuesting the secretary of war to 
station two companies of federal soldiers on 
the Missouri border to protect loyal citizens 
from depredations of "secessionists and trai- 
tors in Missouri, and of those residing in their 
own midst." During the months of January 
and February, 1862, great excitement was 
caused in the southeastern counties by lawless 
acts of jayhawkers. Though there was an in- 
clination in the North Platte section to be- 
little these disturbances. Governor Saunders 
issued the following proclamation : 

Whereas, It has been represented by many 
good and loyal citizens of this territory, that 
lawless bands of armed men, styling them- 
selves "Jayhawkers," are committing depreda- 
tions in the southern portion of the territory 
— stealing horses, robbing stores and houses, 
and threatening the lives of many of our 
citizens. 

Now therefore, I, Alvin Saunders, governor 
of the territory of Nebraska, do hereby com- 
mand all bands or companies of men, leagued 
together for the purpose aforesaid, or for 
other unlawful purposes, within this territory, 
to immediately disband and return to their 
homes, or at least to leave the territory ; and 
in case they, or any other parties are hereafter 
found within the limits of the territory en- 
gaged in acts of robbery, or in any way dis- 
turbing the peace of our citizens, all the pow- 
ers of the territory both civil and military, 
will be brought to bear against them, and if 
taken such severe punishment as justice de- 



324 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



mands will be executed without fear or favor. 
Given under rnv hand and the great seal of 
the territory, at ( )niaha, this-2d day of Jan- 
uary, A. D. 1862. 
By the governor, 

Alvin Saunders, [l. s.] 
Algernon S. Paddock, 

Secretary of the territorv. 

The press was crowded with communica- 
tions discussing the subject, which show that 
the settlers were between the fires of alleged 
union, as well as secessionist lawbreakers. A 
part of one of these communications reveals 
the conditions : 

Pawnee says we are between two fires — 
that of secessionists and union jayhawkers ! 
Well, I think we can stand all such fires. We 
are able to put down jayhawking, and if 
Secesh shows his head on this side of the 
river, we will put him down too ... I 
would inform Pawnee that those self-styled 
union jayhawkers have deceived a great many 
good people. They have made them believe 
that they were only stealing from rebels, 
which is not the fact. 

A league of citizens was formed at Ne- 
braska City for protection against these 
marauders, and over two hundred citizens, 
members of the league and divided between 
the two political parties, signed the following 
oath ; 

I solemnly swear that I will bear true al- 
legiance to the United States, and support and 
sustain the constitution and laws thereof, that 
I will maintain the national sovereignty, para- 
mount to that of all states, county or con- 
federate powers, that I will discourage, dis- 
countenance, and forever oppose secession, 
rebellion and disintegration of the federal 
union, that I disdain and denounce all faith 
and fellowship with the so-called confederate 
armies, and pledge my honor, my property 
and my life to the sacred performance of this 
my solemn oath of allegiance to the govern- 
ment of the United States of America. We 
further pledge our lives, our property and our 
honor, to protect each and every member of 
this league in person and property, from all 
lawless marauders. 

Two alleged jayhawkers, arrested in John- 
son county, were brought to Nebraska City, 
where one was shoved under the ice of the 
frozen Missouri river, and the other was re- 
leased and then followed and shot dead. The 
local journal virtuously denounces these acts 



as murders and then \irtually upholds them 
in the following whimsical style : 

Catch a jayhawker or anybody else in the 
act of stealing your horse, shoot or hang him 
with all convenient dispatch ; but don't do it 
unless you are sure, beyond perad venture of 
a doubt; your own or the belief of any other 
man, is not sufficient warrant to take the life 
in punishment of any person, no matter how 
much against him public opinion or appear- 
ances may be. Every scoundrel has a right 
to his life, imtil well-known and proven facts 
show that he deserves to lose it. And then, 
if life is to be taken, let it be done openly, in 
daylight, by some one having authority — a 
committee appointed by a public meeting. 
Executioners so authorized, and doing such 
a duty, need not be troubled about their re- 
sponsibility — for that rests with the people 
— and if the people, in pursuing such a 
course, act dispassionately and upon direct 
proof, they will be able to bear the brunt of all 
blame. 

But don't let us have anv more persons — • 
jayhawkers, and horse-thieves included — 
chucked under the ice. It is murderous, un- 
warrantable, and very cold. 

But that cold-blooded tragedy was the cul- 
mination of the era of lawlessness, and soon 
after it was announced that "jayhawking is 
about played out in Kansas and Nebraska," 
General Hunter "having taken decided steps 
in his department." 

The Bellevue palliative — a memorial for a 
$40,000 penitentiary to be located there — 
was repeated. On the breaking out of the 
Civil war the Indians were quick to see their 
opportunity for_ mischief, and the legislature 
asked Congress to authorize the governor to 
raise five companies of soldiers, to be paid and 
equipped by the United States, for protection 
against "the various tribes of Indians whose 
propensities to molest and destroy have been 
increased by reason of neglect on the part of 
incompetent and, in instances, traitorous 
agents, who have heretofore had charge of 
them." The memorial recited that the terri- 
tory was without arms for defense against 
this danger or the means to buy them. 

An attempt was made at this session to 
pass an apportionment bill on the basis of the 
last vote for delegate for Congress, and later, 
when the result of the United States census 



THE EIGHTH LEGISLATURE 



325 



became known, on the population as therein 
determined ; but North Platte interests were 
able to defeat the measure. There was bitter 
complaint of the inequity of existing repre- 
sentation in the legislature. According to the 
census the North Platte section contained 
only 8,478 people against 18,031 in the South 
Platte; and by distributing the population of 
the frontier districts between the two sections 
partisans of the southern section counted 
10,824 for the North Platte and 18,012 for the 
South Platte, a difference of 7,188. This con- 
troversy showed that there had been no real 
abatement of the sectional spirit : 

There is no avoiding a sectional contest for 
congress next fall. Let South Platte stand 
by her own men, and if we have a session of 
the legislature next winter, let the members 
of the same south of the Platte elect as of- 
ficers her own men. This is the doctrine. 
. Omaha is a great place, but her 
greatness consists in selfishness and concen- 
trated meanness. 

The territorial conventions of both political 
parties met at Omaha on the 20th of Septem- 
ber. There had been much profession on both 
sides of a desire to ignore partisanship in the 
nominations and strike a single war and union 
key-note; and even the nomination of the 
same candidate by both conventions was advo- 
cated. In the Republican convention there 
was a fierce contest for the nomination for 
delegate to Congress, and Mr. Daily did not 
succeed in winning it until the forty-fifth bal- 
lot. His contestants were Dr. Gilbert C. Mon- 
ell of Douglas county, John Taffe of Dakota 
county, and William H. Taylor of Otoe 
county. 

John Q. Goss, who recently died at Bellevue, 
where he was then living, was president of 
the democratic convention, and J. AL Wool- 
worth, chairman of the committee on resolu- 
tions, lived until a few years since at Omaha, 
where he then resided. The platform adopted 
by the convention is doubly interesting as in- 
dicative of the sentiment of the democrats in 
those early days of the Civil war, and as the 
product of a man who was to become an 
eminent lawyer and citizen of the state. 

The sentiment of the convention was de- 
cidedly in favor of nominating J. F. Kinney 



as candidate for delegate to Congress ; but A. 
J. Poppleton hotly opposed Kinney, charging 
him with recreancy to the Democratic party 
in retaining the office of territorial judge in 
Utah under the Republican administration, 
and that he was a non-resident. Kinney kept 
himself well in hand, and made a judicious 
speech, insisting that he had not lost his resi- 
dence in Nebraska, that his family were still 
living at Nebraska City, and that it was no 
offense to continue to hold the office in ques- 
tion, especially since he had gone to Wash- 
ington and offered his resignation to President 
Lincoln, who persistently refused to accept it. 
On the first regular ballot Judge Kinney re- 
ceived all the votes of the convention except 
the ten from Nemaha county, which were cast 
for Mr. Poppleton. 

We have other testimony that the resolu- 
tion complimentary to Colonel Thayer, which 
it is said in the proceedings of the convention 
was rejected, was in fact adopted by that 
bodv, and the republican convention held the 
same day passed a similar resolution. The 
contest in the convention was the old Omaha 
fight over again. The Douglas delegation had 
seceded when they found that Poppleton's 
nomination for delegate to Congress was im- 
possible, and the Nebraskian, the Omaha 
democratic organ, opposed Kinney, a resident 
of the hated Otoe county, on the ground that 
Daily was more satisfactory to Omaha. A. J. 
Hanscom, "formerly a democrat, and one of 
the big guns of Douglas county," was quoted 
as saving that he was "an Omaha man and 
nothing else," that he "went only for Omaha 
in this campaign," and supported Daily "be- 
cause he has pledged himself to work for 
Oinaha." Like the blind or the deaf, whose 
other senses, by reason of the defect, become 
the more acute, so Daily, unlettered in all 
other respects, was almost superfluously 
schooled in the devious arts of practical poli- 
tics. In his campaign against Morton — the 
original leader and consummate partisan of 
the South Platte — he had been able to per- 
suade the democratic organ of southeast Ne- 
braska, the Advertiser, to his support on the 
ostensible ground of standing for South 
Platte interests : and now, discerning that he 



326 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 





Colonel George Armstrong 
Omaha pioneer 



Mrs. Julia Ewing Armstrong 
Wife of Colonel Armstrong 




ROLLIN M. RoLFE 
Pioneer of Otoe county 



Nedom B. Whitfield 
Pioneer of Nemaha county 



CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN OF 1862 



327 



had btcome in some sort shelf-worn in his 
home district, and the election returns from 
the leading South Platte counties confirmed 
the clearness of his vision, he gained an offset 
by cajolery of the North Platte. Specifica- 
tion as to Daily's new alliance with the North 
Platte were furnished: 

When we heard three weeks ago that the 
Pacific railroad bill, (in which a point at or 
near the mouth of the Platte river was named 
as the initial of a branch through the terri- 
tory), had passed the House, we said we 
wanted the bill to liecome a law whether we 
got a branch South of the Platte or not. This 
was upon the understanding that southern 
Nebraska was to have an equal chance in the 
selection of the route, with North Platte. . . 

But it seems that we are to have no show- 
ing at all. The two incorporators to repre- 
sent Nebraska in the organization of the com- 
pany are two of the bitterest North Platte 
men who could have been named — Dr. Alon- 
ell and A. Kountze — both of them residents 
and property holders in Omaha and specula- 
tors in the paper towns along the North 
Platte route to the mountains. Northern Ne- 
braska with 9,000 residents, ta.xable prop- 
erty amounting to only $3,000,000, and capac- 
ity for a population all told, of less than 
400,000, has two incorporators ; while south-" 
ern Nebraska with a population of over 19,- 
000, taxable property of nearly $5,000,000. 
and a capacity of sustaining upwards of 
1,000,000 men, women and children, is to 
have no voice in the organization of the 
company. . . 

When "Skisms" wrote a letter, dated the 
17th of September, 1860, pledging himself to 
procure an appropriation of land from con- 
gress to build a railroad west from Brownville. 
he did so with a view to securing the vote of 
Nemaha county. That letter was intended 
for Nemaha county circulation, and he got the 
vote. He made similar secret pledges in 
Cass and Otoe counties. Hon. William H. 
Taylor, and the rest of his stump-speakers, 
endorsed them — ■ promising all things in his 
name. In these three counties Daily got ma- 
jorities. 

Now what does he do ? He not only vio- 
lates every pledge he then made ; but his own 
personal vanity assuring him that he owns 
South Platte, by giving the "Omaha clique" 
the whole voice in the preliminary organiza- 
tion and location of the Pacific railroad con- 
nection through the territory. 

Notwithstanding that the opposition showed 



that Daily had not, during three sessions, ob- 
tained a single appropriation for public works 
in the territory, and had purposely, it was 
charged, failed to obtain an appropriation for 
finishing the capitol which was "going to ruin" 
through neglect, and the fact that W. H. Tay- 
lor and O. P. Mason, the two leading republi- 
cans of Otoe county, opposed him, his supe- 
rior campaigning qualities pulled him through 
with a majority of 136. Daily had, and 
doubtless deserved the reputation for being 
the best campaigner, among republicans at 
least, in the territory, and this year his strident 
and magnetic denunciation against "this yer 
slave oligarchy" was particularly eft'ective. 
There was the usual charge of frauds in the 
elections in Richardson county ; and of Falls 
City, home of Dundy, Daily's political man- 
ager, and whence he was to emerge presently, 
through Daily's reciprocal favor, as associate 
justice of the supreme court. The Nezvs said : 

Falls City is the headquarters of the Daily 
clique in the territory, and we were prepared 
for gross illegality, but we confess not to the 
extent that present reports indicate. The 
ninth month regiment has figured prominently 
in the campaign, government officers promis- 
ing democrats positions if they would support 
Daily. We doubt not at least one hundred 
men have been subsidized by assurances of 
the appointment of colonel of the regiment. 

But for the first time since the first elec- 
tion in 1854 the contest was not carried to 
Washington. 

The direct or war tax of $19,312 levied 
upon the territory by the federal government 
in 1861, modest as the sum seems in the eyes 
of the children of the squatters, was a cause 
of great solicitude to them in their still im- 
pecunious condition. At the urgent request 
of the people, preferred in various ways, Con- 
gress credited the territory with this tax in 
lieu of the usual appropriation of $20,000 for 
the expenses of the legislative session. There 
was accordingly no session in 1863, though 
there had been no authoritative expression of 
public sentiment on the subject, and members 
were chosen generally at the fall election. 
Omaha was of course loth to forego the finan- 
cial and other profits of a legislative session, 
but the Republican was the only newspaper 



328 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



in the territory which did not advocate its 
omission. It seems odd to people of the pres- 
ent day that but a generation ago it was 
deemed a hardship or sacrifice to forego a 
session of the legislature, especially as in the 
meantime annual sessions have been generally 




William Hartford James 
Second governor of the state of Nebraska 

discarded by the public judgment, and even 
biennial meetings are by no means in high 
favor. William E. Harvey, democrat, was 
reelected auditor ; and Augustus Kountze, "a 
conservative republican," was elected treasurer 



of the territory in 1863. The N ehraskian an- 
nounced the candidacy of both without nom- 
ination by a convention. 

In the meantime the grim business of war 
had taken the place of partisan politics, 
largely, in the public mind. There was much 
solicitude and controversy as to the ability of 
the territory to defend itself against border 
ruffianism on the south and Indian depreda- 
tions along the whole western border, and 
strong opposition to sending the First regi- 
ment out of the territory. The resignation of 
Lieutenant-Colonel Downs of the First regi- 
ment is explained on such grounds : 

When the regiment was organized it was 
upon the distinct understanding, expressed in 
a letter from Mr. Secretary Cameron, that it 
was not to be ordered out of the territory. 
Many of the officers and men repaired to the 
rendezvous, leaving their private business un- 
settled. When the order came to go to Mis- 
souri, an order obtained mainly through the 
anxiety of Col. Thayer to show himself, Lieut. 
Col. Downs (brigadier general under the vol- 
unteer organization act of 1856) went with 
the first battalion, and he did not even have 
time to visit his family. 

Constant depredations soon vindicated this 
fear and protest ; and in the summer of 1864 
the regiment was sent back to Nebraska for 
service against the Indians. 



CHAPTER XV 

Ninth Legislature — Constitutional Convention, 1864 — Political Conventions, 
1864 — Tenth Legislature — Reappointment oe Governor Saunders — Poli- 
tics in 1865 — Eleventh Legislature — The First State Constitution 



THE ninth session of the legislative assem- 
bly began January 7, 1864. The appor- 
tionment remained unchanged, and it had 
grown outrageously inequitable and at the 
expense of the South Platte. The Advertiser 
had groaned under the inequality in 1863, and 
the Nezvs insisted that Governor Saunders 
possessed and should exercise the authority 
to reapportion the legislative districts. Not- 
withstanding that irregularity of procedure 
was still common, the governor, whose capital 
residence was in the North Platte country, 
would have no mind to attempt to override 
the apportionment made by the legislature, 
clearly under the exclusive power conferred 
by the organic act, even in so clear a case of 
misrepresentation. 

Allen of Washington county was elected 
president of the council, receiving nine votes 
against two for Marquett of Cass county : 
and the disposition of the legislature to avoid 
drawing party lines was shown in the unani- 
mous election of George B. Lake of Douglas 
county for speaker of the house. 

After a tribute to the soldiers, who were 
now first in the thought of the politician as 
well as the patriot, the governor's message 
hastens to get out of tune with the non-par- 
tisan votes of the territorial press and plat- 
forms by taking partisan credit for the passage 
of the homestead law : 

You had repeatedly memorialized congress 
on this suliject without avail. In fact, its suc- 
cess, though so just to the settler and so wise 
as a measure of national policy, seemed hope- 
less while the reins of government were held 
by such men as controlled the administration, 
preceding the inauguration of our present 



chief magistrate. The honor of the prompt 
passage of this great measure is due to Presi- 
dent Lincoln and his political friends in con- 
gress. I deem it but just that we who are so 
deeply interested in, and so largely benefited 
by the success of this measure, should obey 
the injunction of the sacred writer by render- 
ing "honor to those to whom honor is due."^ 

It is true that there had been opposition to 
homestead bills under democratic administra- 
tion on the part of slaveholders, jealous of 
the growth of the unfriendly Northwest; but 
others, on conservative grounds, had hesitated 
to at once espouse this new and radical mea- 
sure, and the sentiment in its favor had been 
of gradual growth. Today the wisdom of the 
law, as it has been administered, is questioned 
by many wise men, just as the unguarded 
land subsidies to railway companies have been 
condemned. Even the governor's high imag- 
inings are inspired to an unwonted loftiness 
of flight in contemplation of this gift of em- 
pire without money and without price. 
"What a blessing this wise and humane legis- 
lation will bring to many a poor but honest 
and industrious family !" And there is a real- 
ism, too, in the executive sentimentality which 
Zola himself might have emulated. "The 
very thought to such people that they can now 
have a tract of land that they can call their 
own has a soul-inspiring effect upon them and 
makes them feel thankful that their lots [sic] 
have been cast under a government that is so 
liberal to its people." 

The message takes credit and foresees great 
gain and glory for Nebraska on account of the 
passage of the Pacific railway bill. 

In accordance with your memorial on the 

1 House Journal, 9th ter. sess., p. 12. 



330 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




i/)^d/>^''J^ti^^r^^6^^ 



[Note — N. S. Harding was an early merchant at Nebraska City and a member of the state legislature] 



NINTH LEGISLATURE 



331 



subject, congress also passed a bill, at the first 
regular session after the inauguration of the 
present administration, providing for the con- 
struction of the great Pacific railway, com- 
mencing on the 100th meridian, within the ter- 
ritory of Nebraska, thence westwardly to the 
Pacific coast, with three branches from the 
place of beginning eastward to the Missouri 
river. One of these branch roads diverges 
southeasterly to the mouth of the Kansas river, 
in the state of Kansas, and also forming a con- 
nection with the Hannibal & St. Joseph rail- 
road at Atchison ; and the other two branches, 
so called, stretch across our territory — one 
terminating at the capital of your territory, 
and the other opposite Sioux City — thus 
forming a connection at all three points with 
some of the best roads of the northwest. With 
these magnificent works successfully prose- 
cuted, connecting directly with the great cities 
of the Atlantic and Pacific, with the advan- 
tages of the homestead, of a virgin and fertile 
soil, of exhaustless salt springs, with a cli- 
mate as salubrious as exists in the world — 
none can hesitate to predict for Nebraska gi- 
gantic strides in the attainment of wealth and 
power. - 

The message discloses that the indebtedness 
of the territory has now reached $59,893, and 
the auditor's report shows that it is chiefly 
represented by bonds to the amount of $31,- 
225, and warrants, $17,869.54. The message 
calculates that the debt of the territory is less 
by $18,162.82 than it was two years before, 
but the result is reached by rather optimistic 
and original figuring. The resources counted 
to offset the debt consist of the uncollected 
levy of 1863, $17,330.23, of $4,407.76 in the 
hands of the treasurer — by the auditor's ac- 
count — and the eternal bugbear of delinquent 
taxes, making a total of $41,829.59, which, 
deducted from the debt of $59,893, leaves, by 
the governor's optimistic arithmetic, an in- 
debtedness of only $18,063.41 — or a decrease 
since the end of 1861 of $18,162.82, as above. 
Stating the problem another way, it appears 
that the indebtedness two years ago was $50,- 
399.24, whereas now it is $59,893, an increase 
of $9,493.76 ; but as the amount of taxes not 
collected by the territorial treasurer two years 
before was $13,173.01 against $37,421.83 at 
this time, there is at least a nominal reduction 
as stated above. Moreover, there is a com- 



paratively large balance of $5,375.48 in the 
hands of the territorial treasurer, and, the 
message tells us, warrants have risen to eighty 
or ninety cents on the dollar, from thirty-three 
to forty cents two years before. 

Notwithstanding that there had been a rul- 
ing by the federal authorities that school 
lands might be leased, but not sold, for the 
benefit of the school fund, the message com- 
plains that still "we must rely entirely on tax- 
ation or voluntary subscription for the educa- 
tion of our youths." In brief, the most pal- 
pable fact in the reports of the officers is that 




Benj.\-\ii\' E. B. Kennedy 
One time mayor of Omaha 

poverty is still prevalent in the territory, and 
that partially on this account, and for the rest 
on account of inefficient organization, taxes 
cannot be collected with reasonable certainty 
or dispatch. The much used arguments in 
favor of statehood are repeated in the mes- 
sage, and the annual appeal for a penitentiary 
memorial to Congress shows its familiar face. 
The condition of the laws of the territory is 
set forth as follows : 

There seems to be a very general desire on 
the part of the citizens of the territory to have 
a general revision and codification of our 
laws, and to have all the laws that are now in 
force in the territory, together with all that 
may be passed at your session, bound in one 
vohnne. The present laws are made up from 
acts that extend through the whole of the 
eight sessions that have been held in the ter- 

- House Journal, 9tli tcr sess., p. 13. 



332 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ritory. and so many amendments and altera- 
tions' to our laws have been made during that 
time that it is with difficulty that persons who 
are not professionally engaged in the business 
can find out what the existing laws are." 

There was another attempt at this session 
to devise a practicable revenue law, and agam 
an improvement of the election laws was at- 
tempted. General incorporation acts were 
passed, but they were not exclusive. Benja- 
min E. B. Kennedy of Douglas county, chair- 
man of the judiciary committee of the house, 
reported "as to the propriety of passing an 
act prohibiting the legislative assembly from 
passing any local or special laws therein enu- 
merated," that the organic act, "which is our 
constitution," recognized the right to pass 
special acts, and it would be impracticable to 
prohibit it ; and while it would be commend- 
able to discourage useless and unnecessary 
legislation, "yet it can scarcely be conceived 
that meritorious cases may not claim our se- 
rious consideration." So it was left to the 
state constitution to close the gates against 
this vicious flood of special legislation. The 
judiciary committee reported also that while 
they conceded "that great convenience would 
result from an adequate revision of our laws," 
yet, "with the debt-doomed treasury, and no 
guaranty that the federal government would 
meet the necessary expenses, your committee 
do not feel justified to recommend it." 

By the apportionment law of this session 
representation from the North Platte section 
was reduced from seven to six members in the 
council, and from nineteen l<_) sixteen in the 
house. This arrangement did not allow all 
the South Platte was entitled to but, though 
in adjusting it the old sectional interests again 
came into collision, the contest was less bitter 
and the sectional lines less sharply drawn than 
usual. On a full vote the North Platte had at 
this time a majority of one in the council and 
the South Platte a like majority in the house. 
The council forced its amendment of the ap- 
portionment of the members of the house on 
that bodv, while the house accepted from the 
council its apportionment bill without attempt- 
ing to change it; and yet the South Platte 
members of the council indicated their satis- 



faction with the apportionment for that body 
by voting against the amendment proposed and 
carried by the North Platte to limit the appli- 
cation of the bill to the next legislature. The 
laws for vhe encouragement of the growth of 
fruit, forest, and ornamental trees and grapes 
were changed so as to provide that their culti- 
vation should not be held to increase the value 
of land for revenue purposes; and the unsuc- 
cessful attempt to pass an act for the encour- 
agement of sheep-raising at the last session 
was carried out. Clay county was disposed of 
1)V attaching its north half to Lancaster and its 
south half to Gage. The organization of Lan- 
caster was legalized and the officers chosen at 
the last election declared to be the legal offi- 
cers ; the county was detached from Cass, as 
to judicial purposes ; and "the county of Sew- 
ard and the counties westward" were attached 
to Lancaster for judicial purposes. 

Tn 1860 an act was passed authorizing the 
auditor of the territory to sell, for the benefit 
of the school fund, a large amount of cast 
iron which composed columns intended for 
the capitol, but which could not be used on 
account of the lack of money to carry out the 
original plans for the building. The sum of 
S97L78 was realized from the sale, but the 
secretary of the territory made demand on the 
auditor for the money, on the ground that it 
was part of the funds of the general govern- 
ment for the completion of the capitol. This 
legislature accordingly authorized the auditor 
to turn the money over to the secretary. In 
view of the fact that the city of Omaha had 
invested more in the capitol than the amount 
of the federal appropriation, this action was 
rubbing in the close dealing of the federal 
father with his impecunious territorial wards. 
There was little manifestation of partisan- 
ship in this legislature, though the ambitious 
leaders on the republican side were apt in 
pushing resolutions in approval of the na- 
tional administration. A joint resolution by 
Marc|uett extending thanks to the Nebraska 
soldiers in the field passed without opposition, 
and the measure enabling them to vote, also 
introduced by Marquett, met with general 
■■' House Journal. 9tli tcr. sess., p. 20. 



CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1864 



333 



support ; Marquett and Little — republican 
and democrat — agreed in reporting it from 
their committee, and the vote of only one 
councihnan — Campbell of Otoe county — was 
recorded against it. ^Nlarquett also pressed 
a joint resolution favoring Lincoln and An- 
drew Johnson for nomination as president and 
vice president, which Mason unsuccessfully 
tried to sidetrack by a motion to refer to the 
committee on agriculture ; but it was passed 
by a party vote. A joint resolution approv- 
ing the Emancipation Proclamation and the 
general policy of President Lincoln's admin- 
istration, including especially the arming of 
negroes and the amnesty proclamation, passed 
the council by a vote of 8 to 3. and the house 
by 29 to 5. 

The memorial to Congress praying for ap- 
propriate legislation for the admission of the 
territory as a state passed the council promptly 
and without division, but in the thirty-five 
votes recorded in tlie house the opposition 
counted eleven, and they were about evenly 
divided between republicans and democrats. 
The attitude of the democrats toward the war 
at this time was indicated by a substitute 
offered by Kennedy of Omaha for resolutions 
"on the state of the Union." Mr. Kennedy's 
resolutions declared in favor of the vigorous 
]3rosecution of the war, but also that its "only 
object should be to put down the wicked re- 
bellion," and that, "in the patriotic language 
of the immortal Crittenden, the war ought not 
to be waged on our part for any purposes of 
conquest or subjugation, or purposes of over- 
throwing or interfering with the rights or 
established institutions of those states, but to 
defend and maintain the supremacy of the 
Constitution and to preserve the Union with 
all the dignity, equality, and the rights of the 
several states unimpaired : and as soon as 
these objects are accomplished the war ought 
to cease." This substitute was of course de- 
feated, but it received nine democratic votes 
out of the total vote of thirty-seven on the 
question. The extreme bitterness of feeling 
of certain prominent republicans of the South 
Platte toward the dominant D's — Daily and 
Dundy — was indicated by the following reso- 



lution introduced in the council by Oliver P. 
Alason of Otoe county : 

Whereas, A petition has been circulated for 
the signatures of members of the council and 
house of representatives requesting the Senate 
of the L^nited States to confirm Elmer S. 
Dundy as associate justice of the supreme 
court of the territory of Nebraska ; therefore, 

Resolved By the council of the territory of 
Nebraska, that E. S. Dundy ought not to be 
confirmed as associate justice of the supreme 
court of the territory of Nebraska. 

The resolution was called up the day after 
its introduction and laid over under the rules, 
but it was never pressed to a vote. 

In quick response to the memorial of the 
legislature an enabling act was passed by Con- 
gress and approved April 19, 1864. This act 
authorized the governor of the territory to 
order an election of members of a constitu- 
tional convention, the election to be held on 
the 6th of the following June and the con- 
vention on the 4th of July. The number 
of members of the convention was to be "the 
same as now constitute both branches of the 
legislature." 

Pro-state sentiment was strong enough in 
(Jniaha to defeat the regular ticket for dele- 
gates to the constitutional convention headed 
by Dr. Miller, and to elect a set of pro-state 
delegates headed by Hadley D. Johnson. But 
Omaha interests preferred the territorial 
status rather than to run risks of capital re- 
moval which any change would involve ; and 
at the election, while all the rest of the North 
Platte counties voted for statehood, Douglas 
gave eighty majority against it. All the South 
Platte counties voted against statehood, except 
Richardson, which gave 140 majority in its 
favor. 

The convention met, organized, and then, 
by a vote of 35 to 7, adjourned sine die. This 
was a remarkable reversal of the action of the 
legislature in adopting the joint resolutions in 
favor of statehood. It is to be accounted for 
by the fact that the real leaders of the demo- 
cratic party were not in the legislature, and 
that republicans, ambitious for the offices that 
might accrue to them through admission, and 
trusting to popular acquiescence in the desire 
of the national administration to profit by the 



334 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^T^^^^^^^!S^|^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 






B 1^^^ "' iJ^^H 








I Note — B. H. Fuller was a pioneer of Pawnee county, Nebraska, in which he held different county 
offices.] 



POLITICAL CONVENTIONS 



335 



addition of the unquestionably loyal members 
from Nebraska to its forces in Congress, over- 
looked the hostility of the people to assump- 
tion of the burdens of statehood. The hope 
of the republicans was the fear of the demo- 
crats, and the position of the latter was frank- 
ly avowed. 

The vote of Nebraska as a state may be 
counted to elect Abraham to a second term ; 
and besides, it is admitted there are some who 
suppose the territory to be republican, and in 
the event of its so being they begin to look 
forward to the good time coming when, under 
the aegis of a constitutional provision, negro 
equality shall culminate in miscegination, and 
numberless fat offices shall be bestowed upon 
the faithful leaders of the party as a reward 
for services, sufferings, and wear and tear of 
conscience in singing hallelujahs to an admin- 
istration the most imbecile, reckless, profligate 
and corrupt that has ever existed. The democ- 
racy will oppose the whole thing from "stem 
to stern." . . Our taxes are about as high 
as we can bear, and if we come in they must 
be ten fold higher. . . It will require 
$60,000 a year to uphold a state government. 
Hitherto territories have been admitted after 
a census has shown a sufficient population to 
entitle them to a representative in congress. 
No inquiry as to the number of people, none 
as to their wishes. 

When the Omaha Republican showed the 
inconsistency of the democratic organ by 
pointing out that its editor, Alfred H. Jack- 
son, had himself offered the statehood reso- 
lutions and memorial at the late session of the 
legislature, all he could say in reply was that 
his resolution was intended to let the people 
decide whether they wanted a constitutional 
convention or not, while the act of Congress 
required them to vote directly on the question 
of accepting or rejecting the constitution 
which the convention had been authorized to 
frame. The democratic press effectively em- 
phasized the objection of increased expense 
involved in sustaining a state government. It 
was argued that the present taxes were five 
mills on the dollar, aggregating $45,163.86; 
and that the state would have to raise $58,000, 
now annually paid by congressional appropri- 
ation, besides the $45,000 now raised by tax- 
ation. 

Dr. George L. Miller was president and J. 



Sterling Morton chairman of the committee 
on resolutions of the democratic territorial 
convention which was held at Plattsmouth, 
June 22, for the purpose of choosing dele- 
gates to the national convention, and of tak- 
ing action on the question of statehood. The 
resolutions adopted congratulated the democ- 
racy of Nebraska that an overwhelming ma- 
jority of the members of the constitutional 
convention stood pledged to adjourn sine die 
without action, thus saving an expense of $25,- 
000 involved in preparing a constitution ; that 
it had forestalled an election (on the question 
of adopting the constitution) at which the 
"money of the administration poured out like 
water would have been employed upon the 
corruptible" ; that it had forestalled drafts for 
the army, and that an "iniquity has been em- 
phatically rebuked, which would have made 
30,000 people the sovereign equal of New 
York, Ohio, or Illinois, in order that three 
electoral votes might be added to the purchase 
by which a corrupt administration is seeking 
to perpetuate its power." It was also re- 
solved that the authors of the resolutions have 
"heard with astonishment that certain federal 
office-holders in this territory propose to 
force the burden of a state government upon 
this people by cunningly devised oaths to be 
administered to the convention." While the 
resolutions commended "the independent and 
truly patriotic members of the republican, and 
other parties who lent us their aid to thwart 
these purposes of unequaled infamy, it must 
be remembered that the plan by which these 
inestimable benefits are assured to us was con- 
ceived, tarried forward and accomplished by 
the democracy of Nebraska." It will be seen 
that the "threatenings and slaughter" which 
breathe through these heroics are entirely at 
outs with the general negative and acquiescent 
mood and policy heretofore assumed by the 
democrats during the war, as well as with the 
action of the leading democratic members of 
the legislature touching this subject. But 
whatever we may think of the discretion of 
the resolutions, they were distinctly Morton- 
ian, and they show that in his youth, as al- 
ways after, Morton was no fool who would 



336 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




[XoTE — Daukl H. WliecltT was a pioneer o{ Plattcsmoiith, Nebraska, and prominent in politics] 



POLITICAL CONVENTIONS 



337 



halt at the stumbling block of consistency. 
The statesman who has a mind to hesitate 
before consistency is already lost. Besides, 
how recently had Morton been for statehood 
with much less population than at this time. 
The democratic party was now in such an un- 
certain condition that it could win nothing 
but negative victories, and the republicans as- 
sisted it in winning this one by timid approval 
of the statehood proposition which amounted 
to less than half-heartedness. A party organ, 
for example, kept its ammunition in store dur- 
ing the whole campaign, and then after it was 
lost exploded it all at once in the following 
fashion : 

What have the copperheads, then, succeeded 
in cajoling their "republican friends" into: 

First, a resistance to the draft : the main 
argument used was "If we have a state we'll 
have a draft." 

Second, they have assisted to defeat the 
constitutional amendment, to pass which the 
vote of three members of congress from Ne- 
baska was necessary ; . . . which the 
copperheads style as one of the "president's 
infamous projects." 

Third, they have virtually said to the gov- 
ernment : We are mean enough to force you 
to support us while we know you need every 
dollar you can scrape to whip out the rebel- 
lion. 

The professed fear by the democrats of 
"cunningly devised oaths" was an insinuation 
that it was the plan of Secretary Paddock to 
administer an oath to the members of the 
convention which would aid them to remain 
in session until a constitution should be 
framed. 

The delegates to the national democratic 
convention, chosen by the Plattsmouth con- 
vention, were J. Sterling Morton, Andrew J. 
Poppleton, Joseph I. Early, Erastus B. Chand- 
ler, and John Rickley. The opposition classed 
all these delegates as "unadulterated Vallan- 
dighammers," an imputation which was ex- 
cused if not fully justified by the inexplicably 
hostile expression of the democratic press and 
platforms of the territory against the national 
administration and its war measures ; and 
which continued unabated from this time on 
until the amendments to the constitution were 
adopted. 



The republican territorial committee met 
February 12, 1864, and by its own act dis- 
banded to go into the new "union" party, and 
forty of the fifty-two members of the legisla- 
ture endorsed their action ; and afterwards six 
members of the old organization — Floris Van 
Reuth of Dakota county ; Eliphus H. Rogers, 
Dodge; Dr. Gilbert C. Monell, Douglas; 
Daniel H. Wheeler, Cass; William H. H. 
Waters, Otoe ; David Butler, Pawnee — met 
and chose themselves delegates to the Union 
national convention at Baltimore. The Re- 
publican rebelled against this action as usur- 
pation, and the self-appointed delegates after- 
ward submitted to the choice of delegates to 
a convention. 

At the meeting of the committee, held 
April 26th, all the members were present by 
person or proxy except two, and they adopted 
a "union" platform as follows : 

Resolved, That the only basis of this union 
organization shall be unquestioned loyalty, 
and unconditional support of the congress of 
the United States in their war measures, es- 
pecially in confiscating the property [of] rebels 
in arms, unconditional support of the procla- 
mations of President Lincoln, especially his 
emancipation proclamation, the arming of 
negroes, or any other constitutional measure 
deemed necessary by the administration to 
crush out this wicked rebellion, with the least 
cost of time, treasure and blood of loyal men. 

And whereas, since the adoption of this 
platform, the rebel authorities have practiced 
brutal barbarities upon our colored soldiers, 
we hereby affirm the duty of this government 
to afford white and colored soldiers equal pro- 
tection, and to retaliate strictly upon white 
rebels any barbarity practiced upon colored 
soldiers of the union army. A colored man 
once freed by this government and enlisted as 
a soldier in its defense, is entitled to its pro- 
tection in all respects as a free citizen. 

Adjourned, sine die. 

G. C. MoNKLL, Chairman. 
D. H. Wheeler, Secretary. 

The adage, "practice makes perfect" had 
ample opportunity for self-vindication in the 
making of perfect political citizens in the year 
1864, which was even more than commonly 
a crowded hour of politics. After the legis- 
lature came the discussion of statehood, then 
the conventions relating thereto, and all the 



338 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




.^^ 



ST^l^^^^-^^^^^l/ 



[Note — T. S. Clarkson was at one time postmaster of Omaha and was manager of the Trans-Mis- 
sissippi exposition, Omaha, Nebraska.] 



POLITICAL CONVENTIONS 



339 



time there was raging a fierce contest, espe- 
cially in the now confident republican, or union 
party, over the nominations for delegate to 
Congress. The principal republican aspirants 
were Turner M. Marquett of Cass county; 
Phineas W. Hitchcock, Gilbert C. Monell, and 
John I. Redick, of Douglas county ; Thomas 
W. Tipton of Nemaha county; Benjamin F. 
Lushbaugh of Platte county ; and Algernon S. 
Paddock, secretary of the territory — of whose 
candidacy it was irreverently said, "His 
claims are based upon his extreme politeness. 
. . The polite, polished, elegant, accom- 
plished, affable, courteous, pleasant, smiling, 
gracious A. S. Paddock." An estimate of 
Hitchcock by the same judge was as much 
more laconic, as it was less pleasant and pic- 
turesque — -but that was formulated after his 
nomination. 

The union convention for nominating a 
delegate to Congress met at Nebraska City, 
August 17th. Mr. Paddock came within one 
vote of securing the nomination on the eighth 
ballot, Tipton within five on the sixth ballot, 
and Marquett within five on the eleventh bal- 
lot. The N ebraskian said of Daily that "if he 
is no longer king he is king-maker," which 
should be interpreted to mean, in substance, 
that the unnatural allegiance to him on the 
part of the alien North Platte in his last des- 
perate campaign was remembered and paid 
for in the making of Hitchcock, who was nom- 
inated on the thirteenth regular ballot. 

At the democratic territorial convention 
held at Nebraska City, September 16th, 
Charles H. Brown of Omaha favored the 
nomination of William A. Little, of the same 
place, for delegate to Congress, while John B. 
Bennett of Otoe county presented the name of 
Dr. George L. Miller, also of Omaha. Mr. 
Brown withdrew Mr. Little's name, since, as 
he said, the democracy outside of Douglas 
county favored another man, and Dr. Miller 
was thereupon nominated by acclamation. 
Thus it appears that at this early time Mr. 
Brown, a man of very positive opinions, of 
unswerving purpose, and of dogged pertinac- 
ity in forwarding them and in standing against 
his opponents, had conceived a hostility to Dr. 
Miller which he cherished, with an important 



influence on the politics of the commonwealth, 
to the day of his death. 

In challenging Mr. Hitchcock to a series 
of joint debates in the canvass. Dr. Miller 
sought to make the most of the fact that his 
opponent continued to hold the federal office 
of United States marshal, and occupied the 
equivocal position of ostensible candidate of 
the "union" party, which was in fact the re- 
publican party with a pseudonym. Dr. Miller 
first addressed his opponent by the title of 
United States marshal, then as republican 
nominee and United States marshal, and again 
as nominee of the "union" party and repub- 
lican United States marshal. But whatever 
advantage accrued to the democratic candi- 
date by virtue of his ability, prestige, and ca- 
pacity for public discussion had been yielded 
by the unwise copperheadism, as it was 
effectively called, of his platform; and also by 
the influence of the suicidal national demo- 
cratic platform of that year — though it is 
likely that any pronounced democrat running 
on any platform would have been submerged 
in the tide of general opposition to his party 
which then ran strongest in the new North- 
west. Mr. Hitchcock received a majority of 
1,087 over Dr. Miller out of a total vote of 
3,885. This bitter bourbonism, which was 
now adopted by the democrats of the terri- 
tory to their certain undoing, was in part due 
to the influence of Vallandigham and Voor- 
hees on Morton, who had been admired and 
assisted by them in his contest with Daily in 
1861. The baneful reactionary course of these 
eminent party leaders, which, not at all 
strangely, influenced the scarcely mature and 
impressionable young man, would have spent 
itself inefi^ectually against the strong individ- 
uality and independent judgment of his ma- 
ture years — now more strongly developed in 
the whilom pupil than in his early preceptors. 
The mature Morton, thirty-five years after- 
ward, strenuously opposed and rebuked a 
like wayward radicalism on the part of Voor- 
hees in the great struggle over the money 
question. 

The tenth session of the legislature con- 
vened January 5, 1865. 

Mr. Mason was elected temporary president 



340 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



of the council, receiving seven votes against 
six cast for B. E. B. Kennedy. This vote rep- 
resented the relative strength of the two 
parties, though Allen, classed as a republican, 
sometimes wabbled to the democratic side. 
There was no opposition to the election of Mr. 
Mason as permanent president : John S. 
Bowen was also unanimously elected chief 
clerk. Casper E. Yost, subsequently a promi- 
nent republican politician and editor, makes 
his appearance in politics at this session as en- 
rolling clerk of the council. 

The numl)er of representatives at this ses- 



!P1 


r--^' 


"1 


1 


III 1 


m 


i 




^^^fe^tf^^Hl 


pHH| 


1^1^^ 


- f :■ 




m 


gi 


1 


Hil ' 




^1 


I 


HI 




'^.•-- ■ ji 


1 


1^-'^ 


M 


m 


1 


W '>-\ 


w^MBk 


H^B 


■ 


fc ii-[\iiifr1 


mg 


Sm 


1 



Phine.^s Warrener Hitchcock 

Si.xtli delegate to Congress 1864-1866; United States 

Senator 1871-1877 



sion was only thirty-eight, Otoe county re- 
turning four instead of five. Party lines were 
not rigidly drawn in the organization. Sam- 
uel M. Kirkpatrick of Cass county was elected 
speaker and John TalYe chief clerk — both by 
acclamation. 

The message was on the whole a plain, 
common sense, and useful document, but the 
governor's inadequacy when he drops into 
rhetoric in an attempt at a glowing picture of 



the status of the war and the progress of the 
Union arms creates in the reader a longing 
for the apt and eloquent tongue of Governor 
Black, ordained by nature for tasks like this, 
but now, alas, moldering in a gallant sol- 
dier's grave. The governor's sketch of the In- 
dian troubles of 1864 now serves as history: 

From facts which have come to the knowl- 
edge of this department, it is deemed certain 
that these Indian depredations and disturb- 
ances were the result of combined action be- 
tween several tribes, instigated, aided and 
counseled by lawless white men who hoped 
to share in the pltmder which would result 
from their robberies and massacres. It is by 
no means certain that these coadjutors of the 
savages were not the emissaries of the rebel 
government, prompted to their inhuman work 
by the hope of creating a diversion in favor 
of their waning cause in the south. Portions 
of the Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kiowas, 
Comanches, and Apaches, were evidently con- 
federated for the purpose of attacking the 
frontier settlements and emigrant trains in Ne- 
braska, Kansas, Colorado, and southeastern 
Idaho. Suddenly and almost simultaneously, 
without the slightest warning, ranchmen and 
emigrants were attacked at no less than four 
tlift'erent points, remote from each other, thus 
proving, beyond the possibility of doubt, that 
the ])lan had been matured and the cooperation 
of different tribes sectired in the work of de- 
struction. 

The necessities of the general government 
had caused the w^ithdrawal, from time to time, 
of nearly all the United States troops stationed 
in this territory for its defense ; so that when 
the outljreak commenced we possessed no ade- 
quate force to suppress it. The few United 
States volunteers within reach did their duty 
nobly. The Nebraska first, rendered illustri- 
ous by so many brilliant achievements in the 
south, and the second Nebraska veteran cav- 
alry, promptly responding to the call of the 
executive, moved at once to the post of dan- 
ger : and the militia, with equal alacrity, has- 
tened to the relief of their brethren on the 
more ex])osed frontier and the emigrants upon 
the plains. These efforts were crowned with 
sulistantial success. The feeble settlements 
were protected from the impending danger, the 
Indians, with very few exceptions, were driven 
from our border, and the various lines of com- 
munication between the Missouri river and the 
mountains and mining districts of the West 
were again opened to the traveler and emi- 
grant. It is to be regretted that these savages 
were not more severely punished so as to ef- 



TENTH LEGISLATURE 



341 



factually deter them from a repetition of their 
barbarities in the future. 

The statement of territorial finances in the 
message shows a slight decrease of the debt, 
but, owing to the chronic and considerable de- 
linquency of the counties a formidal)le part of 
the resources still consists of past due taxes. 
The message forcibly urged the passage of a 
general herd law ; but while such a measure 
was pushed hard in the legislature, the pastoral 
sentiment of the people was still so dominant 
that it failed of passage, though in its stead 
special herd laws, applying to such counties as 
desired them, were enacted. The message 
states the condition and prospects of railway 
building at that time as follows : 

It will be gratifying to you and the people 
of the territory to know that the work on the 
great Union Pacific railroad, which is to pass 
through the entire length of Nebraska, is pro- 
gressing at a very commendable rate. The 
work of grading, bridging and preparing the 
ties is progressing much more rapidly than 
had been anticipated by our most sanguine 
people. I feel fully authorized to say that 
unless some unforeseen misfortune attends 
this great enterprise more than fifty miles of 
road westward from Omaha will be in readi- 
ness for the cars before your next annual 
meeting. . . Another line of railroad, 
which is designed to connect with this route 
within the limits of our territory, has recently 
been surveyed on the south side of the Platte 
river. This line is designed to be an extension 
of the Burlington and Missouri River rail- 
road, and from the favorable reports made 
by the engineers there can scarcely be a doubt 
that work will soon be commenced on that line 
also. 

The governor reopened the question of state 
government thus : 

During your last session a joint resolution 
was passed, asking Congress to pass an act to 
enable the people of Nebraska to form a con- 
stitution preparatory to an early admission 
into the union as one of the independent 
states. Congress passed the act, but it was 
done near the close of the session, and there 
was scarcely time enough allowed between 
the date of the reception of the bill in the 
territory and the election of the members of 
the convention for the people to learn of its 
passage — certainly not enough to enable them 
to consider thoroughly and dispassionately the 
principles of the bill or the terms on which 



it was proposed to admit the territory into 
the family of states. Under these circum- 
stances, a large majority of the people de- 
cided that the members of the convention 
should adjourn without forming or submit- 
ting any constitution whatever. This deci- 
sion of the people, under the circumstances, 
was just what might have been anticipated. 
It, however, is no proof that when convinced 
that liberal terms are proposed by the general 
government they would not readily consent 
to take their place in the great family of 
states. 

It is further stated that the strongest argu- 
ment against a state government was that "we 
ought not to tax ourselves for anything which 
the general government is willing to pay,"' and 
this argument is disapproved on the ground 
that the general government's resources were 
taxed to the utmost on account of the war ex- 
penses. 

But Morton, whose sense of humor and 
scent for satire bubbles over in these early 
days, sees comedy, chiefly, in this ostensibly 
sober state paper : 

The N^czcs judges from its appearance that 
the impression was taken on type 21 years of 
age and coal tar used instead of printing ink, 
the paper of the texture and appearance of a 
superannuated shirt-tail. The printers have 
done ample justice to the matter printed, and 
the matter printed is in most perfect accord 
with the style of its printing. . . The next 
extra good thing is on "the freedmen of the 
war!" Alvin desires the people of Nebraska 
to find suitable employment for said sable 
citizens, and the people imanimously agree 
that the aforesaid charcoal images of God 
may be suitably employed boarding round 
among the abolition officials of Nebraska. In 
short the nigger is the biggest and whitest 
thing in the message. 

The governor had seriously suggested in 
the message that the legislature should under- 
take to find emplo}'ment for slaves recently set 
free. 

The auditor (and school commissioner) 
gives in his report an account of the first leas- 
ing of the school lands of the commonwealth: 

Under instructions from this office, the 
clerk of Sarpy county, during last year, 
leased a number of tracts of lands, and will 
probably realize, when all collected, near 
$200.00 for the one year. I have had numer- 



342 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




[XoTE— Franklin Sweet was a memlier of the legislature from Alerrick county, Nebraska, and a cap- 
tain in the Union army during the Civil War.] 



REAPPOINTMENT OF GOVERNOR SAUNDERS 



343 



ous applications for leases of these lands, and 
could I have a general law, under which the 
rents could be promptly collected, I ha\e no 
doubt that several thousand dollars could be 
obtained annually from that source. 

The legislature at this session autliorized 
the issue of bonds to an amount not exceed- 
ing $36,000 to provide payment of the militia 
called out by the governor's proclamation of 
April 11, 1864, on account of the Indian up- 
rising ; authorized the governor to arrange 
with the state of Iowa for the care of the in- 
sane of the territory ; amended the militia 
law, but still required all able-bodied men be- 
tween the ages of eighteen and forty-five to 
be enrolled; provided for the election of the 
auditor and treasurer biennially, instead of an- 
nually, after the year 1866; disconnected Buf- 
falo, Hall, and Merrick counties from Platte 
coimty, and allowed them one member of the 
house of representatives ; attached Saunders 
county to Cass for judicial, election, and reve- 
nue purposes ; legalized the organization of 
Jones county and declared its organization 
complete; attached all that part of Polk county 
north of the Platte river and west of the Loup 
Fork river permanently to Platte county ; and 
adopted memorials to Congress for an appro- 
priation to pay the expense of the Indian war, 
and for the building of a hospital for the in- 
sane. The legislature also graciously re- 
sponded to the coyly expressed hint of the 
niessage that a recommendation for the reap- 
pointment of the governor would not be offen- 
sive, and threw in a similar request on behalf 
of the secretary. This action, tending toward 
harmonizing and building up the republican 
party, was and is characteristic of the soli- 
darity of that organization, and was in sharp 
contrast to the constant and bitter strife be- 
tween the leaders of the democratic party 
through all the territorial days. 

In July, 1866, Congress appropriated $45,- 
000 to be applied in reimbursement of expen- 
ditures "for the pay, equipment, and mainte- 
nance of territorial troops in the suppression 
of Indian hostilities and protection of the lives 
and property of citizens of the United States," 
in the year 1864. The allowance for troops 
was limited to the companies called out by the 



governor and placed under control- of the gen- 
eral commanding the troops of the United 
States in the territory. The claim presented 
by the territory "somewhat exceeded" the 
amount of the appropriation. In his message 
of May 17, 1867, Governor Butler stated that 
Governor Saunders had succeeded in collect- 
ing $28,000 on this account, and in his mes- 
sage of January 8, 1869, he complains that the 
balance is still unadjusted. 

Governor Saunders was reappointed in 
April, 1865, and served until he was super- 
seded by David Butler, the first governor of 
the state, in 1867. In the same month, Judge 
William Kellogg, of Peoria, Illinois, was ap- 
pointed chief justice of the territory in place 
of William Pitt Kellogg, who had been ap- 
pointed collector of the port of New Orleans. 
His party organ gave the gentleman of Louis- 
iana "returning board" fame the following un- 
equivocal send-off: "W. P. Kellogg was a 
very pleasant gentleman for whom we always 
entertained a feeling of friendship, but he 
neglected his duties as judge by his almost uni- 
form absence at term time. We are mistaken 
in the temper of the bar of this territory, and 
especially of this city, if they quietly submit 
to those things four years longer." It is said 
by contemporaneous citizens that the second 
Judge Kellogg resembled his predecessor in 
name chiefly, and though an acute politician 
was also a good judge. 

The republican territorial convention for 
1865 was held at Plattsmouth, September 19th. 
Jefferson B. Weston of Gage county nomi- 
nated John Gillespie, of Nemaha county and 
"of the Nebraska First" regiment, for auditor, 
and Thomas W. Tipton of Nemaha county 
nominated Augustus Kountze for treasurer, 
and both were chosen by acclamation. The 
nomination of Mr. Gillespie was the first for- 
mal recognition of the soldier element in Ne- 
braska politics, which afterward became a 
settled practice of the republican party. 

The democratic territorial convention of 
1865 met at Plattsmouth, September 21st. The 
democrats of the country were now beginning 
to see in Andrew Johnson's patriotism — or 
apostasy — a ray of hope for resurrection 



344 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



from their self-interment of 1864. and Morton 
proceeded with alacrity to encourage the em- 
barrassment which was encompassing the re- 
publicans of the territory. At the head of the 
committee on resolutions, composed as to the 
rest, of Edward P. Child of Douglas county 
and John Rickley of Platte county, he re- 
ported the following platform, which was 
adopted by the convention : 

1. Resolved. That the measures adopted 
by President Johnson for the restoration of 
the southern states to their rightful position 
in the union, and his recent public expressions 
on that subject are wise, safe, humane and pa- 
triotic, that they coincide with the time-honored 
theories of the democracy of the nation upon 
the relations of the states to the general gov- 
ernment, of zvhich theories the present chief 
executive has. in times past, been an eloquent 
and pozverfti! champion; that the sentiments 
recently expressed by him towards the people 
of the south are an emphatic rebuke and repu- 
diation of the policy, theories and public ex- 
pressions of the republican party on the sub- 
ject of the relation not only of the northern 
but of all the states to the federal power, and 
that the pretended endorsement, by the late 
convention of republican office-holders in this 
territory, of the views and measures of the 
president is a flat contradiction of the policy 
they have, until now, advocated, and deserves, 
therefore, to be treated with that contempt and 
distrust which honest men always pay to de- 
ceitful words which stultify those who utter 
them. 

2. Resolved, That the qualifications of 
electors should hereafter, as heretofore, be 
regulated by each state for itself and that the 
attempt of the republican party to compel the 
southern people to admit negroes to the elec- 
tive franchise is as unjust and unwarrantable 
an interference with the reserved rights of the 
states as it would be to force California to 
permit Chinamen to vote, and that the silence 
on this great question of the republican office- 
holders in their late convention when pretend- 
ing to speak for their party, and when speak- 
ing in vague and general terms of the policy of 
the president towards the south, clearly shows 
that they are dishonest in what they do say 
and that they are holding their opinions upon 
this subject in reserve, to be suited to the un- 
certain developments of these shifting times. 

3. Resolved, That negroes are neither by 
nature nor by education, entitled to political 
nor social equality with the white race, that we 
are opposed to permitting them to hold office 



in this territory themselves or to vote for 
others for office ; that we are bitterly hostile 
to the project of amending the Organic Act so 
as to permit them to vote, now sought to be 
secretly accomplished by republicans, and we 
denounce as cozvardly and deceptive, alike to 
friends and foes, the silence of the office- 
holders' convention on this most important 
point. 

4. Resoli'cd that we deem the vote of the 
people, but lately taken, by which they de- 
clared themselves in overwhelming majorities 
opposed to the admission of this territory as 
a state into the union, as decisive of that ques- 
tion, and are astonished at the persistent re- 
newal of the effort of republican office-holders 
to force such a change of our condition upon 
us ; that in order again to test the popular 
opinion on that subject, which should always 
be determined by the people in their primary 
capacity, we demand that all laws hereafter 
enacted, whether by the legislative assembly 
or by congress, providing for a convention to 
frame a constitution, require a vote to be taken 
at the time of the election of delegates, whether 
or not a convention shall sit for that purpose. 

These drastic resolutions were voted upon 
separately, and all adopted without dissent. 
The declaration of the status of the negro is 
not much out of harmony with the present 
general public opinion which has been reached 
after forty years of painful experiment along 
the lines of an opposite theory, and the estab- 
lished practice today in every southern state 
is in accordance with ]\Iorton's harsh dictum. 
Each of the two platforms here reproduced 
was prepared by a young and ambitious leader 
of the respective parties, and whatever might 
be said questioning the wisdom or discretion 
of Morton's declaration, its virility, strength, 
and boldness put the other, which was prin- 
cipally political fishing, in conspicuous con- 
trast. And yet this prudent preaching of the 
one was to open to its author the gates of 
official preferment, while the vigorous but dis- 
cordant ingenuousness of the other would be 
a bar against his political success. At this dis- 
tance the denunciation of negro suffrage for 
this northern territory seems like gratuitous 
flying in the face of popular prejudice or sen- 
timent. The question never has been of prac- 
tical importance in Nebraska. The abuse 
heaped upon Morton by the republican news- 



POLITICS IN 1865 



345 



papers on account of this platform and his 
other similar declarations was unusual even 
in those days of unbridled license of the politi- 
cal press. 

And yet it would be unjust to deny to the 
republican leaders of that day, such as Turner 
M. IVTarquett, Oliver P. Mason, George B. 
Lake, John M. Thayer, Robert W. Furnas, 
and Algernon S. Paddock, most of whom were 
recent deserters from the democratic party, a 
measure at least of that philanthropic desire 
for the amelioration of the condition of the 
negro race, and belief that the ascendency of 
the republican party at that time was essential 
to the attainment of that object, and even for 
the preservation of the Union, which so largely 
actuated the rank and file of their party. But, 
on the other hand, it would be unjust to deny 
:o the democratic leaders, such as George L. 
Miller, J. Sterling Morton, Andrew J. Pop- 
pleton, Eleazer Wakeley, James M. Wool- 
worth, George W. Doane, Charles H. Brown, 
and Benjamin E. B. Kennedy, as well as their 
party followers, the sincere belief that radical 
republicanism would hurtfully enfranchise the 
negro and obstruct the real restoration of the 
Union. Furthermore, it should be said, to the 
everlasting credit of these veteran democrats, 
alive and dead, that their unswerving al- 
legiance to their party, through its many years 
of ill-repute, plainly meant to them political 
self-sacrifice and seclusion, while by cutting 
loose from their unpromising moorings and 
floating with the popular republican tide they 
would have gathered both honors and emolu- 
ments. Nor may we of today felicitate our- 
selves that the political fustian and buncombe 
of those early days has changed in great meas- 
ure, either in quality or quantity. A well- 
known English writer illustrates their present 
prevalence in a recent article entitled "Rot in 
English Politics": ". . . The Disraelian 
myth, which has changed the most un-English 
of all our prime ministers into an almost sac- 
ramental symbol of patriotism, has been worth 
many a legion to Lord Salisbury. The Prim- 
rose League is ridiculous enough, but men who 
want big majorities must not scorn the sim- 
ply ridiculous, nor do they." 



The democratic candidate for auditor was 
John S. Seaton — who, like his opponent, be- 
longed to the "old Nebraska First" — and for 
treasurer. Saint John Goodrich. The repub- 
lican, nominally the "union" ticket, was suc- 
cessful, Kountze having a majority of 852 and 
Gillespie of 694. With the soldier vote added 
Kountze had 3,495 votes and Goodrich 2,573. 
Bitterness to the extent of scurrility character- 
ized the campaign. The Advertiser in par- 
ticular, after Furnas left it, was mainly a mess 
of scurrilous epithet of which this is a scarcely 
adequate sample : 

The consequences of inviting the disfran- 
chised renegades of the other states to Ne- 
braska City, as was . done by the Nebraska 
City Nezvs. just after the adoption of the new 
constitution of Alissouri, are becoming more 
apparent every day in the theft, larceny and 
rowdyism of that city, which is alarmingly on 
the increase. Men have been knocked down 
on the streets of that city and robbed ; men, 
boasting of being disfranchised Missourians, 
perambulate the streets in bands and make it 
unsafe lor unarmed pedestrians. Horse steal- 
ing is again on the rampage. Three horses 
were stolen on the night of the 14th from that 
city; one from Julien Metcalf, which he has 
since recovered, and two (over which we shall 
shed no briny tears ) from J. Sterling Morton. 
This is rather a steep contribution on Morton 
for their assistance in "voting down the blue- 
coated, brass-buttoned yankees." 

The same organ assailed the democratic 
territorial platform, and Morton "a pupil of 
Vallandigham," as the author of it, in lan- 
guage which it would be rather complimentary 
to call billingsgate. And this illustrates the 
ferocity of the appeal to war passions : 

The so-called democracy of this county, 
after due consideration and discussion, have 
hoisted the name of Joseph I. Early as a can- 
didate for councilman, for the purpose of con- 
testing the seat of Hon. J. W. Chapman. . . 
Air. Early proclaimed, in a public speech at 
Nebraska City, last fall, that he looked upon 
Abraham Lincoln as a tyrant and usurper of 
power, and denounced the union soldiers as 
robbers, thieves and murderers. He also said 
publicly that he had assisted in the notorious 
Baltimore mob, and that he would yet assist 
in hanging Abraham Lincoln. 

And there was little restraint in the dis- 
charge of explosive epithet through the col- 



346 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




[Note — H. S. Kaley was an early legislator and lawyer, Red Cloud, Nebraska] 



ELEVENTH LEGISLATURE 



347 



umns of the democratic press. A sample 
Mortonism from the Nezvs will suffice : "As 
Mr. Goodrich [democratic candidate for 
treasurer] has had no government contracts, 
owns no untaxable United States bonds, is 
not a distant relative of the man who killed 
Christ, and does not run a bank, we presume 
he is not as rich, though he may be quite as 
honest, as Mr. Kountze or any other money- 
lender of the Jewish persuasion in Nebraska." 
But in the reckless game of politics it did not 
matter that Mr. Kountze was, by profession, 
a Lutheran and a prominent member of the 
Lutheran church. 

Of the twenty-three counties voting at this 
election only six — Dakota, Dixon. Douglas, 
Otoe, Platte, and Sarpy — were democratic, 
all of them but Platte of the older and border 
counties. Otoe remains the banner demo- 
cratic, and Nemaha the banner republican 
county. The remarkable and persistent po- 
litical differences between these two adjoin- 
ing and border counties is explained by the 
fact that the dominating early settlers of Otoe 
were of the south and so of southern sympa- 
thy, which then involved democratic politics, 
while Nemaha was earlier dominated by north- 
ern men. This difference is further explained 
by a retort of the Advertiser to an assertion, 
attributed to Morton, in the Neit's of June 
Sth, that "radicalism in Nemaha county has 
by its intolerance and bigotry, by fierce fanat- 
icism and zealous hatred of democracy, driven 
one million dollars of Missouri capital out of 
the boundaries of Nemaha and into Otoe 
county." The reply quotes from the Nezvs 
of July L 1865, as follows: "The disfran- 
chised citizens of Missouri will unquestionably 
seek new homes. The over-riding of honor 
and equity, and the entire lack of charity ex- 
hiljited by the abolition rulers of the state hav- 
ing deprived them of all privileges of citizen- 
ship, they will take up their bed and go to 
some more hospitable region. We invite them 
to Nebraska." And then the Advertiser adds : 
"This invitation was not, and never will be 
endorsed by the union men of Nemaha county, 
and we have never heard a sound union man 
regret that the above invited class went to 



Otoe instead of this county." Five counties — 
Cuming, Hall, Merrick, Pawnee, and Seward 
— cast no democratic vote, while Lancaster 
with one hundred republican against eight 
democratic votes gave good earnest of her 
future political propensities. 

Eleventh Legislature. The eleventh 
legislative assembly convened January 4, 1866. 
The councilmen of the previous session held 
over with the exception of Bayne of Richard- 
son county, who had removed from the ter- 
ritory, and George Faulkner was chosen in 
his place at a special election. There was a 
stout partisan contest over the choice of a 
president of the council. Porter of Douglas 
receiving 6 votes and Chapman of Cass 6. On 
the fourth day of the struggle and on the 
thirty-eighth ballot, the democrats and two 
republicans voted for Oliver P. Mason, who 
was already temporary president, and elected 
him permanent president. The democrats 
"accorded the presidency to Mason, and 
elected the remainder of the officers from their 
party." William E. Harvey, former auditor 
of the territory, was chosen chief clerk, re- 
ceiving 1 1 votes against 1 for John S. Bowen. 
The house was composed of thirty-eight mem- 
bers. 

Gen. Harry H. Heath presented credentials 
from Kearney, Lincoln, and Saline counties, 
but a majority of a select committee appointed 
to examine them reported that he was ineli- 
gible, inasmuch as he held the office of briga- 
dier-general of volunteers in the United States 
army, and the report was sustained by the 
house by a vote of 19 to 18. So the counties 
named were without representation at this ses- 
sion. James G. Megeath of Douglas county 
was elected speaker, receiving 25 votes against 
9 cast for George B. Lake, also of Douglas 
county. 

George May of Cass county was elected 
chief clerk. The members of each house were 
nearly evenly divided politically, but the re- 
publican organ at the capital scolded at con- 
ditions which should have resulted in a demo- 
cratic majority of one in each house while the 
"Union Republican party" was in a majority 
of at least 1,000 in the territory. The demo- 



348 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 






(Note — Charles H. Brown was a member of the constitutional convention, 1875, and prominent in 
early Nebraska politics.] 



ELEVENTH LEGISLATURE 



349 



cratic organ said that the democrats had a ma- 
jority of two in the house, and that they elected 
all the officers but one. 

The governor's message set forth the status 
of the Indian war as follows : 

It was hoped that with the close of the 
rebellion these troubles would cease ; but this 
hope has proved groundless. Emboldened by 
success, the savage tribes who have commit- 
ted these outrages upon the lives and property 
of emigrants, and upon the Overland Stage 
Line and Pacific Telegraph, have become ex- 
ceedingly reckless and daring in their murder- 
ous forays : and outrages the most atrocious 
and wanton in their character are of frequent 
occurrence. Nothing will in my judgment give 
us peace upon the plains but the employment 
of the most vigorous measures to hunt out and 
severely punish the authors of these outrages. 
And I trust and believe, from the information 
in my possession, that it is the purpose of the 
general government, early in the coming 
spring, to send a force against them sufficient 
to compel them to sue for peace, or drive them 
from all the great lines of travel between the 
IVIissouri river and the Rocky mountains. 

It appears from the message that, exclusive 
of the militia bonds to the amount of $36,000, 
the indebtedness of the territory was now 
$53,967.80 — less by $3,891.56 than that re- 
ported the year before. The governor con- 
gratulates the taxpayers on the fact that the 
resources to meet this indebtedness amount 
to $91,945.70, disregarding with naive op- 
timism the troublesome fact that a very large 
part of this handsome sum represents unavail- 
able delinquent taxes. The governor reports 
that, under an arrangement made during the 
year with the trustees of the Iowa hospital for 
the insane, nine patients had been sent there 
from the territory ; that, with the assistance 
of Benjamin E. B. Kennedy and George B. 
Lake, he had examined the work of Expe- 
rience Estabrook in revising the laws by 
authority of the act of the last session of the 
legislature and that the revision faithfully- 
complied with the requirements of the act. 
The message reported that fifty-five miles of 
the Union Pacific railway had been completed, 
that grading and bridging were finished as 
far as Columbus — ninety-five miles : 

Upon the north, congress has provided for a 



branch from Sioux City, and to the south of 
us the same just and liberal policy has en- 
dowed two other branches with liberal dona- 
tions, thus insuring their construction at an 
early day. One of these branches is the ex- 
tension of the Burlington and Alissouri River 
Railroad, now permanently located to run 
west from Plattsmouth to the 100th meridian ; 
the other is the extension of the Hannibal and 
St. Joseph railroad from St. Joseph, in a 
northwesterly direction uniting with the main 
line (in the language of the bill,) at the 100th 
meridian "in the territory of Nebraska." 

The message urges the familiar arguments 
for state government. With the passion of 
the public men of that period for peroration, 
the governor closes his message with a highly 
colored congratulatory passage on the return 
of peace. 

Near the beginning of the session General 
Estabrook made a report on the manner in 
which he had done the work of revision, and 
afterward a joint committee, consisting of 
Kennedy, Allen, and Griffey, of the council, 
and Lake, Brown, Thorne, Crounse, and Cad- 
man of the house, was appointed to further 
consider the revision. The careful work of 
General Estabrook brought the statutes for 
the first time into practical form. The leg- 
islature of 1866 made such amendments and 
additions to the revision of General Estabrook 
as were needed, and the result was embodied 
in the revised statutes of 1866. George Fran- 
cis Train's Credit Foncier of America, an 
echo or counterpart of the famous Credit Mo- 
bilier, was incorporated at this session. John 
M. S. Williams, James H. Bowen, Augustus 
Kountze, George Francis Train, and George 
T. M. Davis, Train's father-in-law, were by 
the act appointed commissioners to organize 
the company, which was almost universal in 
its scope of business, but designed especially 
"to make advance of money and credit to rail- 
road and other improvement companies." 
Under the provision for erecting cottages con- 
siderable building of that kind was done by 
the company at Omaha and Columbus. 

Statehood was the most important question 
considered at this session. Though party 
lines were not strictly drawn, the republicans 
generally favored, and the democrats opposed 



350 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 





William Remington 



Mrs. William Rlmington 



(Note — William Remington was the first sheriff of Saline connty, Nebraska] 



ELEVENTH LEGISLATURE 



351 



the proposed change to state government. The 
opposition was led on the outside by the two 
most prominent democratic leaders, J. Sterling 
Morton, then editor of the Nezvs, and Dr. 
George L. Miller, who had recently started the 
Omaha Herald, and in the legislature by Ben- 
jamin E. B. Kennedy of the council and the 
aggressive Charles H. Brown of the house. 
Mr. Brown formulated the democratic oppo- 
sition in resolutions which he introduced in 
the house, and into the belly of which, Doug- 
las-like, he injected a stump speech: 

Whereas, certain official politicians have as- 
siduously sought, through specious arguments, 
to create a sentiment in favor of, and induce 
the people to change their simple and econom- 
ical form of government, which heretofore has 
been and now is a blessing, for one which will 
have many new, useless and burdensome of- 
fices, to be filled by persons ambitious to oc- 
cupy places of profit and trust, even at the ex- 
pense of the tax payers, and which will in its 
organization and operation necessarily be bur- 
densome and ruinous to an extent which none 
can foresee, and consequently involving a taxa- 
tion which will eat out the substance of the 
people ; . . . 

And whereas, the people of this territory 
but a short time ago, with almost entire 
unanimity, expressed their unqualified disap- 
proval and condemnation of any attempt to 
force on them the grinding taxation incident 
to, and schemes of politicians for, state gov- 
ernment, and have not since then, by ballot or 
otherwise, expressed a wish for increased and 
increasing burdens and taxation ; 

And whereas, personal interest and selfish 
considerations are strong inducements and 
powerful incentives for individual or com- 
bined action, and certain politicians have in- 
dustriously sought again to force state govern- 
ment upon the people, and compel them again, 
at great expense and trouble, whether they 
wish or not, to consider that question, and 
through fraud and chicanery fasten this in- 
cubus upon them ; 

And whereas, his excellency, Alvin Saun- 
ders, the chief executive federal officer of this 
territory, has with great consideration, after 
the rebuke given but a brief period ago by the 
people to political schemers for state organiza- 
tion, again, by plausible arguments, thrust in 
his annual message at this session, this repu- 



diated question upon the legislative assembly 
for its action, and has sought in an unusual 
manner, to force a constitution no matter "by 
whatever body or by whomsoever made," upon 
the people of this territory, without giving 
them even the small privilege, to say nothing 
of their absolute and most unqualified right to 
select whomsoever they might see fit to 
comprise that body, through whose actions 
they might entrust so grave and vital a ques- 
tion as making a constitution ; 

Therefore, be it resolved, as the sense of 
this House, that it is unwise to take any steps 
which will throw this question upon the people 
without their first having asked for its sub- 
mission to them. 

The resolutions were indefinitely postponed 
by a vote of 20 to 14. A joint resolution sub- 
mitting a constitution to the people passed the 
council by a vote of 7 to 6, Mason, the presi- 
dent, giving the casting vote. The vote did 
not follow party lines, though only two demo- 
crats, Griflfey of Dakota and Porter of Doug- 
las, voted aye. The resolution passed the 
house, 22 to 16, the four democrats from 
Douglas county and four of the five members 
from Otoe county voting nay. It is curious 
that a motion in the house to strike out of 
the proposed constitution the restriction of the 
suffrage to whites received only two affirmative 
votes, while 36 were cast against it. 

The constitution was not prepared by a 
committee of the legislature or other legally 
authorized persons, but was the voluntary 
work of the politicians who were bent on 
statehood. Chief Justice William Kellogg 
was styled "our amiable constitution maker" ; 
and Isaac S. Hascall, in a speech in the senate, 
February 20, 1867, said that the constitution 
was framed by nine members of the legis- 
lature, five of them democrats, and Judge Wil- 
liam A. Little, Judge William Kellogg, Hadley 
D. Johnson, Governor Alvin Saunders, Gen- 
eral Experience Estabrook, and others of Oma- 
ha. The Herald says that "the constitution was 
founded by three or four men who locked 
themselves up in their rooms to do their work." 
The Press of Nebraska City called it Kellogg 
and Mason's constitution and stoutly protested 
against the white restriction. While this 



ODJ 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



state document of gravest importance was 
clandestinely and arbitrarily framed it was 
carried through the legislature in an indefen- 
sibly bold and arbitrary manner. The consti- 
tution did not even enter the legislature 
through the natural channels of the judiciary, 
or any other committee, but was injected by 
Porter of Dotiglas, that task being assigned 
to him, doubtless, because he was the only 
democrat of his delegation or of prominence 
who favored its submission at all. It was then 
referred to a special committee consisting of 
Bennett, Porter, and Chapman, who recom- 
mended it for passage, the same day, when it 
was at once passed, the council refusing, by 
a vote of 6 to 7, to hear it read the third time. 
The house even refused to let the important 
document go to a committee at all. the motion 
of Robertson to refer it to the committee on 
federal relations being defeated by 14 to 24, 
and two attempts to amend, made in the reg- 
ular session, were frustrated by Lake's insist- 
ent motions to table. This fundamental law 
of a commonwealth was not even considered 
in committee of the whole in either house. It 
was cut by outside hands, and without time 
for drying was railroaded on its legislative 
passage. Even the republican Nebraska City 
Press was moved to say that "a few broken 
down political hacks about Omaha seem deter- 
mined upon their mad scheme of forcing a con- 
stitution before the people through the legisla- 
ture." The records of the procedure in the 
legislature fall little if at all short of bearing 
out the strictures of the strenuously partisan 
Herald: 

The constitution . . . was rushed 
through the legislature in such haste that not 
one man in six had a moment allowed to ex- 
amine the instrument. . . Democrats who 
favored the measure and democrats and re- 
publicans who opposed were denied the priv- 
ilege of either amending or examining the 
constitution. Not one man in twenty in the 
legislature has ever read the constitution. This 
constitution was never printed. It was not 
even referred to a committee of either House. 
Even discussion of the stray paragraphs which 
members caught the sense of from the hurried 
reading of the clerk was denied to members 
under the resistless pressure brought to bear 
by the majority to rush it through. 



Air. James M. Woolworth said in an ad- 
dress before the territorial educational asso- 
ciation that the minimum price of five dollars 
an acre at which public school lands might be 
sold under the constitution was not an ade- 
quate protection, as he knew of several quar- 
ter-sections worth from fifty dollars to three 
hundred dollars per acre ; and he complained 
that under the provision lands might be sold, 
not to the highest but to the lowest bidder. 
In the same address Mr. Woolworth called at- 
tention to the fact that the proposed consti- 
tution made no proper provision for a system 
of public instruction or for safeguards to the 
public school lands and funds. He urged that 
it should be amended in these particulars. In 
a letter to the Herald. Mr. Woolworth stated 
that he had said in the address in question 
that on the question of suffrage he would vote 
with Dr. Monell and General Bowen, and that 
he was in favor of sending a proposition to 
amend the constitution on the suffrage question 
to the people, if the state should be admitted; 
and also that he was in favor of providing 
means of education for blacks as well as 
whites, but particularly wanted the constitu- 
tion amended in respect to its educational pro- 
visions. "If it is not attended to now," he 
said, "the school lands will in a very few vears 
be swept away. Some men will get rich and 
the schools will be forever poor." 

By the beginning of 1866 the vigorous pa- 
triotism or perversity of Andrew Johnson was 
fast stirring national politics into a condition 
which resembled potpourri, and the grotesque 
political antics of the federal ofifice-holders in 
particular revealed their agony of suspense. 
Though uncertain toward which course pru- 
dence pointed, yet most of them yielded to 
present pressure, and unconditionally "John- 
sonized." On the whole their attitude chiefly 
illustrated the overpowering influence of tem- 
porary advantage in determining men's allegi- 
ance and the choice, or even the creation, of 
their principles. Edward B. Taylor, editor of 
the Omaha Republican, and also superintend- 
ent of Indian affairs, rising — or sinking — to 
a sense of his duty to do something for the ad- 
ministration, commensurate with the honors 



THE FIRST STATE CONSTITUTION 



353 



and emoluments of this sonorously entitled of- 
fice, denounced the Morrill bill, or force law, 
as an attempt to force negro suffrage on the 
territory, as a distinct outrage on our rights 
as American citizens, and as being against the 
sentiment of nineteen-twentieths of the people. 
The Sumner amendment to the Colorado en- 
abling act requiring, as a condition precedent 
to admission, acceptance by the legislature of 
negro suiifrage was denounced as "an outrage 
upon the independence and rights of the peo- 
ple of Colorado." This was the same con- 
dition which was afterward imposed upon 
and accepted by the Nebraska legislature, on 
the approval of the Republican — the constitu- 
tion placed before the people in 1866 not hav- 
ing provided for negro stiiifrage. Even the 
Advertiser, which, since Furnas quit it, had 
been phenomenally radical and regular, was 
now standing out against negro suffrage and 
for Johnson's policy. 

But while the republicans, distracted in the 
doubt on which side the spoils lay, were di- 
vided as to the question of Johnson's policy, 
the democrats were so seriously divided on 
the question of statehood as to be unable to 
take advantage of the weakness of the ma- 
jority party. The circulation of petitions for 
signature, asking the legislature to frame a 
constitution and submit it to the people, had 
drawn from Morton denunciation of the pro- 
posed statehood as "a scheme of office-aspir- 
ing politicians." Dr. ^filler's attitude at this 
time was not so much that of opposition to 
statehood as it was to acqtiiring it through re- 
publican means and on republican conditions. 
He insisted that the people did not wish the 
legislature to form a constitution, but that 
they wanted a chance for a direct vote for or 
against state government. He argued against 
the statehood proposition on account of the 
manner in which it had been thrust upon the 
people, but wanted the policy of the party 
settled by a state convention ; and he charged 
that Chief Justice Kellogg and Governor 
Saunders were the managers of the statehood 
scheme. The Republican, eager in its own 
misery to discover as much company of a like 
sort as possible, declared that at first a caucu'-. 



of democratic members of the legislature did 
not oppose the state movement, but Morton 
cracked his whip and changed it all, and Dr. 
Miller had to fall in. 

From the circumscribed local point of view 
the aggressive and bitter opposition to negro 
suffrage by the democratic leaders — by this 
time most of the leading strings could be 
traced into the hands of Morton and Miller, 
to be held there for some thirtv vears to come 




John Gillespie 

Last territorial auditor and first state auditor of 

Nebraska, October 10, 1865, to January 10, 1873 

— was inexplicable, since it had been the 
argument of Douglas, subscribed by his fol- 
lowers, that nature had fortified Nebraska 
against any considerable influx of negroes ; 
and while this policy was hurtful to the party, 
as offending a growing popular anti-slavery 
sentiment, it was wholly unnecessary "to leg- 
islate against the law of God," as Daniel Web- 



354 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ster had unanswerably stated the case. But. 
on the other hand, the prevaihng pubhc senti- 
ment at the North just at that time, following 
Lincoln's expression of caution and depreca- 
tion, was against negro suffrage. We find the 
Herald, quoting a letter written by ex-Gover- 
nor William A. Richardson, taking strong 
ground against negro suffrage, and showing 
that Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, and 
Wisconsin had voted against it at the last elec- 
tions, while "at least thirty other states are 
in reliellion according to this test, and five or 
six are 'loyal.' " While the mainspring of the 




WiLLi.Mvi Kellogg 
Fourth chief justice, Nebraska territory 

action of the republican leaders in pressing 
to adoption the fifteenth amendment to the 
constitution, some time after, may have been 
the selfish motive of gaining political control 
of the southern states, yet its success was based 
upon a strong and genuine sentiment in its 
favor in the North, and particularly in the 
Northwest. So. while it may be conceded 
that the democratic leaders of Nebraska, in 
pressing anti-sufifrage as an issue, were in line 
with general democratic judgment and with 
national democratic policy, as keeping in touch 
with the inevitably dominant race of the South, 



yet it is plain that they pressed it with gratui- 
tous ardor and unwise bitterness as affecting 
local politics. But whatever the reader may 
think as to the wisdom or unwisdom of Dr. 
Miller's anti-suffrage fulminations he feels 
that they are couched in rhetoric of extraor- 
dinary freshness and force. Thus, an obser- 
vation by the Nebraska City Nt?ii's that the 
Morrill bill "provided that niggers shall vote 
in all the territories," and that by Sumner's 
amendment to the act for the admission of 
Colorado it will be imposed also upon the 
states, touches oft" this broadside from the 
Herald: 

Thus negro suft'rage is inevitable. . . It 
will be more manly to accept negro suffrage 
from congress by legal enforcement than to 
humiliate ourselves by its voluntary adoption 
as the price of admission to the union. That 
territory upon which congress imposes nigger 
voting because it has — under radical ruling — 
the power to do so, will become stronglv demo- 
cratic, but that community that voluntarily 
adopts it as the price of statehood will be very 
wofully radical ever after. We prefer living 
in a democratic territory where niggers vote to 
a residence in a radical state where they also 
\ote. We could perhaps put up with niggers 
voting if at the same time their less white 
friends, the radicals were defeated in the ter- 
ritory. But it would be almost unendurable 
to live in the state of Nebraska and have nig- 
gers and radicals vote themselves victory. . . 
Gentlemen can take their choice. . . W'e 
take nigger only when forced to it by congress 
and therefore are for remaining as at present 
a territory. 

The Nebraska City Press, which, though 
the least among the leading republican organs 
of the territory, merited the distinction of 
having been the only clear-sighted or disinter- 
ested one among them, in that it had not John- 
sonized, added to the discord by attacking the 
Republican for its strictures on Sumner's 
amendment, and clinched its denunciation 
with the prevalent argumentuin ad hominem, 
to the effect that the editor of the Republican 
was an unregenerate Breckenridge democrat 
of 1860. At the close of the legislature, the 
democratic organ congratulated the territory 
on the failure of "the radicals to make the 
election laws even more offensive than they 
were then," and ga\e two of the republican 



THE FIRST STATE CONSTITUTION 



355 



members of the house the following parting 
attention : 

The bloody orator of Otoe (Mason) goes 
back to his radical brethren howling his own 
discomfiture, and utterly disgusted with the 
vain exhibition he has made in the legislature 
of mingled malice and vanity, while Crounse 
of Richardson, after his performance in the 
investigating committee and getting behind his 
privilege as a member of the House to assail 
Mr. Morton, has demonstrated the breadth of 
his estimate of what constitutes a gentleman. 

The character of the investigation referred 
to is disclosed in the report of the minority 
of the committee made by Mr. Crounse and 
adopted by the house, in part as follows : 

Mr. Speaker: The undersigned, a minority 
of the committee appointed by the chair to in- 
vestigate charges of bribery and corruption 
made in relation to the passage of the joint 
resolution submitting a state constitution to 
the people of Nebraska, in submitting their re- 
port, would premise that, in their opinion, this 
investigation was instituted by that branch of 
this House opposed to state organization urged 
on by outside politicians, with a view to dam- 
age personal reputation and by such unfair 
means defeat the success of state organization 
if possible. As proof of this we refer to the 
following facts which appear in the testimony ; 
One J. Sterling Morton, editor of the "Ne- 
braska City A^czvs," a would-be leader of the 
democracy of the territory, and active anti- 
state man, before, during and since the sub- 
mission and passage of the joint resolution, has 
spent most of his time on the f^oor of this 
House caucusing with members, drafting bun- 
combe political resolutions for members to in- 
troduce in the House, by which its time was 
occupied to the exclusion of more legitimate 
and profitable business. The appointment of 
this committee would seem to have been di- 
rected with a view to this end ; the very chair- 
man, the Hon. Mr. Thorne, appears, by the 
evidence, to have been an instrument used by 
said J. Sterling Morton to introduce a reso- 
lution "blocked out" by him, and directed 
against state. The Hon. Mr. Brown, as ap- 
pears by the House journal, was the intro- 
ducer, if not the framer, of another preamble 
and resolution against state of a most insulting 
character, and which was most summarily dis- 
posed of by this House. . . 

The Hon. Mr. Robertson, of Sarpy county, 
it appears, was one of the instigators of this 
investigation. Too ambitious to put some 
capital into this enterprise, he came before the 



committee, and by his first testimony seemed 
willing to attach the motive of bribery and 
corruption to a transaction which appears, by 
the concurrent testimony of several other wit- 
nesses, to be a simple business matter. By 
further examination, when placed by his own 
testimony in the peculiar position of allowing 
himself to be approached two or more distinct 
times, with what he was pleased to term an im- 
proper oiTer without showing any resentment, 
he chose, on discovery, to state it in its true 
light, and by his own testimony, corroborated 
by that of all the other witnesses called to the 
same subject, it is shown that what occurred 
between himself and the Hon. Messrs. Mason 
and Bennett, of Otoe county, was purely a 
business transaction, and that it was not calcu- 
lated to influence him in his vote, nor so un- 
derstood by any of the parties. 

The last testimony taken was that of "Sir. 
Bennett, of the Council, who states that Mr. 
Morton, aforesaid, during the pendency of the 
question of submitting the question of the 
constitution to the people, approached him 
with a proposition signed by fifteen anti-state 
men, including Messrs. Tuxbury, Gilmore, 
Paddock, and others of the House, proposing 
that if state men would separate the question 
of state from that of election of state officers, 
the fifteen would go for the suspension of the 
rules and pledge themselves that the bill should 
not be defeated. At the same time Mr. Mor- 
ton promised to secure a like pledge from the 
anti-state members of the Council. Whether 
Mr. Morton had at the time a fee-simple in 
and full control over the anti-state members 
of both branches of the legislature, we leave 
for the members of this body to conclude. But 
it is but justice to Mr. Bennett to say that he 
did not entertain these propositions, but has at 
all times advocated state organization on 
principle and not a subject to be trafficked 
away. 

But the minority, in their haste to submit 
this report in the very short time allowed by 
order of this House, cannot undertake to re- 
view the testimony further. But enough is 
shown, we think, to convince this body that 
great efifort has been made to defeat the wish 
of the majority in the submission of the con- 
stitution to the people ; and while we can dis- 
cern much connected with the passage of the 
bill that is not strictly proper, yet we have 
failed to discover anything of the character of 
the direct bribe or so intended. 

Mr. Robertson we consider a gentleman be- 
yond the suspicion of accepting a bribe, or be- 
ing improperly influenced in his action as a 
legislator. The other gentlemen designed to 



356 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




Charlks H. Dietrich 
Governor and United States senator 



THE FIRST STATE CONSTITUTION 



357 



be affected by this inquiry are possessed of 
too much good sense and discretion to under- 
take to bribe Mr. Robertson.* 

The Herald undertook to place various pol- 
iticians as follows: "Estabrook (now a re- 
publican) is for nigger and against Johnson, 
and so is Alvin Saunders. Our amiable con- 
stitution-maker, Mr. William Kellogg (chief 
justice) is for Johnson, and so will be Pad- 
dock, Dundy, Hitchcock, Taylor, 'for the pres- 
ent,' as Gen. Heath was against negro suft'rage 
when he spoke his first piece in Omaha in 
front of the postofifice." The same aggres- 
sive organ at this time rejoices over Johnson's 
defeat of the freedman's bureau bill : and 
gives account of a meeting at the court house 
in Omaha to indorse the veto, which was ad- 
dressed by Hadley D. Johnson, Charles H. 
Brown, Isaac S. Hascall, George W. Doane. 
and William A. Little. The instrument pro- 
vided that it should be submitted to the peo- 
ple for their approval or rejection, June 2, 
1866, and that state ofScers, judges of the su- 
preme court, a member of the federal House 
of Representatives, and members of a legisla- 
ture, to be convened on the fourth day of July 
following, should be elected on the same day. 
The constitution was by its own acknowledg- 
ment submitted in accordance with the en- 
abling act of 1864. At the convention of the 
"Union" party, held at Plattsmouth, April 12, 



1866, David Butler was nominated for gov- 
ernor of the prospective state ; Thomas P. 
Kennard for secretary of state; John Gillespie 
for auditor ; Augustus Kountze for treasurer ; 
Oliver P. Mason for chief justice; and Lo- 
renzo Crounse and Geo. B. Lake for asso- 
ciate justices of the supreme court. Turner 
M. Marquett was nominated for member of 
Congress, receiving 32 votes against 15 for 
John I. Redick. In the contest for the nomi- 
nation for governor, Butler received 27 votes 
and Algernon S. Paddock 26. The platform 
was chiefly confined to a statement of the ad- 
vantages of state government as follows : 
First, it would promote the settlement of the 
territory ; second, it would bring the school 
lands under control of the people ; third, it 
would enable Nebraska to select lands for the 
various public institutions before they should 
be absorbed by foreign speculators and by 
the location of agricultural college scrip issued 
to other states. It was contended, also, that 
the question was not a party issue. The 
growing difficulty with Andrew Johnson had 
now reached the non-committal stage, and on 
that subject the resolutions were silent. To 
the politicians the question whether or not the 
president would continue to control the of- 
ficial patronage was paramount, and they 
waited the issue. 



* House Journal, 11th ter. sess., pp. 203-205. 



338 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 





^B f^sff, «9^. 


' 










^k ,^;«^ 


L 




HV'^^wP 


^^^^ 




wBk ^^ 


^^^^^^ 




T^ * 


^M 






' ^-^1 


^^HB^^F 




M 







1 


■ 






L 


^^^I^HBj 




■ /«» !&««£ J| 




^ 




H ^ . 


r 






Hl'^'^^^iiJlA 


^ 


^B 




'---^^j^Bj 


m 


V 




^^A^^iia^Hft 


L 


J 



Charlks Isaac I'rovvn' 



Mrs. Charles Isaac Brown 




Mr. and Mrs. Warren Saunters 

[Note — Mr. and Mrs. Charles Isaac Brown were early residents of Harlan connty, Nebraska. War- 
ren Saunders was an early settler of Cedar connty, Nebraska.] 



CHAPTER XVI 

Politics in 1866 — -Rock Bluffs Contest — Johnson and Anti-Johnson Factions - 
Strugglk over Statehood — Election of First State Officers — Twelfth and Last 
Territorial Legislature — The Negro Suffrage Condition in Congress, and 
IN THE First State Legislature. 



THE democratic convention was held at 
Nebraska City, April 19th. T. W. Bed- 
ford was its presiding officer, and J. Sterling 
Morton was nominated for governor ; Charles 
W. Sturges of Sarpy county, for secretary of 
state : Guy C. Barnum of Platte county, for 
auditor; St. John Goodrich of Douglas county, 
for treasurer ; William A. Little of Douglas 
county, for chief justice; Edward W. Thomas 
of Nemaha county and Benjamin E. B. Ken- 
nedy of Douglas county, for associate jus- 
tices of the su])reme court ; and Dr. John R. 
Brooke of Richardson county, for representa- 
tive in Congress. 

The convention adopted the following plat- 
form : 

Whereas, We regard the support of the 
state governments in all their rights as the 
most competent administration of our domes- 
tic concerns and the surest bulwarks against 
anti-democratical tendencies ; the preservation 
of the general government in its whole consti- 
tutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our 
peace at home and safety abroad. Therefore, 

Resolved, That a jealous care of the right 
of election by the people ; the supremacy of 
the civil over the military authority ; economy 
in the public expense that labor may be lightlv 
burdened; the honest payment of our just 
debts ; the sacred preservation of the public 
faith ; freedom of religion, freedom of the 
press, and freedom of the person under pro- 
tection of the habeas corpus ; and trials by 
juries impartially selected are the fundamental 
doctrines and tenets of the democracy. 

Resolved. That the official action of Andrew 
Johnson, president of the Lmited States, in 
his legitimate endeavors to restore, vmder the 
constitution, the several states to their legal 
status in the American union, elicits and re- 
ceives the full, free and honest commendation 



of the democracy of Nebraska, and that we 
])romise him our faithful and active support 
in all his efforts to sustain the constitution 
and laws. 

Resolved, That we regard the platform 
adopted by the radical official convention held 
at Plattsmouth on the 12th inst., as a direct 
and explicit condemnation of the wise and just 
policies of President Johnson ; a clear declara- 
tion in favor of the destructive policies of the 
Stevens. Sumner and Fred Douglas directory ; 
and that we hereby do invite the people of 
Nebraska to unite with the democracy and aid 
in verifying the historic saying of Andrew 
Johnson : that "This is and shall be a govern- 
ment of white men and for white men." 

Alorton was credited, or charged, with the 
construction of the platform; and after the 
republican press had heaped the matter-of- 
course partisan strictures and ridicule upon it, 
he took malicious pleasure in retorting that 
the preamble and first resolution were copied 
verbatim from the immortal Jefferson's first 
inaugural address. The absence of allusion 
to the statehood issue shows that Morton had 
been willing to compromise as to that ques- 
tion with the pro-state element of the party ; 
and in the campaign his opposition to state- 
hood was not aggressive. 

George Francis Train, who had a long ca- 
reer of remarkable vicissitude, was a pictu- 
resque figure in this campaign. Though his 
speeches were not characterized by coherency, 
they were wonderfully bright, droll, witty, 
sarcastic, and humorous, and the contrast be- 
tween his performance and that of the weighty 
and ponderous Oliver P. Mason, who followed 
him in a discussion at Brownville, is con- 
cededlv indescribalile. Train — and the audi- 



360 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




OuE Anderson 
Pioneer of Otoe County 



POLITICS IN 1866 



361 



ences also — had immeasurable fun at the 
expense of Butler and Kennard, whom he 
engaged in joint discussion at Cuming City 
and Tekamah. Train strongly advocated 
statehood, but supported the democratic ticket. 
The joint discussion was the regular order in 
those earlier campaigns, and Morton and But- 
ler engaged in them all over the territory. 
Morton entered into a fray of this sort with 
all the bright alertness which characterized 
his public speeches to the last, but with a 
rough-shod vehemence that had been greatly 
modified in his later days. His part of the 
discussion is described from the opposition 
point of view: "Morton out-spoke himself 
• — ■ for vehemence, argument, wit and sarcasm, 
outstripped everything I have ever heard in 
Nebraska." Butler was no mean popular de- 
bater, and in reaching the sensibilities of the 
plain people had the advantage over Morton. 
His favorite exclamation, "I thank God from 
my heart of hearts," etc., was at least a partial 
foil to the merciless cut-and-thrust of his 
greatly superior antagonist — in ability and 
wit. But again Morton, by cruel fate and 
more cruel manipulation of the returns, just 
missed his prize, as the official count of the 
vote shows : "For the constitution 3,938 ; 
against the constitution, 3,838. For congress 
Turner M. Marquett, 4,110, Dr. John R. 
Brooke, 3,974; for governor, David Butler, 
4,093, J. Sterling Morton, 3,984; for secretary 
of state. Thomas P. Kennard, 4,075, Charles 
W. Sturges, 3,945 ; for auditor of state, John 
Gillespie, 4,071, Guy C. Barnum, 3,968; for 
state treasurer, Augustus Kountze, 4,099, 
Saint John Goodrich, 3,955; for chief justice. 
Oliver P. Mason, 3,936, William A. Little, 
4,040 ; for associate justices, George B. Lake, 
4,108, Lorenzo Crounse, 4,027, Benjamin E. E. 
Kennedy, 3,962, Edward W. Thomas, 4,017. 
It will he seen that one democrat. Little, was 
elected by a majority of 104. The vote of the 
First regiment, Nebraska volunteer cavalry, 
was 134 for and 32 a'gainst constitution. 

There was a wholesale emigration of the 
soldiers of the First Nebraska regiment to 
their homes in Iowa, Missouri, and other 
states after having voted in Cass and other 



counties. They voted for Stone in Iowa the 
year before, and "never pretended to be citi- 
zens here." 

Mason was the only candidate on the 
"union" ticket who was defeated, though 
Crounse escaped only by the narrow margin 
of ten votes. While the apology for Mason's 
misfortune may have been colored by the pro- 
pitiatory exigency of his party organ, it yet 
throws an interesting light on two prominent 
politicians of that day: 

Mason is a tried and true union man ; he 
has encountered the enemy in many instances 
during the recent rebellion where it was con- 
sidered dangerous to openly denounce treason ; 
where traitors stood thick around him, threat- 
ening him with violence for his plainness of 
speech. And it was on this account more than 
any other that the terrible effort was made to 
defeat him for chief justice, and also that Mr. 
Little, the most popular democrat in the ter- 
ritory became his competitor. 

The vigor with which the "loyal" shibbo- 
leth was sounded in the campaign of 1866 is 
illustrated by the charge that Dr. Brooke, of 
Salem, democratic candidate for member of 
Congress, lamented that his son enlisted in the 
union instead of the rebel army. The sub- 
stantial ground of opposition to statehood 
was the dread of the still impecunious people 
of foregoing the paternal appropriations of 
the federal Congress for the support of the 
territorial government and undertaking the 
formidable responsibility of self-support under 
the increased expense of state government. 
This principal objection that a population of 
only 40,000, and in straitened circumstances, 
could not bear the burdens of state govern- 
ment was both strong and eft'ective ; but the 
objectors could not then see into the very near 
future when the advent of the two pioneer 
railway systems was to mark the real begin- 
ning of immigration, and such rapid rise of 
the commonwealth in population and impor- 
tance as should require the advantages and 
deserve the dignity of statehood. 

The chief stimulus to the opposition of 
democratic leaders was tactical. In the be- 
ginning of the campaign the Nebraska States- 
111 mi, which stipported the democratic ticket 



362 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




IXoTF — J. W. Gilbert was one of the organizers of Saline county, Nebraska, and member of th: 
legislature.) 



ROCK BLUFFS CONTEST 



363 



but favored statehood, urged this view of the 
case. 

We know we have the evidence to prove 
what we say, (and if we have not, Hon J. S. 
Morton has the best of proof in his own 
pocket), that the reason of the opposition of 
leading men in our party to the state movement 
is wholly and solely due to the fear they have 
that the democratic party has not the strength 
to elect a majority of the state legislature at 
the June election. We know that far from 
really believing anything irregular in the plan 
of a legislative made and submitted consti- 
tution that these leading men did advise, and 
that nearly if not all of the democratic mem- 
bers of the last assembly would have voted for, 
the constitution, then and there, if the vote on 
the adoption of the instrument had been sepa- 
rated from the election for state officers, car- 
rying the latter over to the October election, 
so that the party could have been put into good 
training for success at that time. Any demo- 
crat who is candid, who was about Omaha 
during the last days of the session, knows 
these facts and will reiterate them. 

While the republicans could urge with can- 
dor the advantages of the increased prestige 
and influence of statehood — and particularly 
the value of having three representatives in 
Congress entitled to vote, touching still un- 
settled questions concerning the Union Pacific 
railway — yet their chief object was the hon- 
ors and emoluments of congressional member- 
ship. It was estimated that, "counting from 
Hitchcock up, and from Marquett down, any 
ordinary observer can count at least forty 
persons who aspire to senatorial and still 
higher honors." In the spring of 1866 the 
Herald listed among the aspirants to the sen- 
ate, Kellogg, Saunders, Redick, Thayer, Pad- 
dock, and Tipton ; and, factionally classed, 
"Kellogg is for Johnson, Paddock leaning that 
way, Saunders against, Thayer, Redick and 
Tipton not well placed, Butler on both sides, 
and Edward B. Taylor, ring-master or big In- 
dian." 

The same journal callefl the faction which 
was defeated in the first senatorial contest the 
Taylor-Saunders-Irish party, and Judge El- 
mer S. Dundy, so far as his innate wariness 
permitted him to disclose his attitude, hung 
on the outer edges of this faction. 

The Herald at this time also refers to John 



I. Redick as a renegade democrat, now so 
radical that "he would eat the tails of African 
rats and thrive on the diet." 

To men whose lives were pent up in the 
desert-like aloofness from the important 
world those ambassadorships to Washington 
must have seemed dazzling prizes indeed, and 
they awoke the covetous ambition of the unfit 
and unworthy as well as of the capable, strong, 
and worthy. 

The disgraceful record of elections and 
election contests in the territory finds a fitting 
climax in the exclusion of the vote of Rock 
Bluffs, a precinct of Cass county. But there 
was still so limited a public, and, in conse- 
quence, such paucity of public opinion, that 
the selfish aspirations of a comparatively few 
politicians were paramount and almost unre- 
strained ; so that, when it was ascertained that 
manipulation of local election returns some- 
where was necessary to insure a republican 
majority on joint ballot in the legislature. 
Rock Bluffs precinct was selected as the most 
promising field of operation. The reports of 
the committees of the two houses of the leg- 
islature give the history of the Rock Bluffs 
procedure, and the deep impression of its po- 
litical and moral significance on the mind and 
conscience of the commonwealth is still unef- 
faced. Its immediate practical result was the 
choice of Crounse instead of Thomas as judge 
of the supreme court and the election of 
Thayer and Tipton as United States senators, 
instead of Morton and Poppleton, by a joint 
vote in the legislature of 21 to 29. 

The discerning reader will without much 
difficulty draw his own conclusions as to the 
animus and the right or the wrong of throw- 
ing out of the vote of Rock Bluffs precinct and 
of counting the soldier vote, from the reports 
of the committees of the first state legislature 
and the address to the public, written at the 
time by James M. Woolworth, and signed by 
twenty-one members of the legislature. The 
following is a verbatim copy of the address as 
published in pamphlet form : 

On the 19th of April, 1864, Congress passed 
an act authorizing the people of Nebraska to 
form a State government. The act provided 
for an election in Alav, of members of a con- 



364 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



vention which should assemble on the fourth 
of July, and frame a constitution. This in- 
strument was to be presented to die people for 
their adoption or rejection, in October. The 
act did not provide for taking the sense of the 
people upon the fundamental question, whether 
or not they would become a State. But they 
asked it and answered it, and in this way : In 
the election for members of the convention, 
party lines were not drawn. On one side, 
candidates favorable to State organization 
were nominated ; on the other, candidates who 
were pledged to vote for an adjournment. 
sine die, as soon as the convention was or- 
ganized, and before it proceeded to business. 
The result was, two-thirds of the members 
elected were favorable to adjourning, and they 
were elected by very large majorities. For in- 
stance in Douglas, one of the most populous 
and wealthy counties in the Territory, but 
forty-five votes were cast for State organiza- 
tion. No record of the election was preserved, 
but we believe the majority was proportion- 
ately as large elsewhere as in that county. Ac- 
cordingly, when the convention assembled on 
the fourth of July, 1864, it organized by the 
election of its officers, and immediately there- 
upon adjourned, sine die. 

Springing the question. This emphatic ex- 
pression of popular will, as was generally sup- 
posed, laid State organization at rest. At the 
general election in October, 1865, it was not 
even suggested. In its platform, adopted at a 
territorial convention, for nominating candi- 
dates for auditor and treasurer, the Republi- 
can party did not mention the subject. The 
Democrats in a very emphatic resolution, de- 
clared against any movement which did not 
provide for taking the popular vote on that 
subject, divested of all other issues, and before 
any step was taken towards framing a consti- 
tution. Had it been supposed possible that 
the territorial legislature would draft a con- 
stitution, many men who succeeded in obtain- 
ing an election to it, would have failed to re- 
ceive so much as a nomination. For instance, 
in the delegation from Otoe county were O. P. 
IMason and J. B. Bennett of the Council, and 
J. H. Maxon of the House. These gentlemen, 
after the legislature assembled, showed them- 
selves to be very ardent friends of the scheme 
for that body making a State of Nebraska. 
And yet their county rejected their constitu- 
tion by a majority of over four hundred 
votes. So, too, the Cass delegation supported 
the measure, and their county gave a majority 
of three hundred and twenty-five against it. 
Not one of them could have been elected if 
they had been known to favor State organiza- 
tion. 



But after the election the plan was de- 
veloped. It was proposed now, for the first 
time, that the legislature should resolve itself 
into a convention, draft a constitution, and 
organize a State government. Conscious that 
such action was an exercise of powers con- 
fided to that body neither by the law nor by 
the peojjle, the attempt was made to obtain 
petitions numerously signed, praying the two 
houses to perform this extra service. These 
petitions were in large numbers sent out of 
the "executive ofiice," into all parts of the 
Territory, accompanied by letters urging the 
[jarties receiving them to circulate them gen- 
erally in their neighborhood, obtain signa- 
tures and return them. The measure was 
prosecuted with great energy. Nearly every 
citizen in the Territory was solicited to sign 
one of these petitions. \\''ith all these efforts 
only about six hundred names were obtained. 
The attempt to give the scheme the appear- 
ance of a popular movement was confessedly 
abortive, so that the petitions were never made 
an apology for the action of the legislature. 

The action of the legislature. At the open- 
ing of the session, a decided majority of the 
members of the House were opposed to the 
measure. Among the Republicans, many were 
determined in their opposition. All the fed- 
eral officials, Governor Saunders, Chief Jus- 
tice Kellogg, Secretary Paddock, Indian Su- 
jjerintendent Taylor, and others, made a party 
question of it. It was given out that no man 
who opposed it could expect or should receive 
recognition in the party. Meeting after meet- 
ing was held and the matter urged by all the 
eloquence and sophistry possible, while private 
conversations were converted into appeals and 
private bargains. One by one was won over 
— promises of office and of contracts and yet 
more tangible influences doing the work. Chief 
Justice Kellogg. Secretary Paddock, Mr. Ma- 
son and two or three others, now set them- 
selves to draft the constitution which this leg- 
islature should adopt. In the calm and undis- 
turbed retirement of private rooms, and under 
the protection, from interruption, of locks and 
keys, these gentlemen pursued their work. 
They produced an instrument suited to their 
purposes, which the legislature was to adopt 
at their discretion. Its chief merit was that it 
provided a cheap government. According to 
their estimates, its annual expenses would not 
exceed over twelve thousand dollars. Not a 
single State officer, except the judges, was to 
receive as much as a hod carrier's earnings. 
The people, it was insisted, were able to sup- 
port a State government, but were not willing 
to pay their officers respectable soldiers' pay 
for their services. A respectable State gov- 



ROCK BLUFFS CONTEST 



365 



ernment would, they argued, frighten the peo- 
ple and they would reject the constitution. A 
cheap government of cheap men answered the 
purpose designed, inasmuch as the senators 
in Congress are paid by the United States. 

On the fourth day of February, 1866, their 
constitution was introduced into the Council, 
accompanied by a joint resolution in these 
words : 

Rcsolz'cd. By the Council and House of Rep- 
resentatives of the Territory of Nebraska. 
That the foregoing constitution be submitted 
to the qualified electors of the Territory, for 
their adoption or rejection, at an election here- 
by authorized to be held at the time and in the 
manner specified in the seventh (7th) section 
of the schedule of said constitution, and that 
the returns and canvass of the votes cast at 
said election be made as in said section pre- 
scribed. 

The constitution was not printed for the use 
of either house. No amendment was permit- 
ted to one of its provisions. A strenuous ef- 
fort was made to obtain an amendment sepa- 
rating the election upon the adoption or re- 
jection of this instrument from that for State 
officers : but the decisive answer was, candi- 
dates for office under the State organization 
will support the constitution. The effort 
therefore failed. On the 8th the resolution 
passed the House, and on the 9th was ap- 
proved by the governor. 

In the contest proceedings in Cass county 
it had been stipulated that the testimony taken 
in the case of Cooper against Hanna should be 
used in the other senatorial contest and in the 
contest over seats in the house of representa- 
tives. It is said that by accident or oversight 
this stipulation was not placed on file, though 
it appears that it was at least verbally agreed 
to. It will be seen on reading the reports of 
the several committees of the legislature that 
they took advantage of this technical irregu- 
larity, and five of the six contested seats were 
awarded to the republicans, wholly without 
consideration of the facts. Probably nothing 
more, and certainly nothing less, should be 
said of this procedure than tint its audacity 
was worthy of a better, while ii.^ shameless 
inequity and downright dishonesty would have 
disgraced even a worse cause. 

The four democratic candidates for mem- 
bership in the house from Cass county were 
clearly entitled to seats, barring the technical 
irregularity on the part of the Rock Bluffs 



election officers, but against whom no fraud 
or intention of fraud was shown. By prin- 
ciple as well as by usual practice the house 
was in duty bound to disregard the teclmi- 
calities and award the seats to those candi- 
dates who had the majority of the fairly cast 
votes. If the four democrats of Cass county 
had been seated in the house, on joint ballot 
for United States senators there would have 
been a democratic majority of one, at least; 
and according to the statement of a contem- 
porary republican newspaper that three demo- 
crats contributed to the 29 votes for the re- 
publican candidates, the democrats would have 
had 28 votes and the republicans 22. 

Cass county had voted overwhelmingly 
against the state constitution, and this fact no 
doubt emboldened the members from that 
county to attempt to palliate the heinous Rock 
Bluff's offense and thus appease the righteous 
indignation of a large majority of their con- 
stitutents by agreeing to adjourn without ac- 
tion, and thus defeat the election of United 
States senators, which was the sole object of 
the session. But to the surprise of the other 
members of the delegation, on the roll call, 
Chapin and Maxwell smoothly failed to carry 
out their pledge. W'hen the other members 
of the delegation discovered the trick they 
changed their vote and the republican plan was 
consummated. 

But due consideration of prevailing politi- 
cal conditions at this time would preclude the 
conclusion w;hich has been generally reached, 
that if the votes of Rock Bluff's precinct had 
been counted the first two United States sena- 
tors from Nebraska would have been demo- 
crats. It is rather to be presumed that if 
democratic senators had been chosen the ad- 
mission of the territory into the Union would 
have been postponed till a more convenient 
political season. 

By this time the breach between the stal- 
wart republican majority in Congress and An- 
drew Johnson was complete and beyond re- 
pair, and the republicans of Nebraska, in the 
main, followed the eastern leadership. In Oc- 
tober, 1865, Edward B. Taylor, editor of the 
Omaha Republican, but also superintendent 
of Indian affairs, and who had given strong 



366 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




H. P. Anderson 
Farmer and baiilccr, Dunbar, Nebraska 



JOHNSON AND ANTI-JOHNSON FACTIONS 



367 



editorial support to Johnson's policy, retired 
from the editorship, and he was succeeded by 
General Harry H. Heath, who continued the 
pro-Johnson policy. On the 13th of April, 
1866, the Republican , announces that Saint A. 
D. Balcomhe has bought a half interest in the 
paper and will be business manager; and in 
this number the political policy is changed 
and thenceforward it is the aggressive, thick- 
and-thin organ of the stalwarts as against 
Johnson. The Advertiser does not find it 
necessary to change editors, but as soon as the 
party tide goes against Johnson the editor un- 
resistingly goes with it against Johnson, too. 
The process of fusion between Johnson re- 
publicans and democrats was formally com- 
pleted in the summer of 1866, though its 
course was by no means smooth. In the early 
fall a Johnson club was formed at Dakota 
City, with Thomas L. Griii'ey, the well-known 
democrat, as president. A meeting to form 
a Johnson club was held at Omaha in July, at 
which Judge Kellogg presided and James G. 
Chapman was secretary ; but, as a result of 
a wrangle over the articles or resolutions, the 
democratic leaders, including Poppleton, Mil- 
ler, and Woolworth, withdrew, and only eight 
signed the articles of the clulj. George Fran- 
cis Train and Judge William F. Lockwood 
were elected delegates to the Philadelphia fu- 
sion convention which undertook to organize 
the national union party. The democrats of 
the legislature had chosen Morton and Popple- 
ton as delegates, and the Plattsmouth conven- 
tion, September 11th, chose General Harry H. 
Heath, James R. Porter, and Colonel John 
Patrick. There were three sets of delegates 
at this convention, one headed by Morton, 
another by George Francis Train, and a third 
by Edward B. Taylor. Morton and General 
Harry H. Heath were appointed members of 
the executive committee of the new party. 
General Heath had succeeded Taylor as edi- 
tor of the Republican and had held that post 
as lately as February, 1866. For some rea- 
son Taylor's loyalty to the office-dispensing 
power was futile, for on the 6th of the fol- 
lowing November his removal from the office 
of superintendent of Indian affairs was an- 
nounced, as also that of Colonel Robert W. 



Furnas from his office as agent of the Omaha 
Indians, Captain Lewis Lowry, "a copper- 
head." according to the Republican, succeed- 
ing him. The Republican complained that 
Tuxbury and Reed, "two of J. Sterling Mor- 
ton's Vallandighammers, of the most violent 
kind," had been appointed as register and re- 
ceiver of the land office at Nebraska City, the 
republican incumbents having been removed. 
But early in the next year the Senate rejected 
these appointments, as also that of Thomas W. 
w^ ' — . 

\ 




WlLLI.\M Fr.'\NKI,IN ChAPIN 

Prominent in politics and early Nebraska history 

Bedford as register of the land office at 
Brownville. Charles G. Dorsey was appoint- 
ed register of the land office at Brownville by 
President Johnson in 1865. In November, 
1866, the president appointed T. W. Bedford, 
who was a captain in the union army, in Dor- 
sey's place. On the 8th of February the Sen- 
ate refused to confirm the appointment, but 
Bedford obtained a writ of replevin from the 
district court and gained possession of the 
office and its contents. Public officers are 
often summarily ousted, but it is seldom that 
one is summarily injected into office as Cap- 
tain Bedford was. The Nebraska City Nezvs, 
J. Sterling Morton editor, relates how it was 
done : 

Captain Thomas \\'. Bedford was duly in- 



368 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




Colonel John M. Stotslnberc. 
Killed in action in the Philippines, April 23, 1899 



JOHNSON AND ANTI-JOHNSON FACTIONS 



369 



augiirated as register of the United States land 
office on Friday, February 15th, 1867. The 
interesting ceremony was efficiently conducted 
by Deputy U. S. Marshal Dwight. Mr. Dor- 
sey retired with ineffable grace, and his val- 
edictorj' remarks are said to be quite moving. 
The predictions of the News, so far as Dor- 
sey's exit was concerned, have been verified. 
When Andrew Johnson concludes to appoint 
land officers in Nebraska he seems to pay but 
little regard to the personal comfort or cour- 
age of Mr. Dorsey. 

A short time before this, Bedford attempt- 
ed to gain possession of the books of his of- 




Saint Andre Durand Balcombe 
Pioneer Editor of Omaha 

fice from the old incumbent by means of a 
writ of replevin issued by Henry C. Lett, the 
well-known democrat, and then mayor of 
Brownville. But the nerve of the deputy 
sheriff who undertook to serve the writ de- 
serted him, and the scheme failed. After hav- 
ing been thrown out of the United States 
senatorship — which he had fairly won — by 
the "state" legislature at the first session in 
July, Morton proposed in the Ncivs the fol- 



lowing course: "The questions for the Ne- 
braska democracy to consider in relation to 
this matter are of vital importance. Shall we 
not put upon our tickets this next October 
election the words : 'For an enabling act and 
a constitutional convention. Against Thayer 
and Tipton. Repudiation of the Butler oli- 
garchy' ?" 

The "union" territorial convention was held 
at Brownville on the 6th of September, and 
Oliver P Mason was chosen president and 
Daniel H. Wheeler of Cass county and John 
T. Patterson of Richardson county secretaries. 
The principal candidates for nomination for 
member of Congress were Dwight J. McCann, 
Alvin Saunders, John Taffe, and Isham 
Reavis. Oliver P. Mason received twelve 
votes on the informal ballot, and his name was 
then withdrawn. On the fifth formal ballot 
John Taft'e of Douglas county was nomi-i 
nated, receiving 33 votes against 32 cast for 
McCann. The committee on resolutions, con- 
sisting of John M. Thayer, Amos J. Harding, 
George Vandeventer, Ebenezer E. Cunning- 
ham, Hiram D. Hathaway, Leander Gerrard, 
John Taffe, Nathan S. Porter, and William 
W. Washburn, reported a platform consisting 
of the proposed 14th amendment to the Con- 
stitution of the United States with the follow- 
ing addition : 

Resolved, That loyalty shall direct and con- 
trol the destinies of this nation. 

Resolved, That the soldiers of the union 
who have saved this nation from destruction 
by armed traitors, shall, in the future, as in 
the past, have our hearty co-operation and un- 
faltering support, and that we are deeply sen- 
sible to the fact that the people of this repub- 
lic can never fully discharge the debt of grati- 
tude which they owe to the union soldiers and 
sailors whose self-sacrificing patriotism and 
blood have preserved constitutional liberty 
upon this continent. 

Mr. Taffe in accepting the nomination de- 
clared that he was unswervingly opposed to 
the Johnson policy. Turner M. Marquett was 
nominated for delegate to Congress on the 
first ballot, receiving 39 votes against 25 for 
Oliver P. Mason and 1 for John Taft'e. Mr. 
Marquett had been chosen member of Con- 
gress at the provisional state election held in 



370 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



^P^"^* 


• ^^ -'"S ■ 


* 


^^^^H|^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Hkita 




^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B r 


_^v ■■^^^^■^•■' 



IsHAM Reaves 
Associate justice for supreme court of Arizona, 1869-1873 



TWELFTH AND LAST TERRITORL\L LEGISLATURE 



371 



June, but President Johnson had in the mean- 
time refused to approve the bill for the ad- 
mission of the territory as a state, passed in 
July. While, therefore, the delegateship was 
intrinsically lesser, yet it seemed at this time 
the surer of the two offices ; and for Mar- 
quett the change might be a reduction or a 
promotion according to one's political fore- 
cast. John Gillespie and Augustus Kountze 
were again nominated by acclamation for the 
offices of auditor and treasurer respectively, 
and Robert S. Knox for librarian, also by 
acclamation. 

The call for the democratic territorial con- 
vention to be held at Plattsmouth. on the 11th 
of September, invited all to participate "who 
favored the reconstruction policy of the presi- 
dent and complete restoration of the states to 
their rightful position in the union at the 
earliest practicable moment, and are opposed 
to the disunion policy of Congress." 

The Philadelphia national union convention 
had endorsed or accepted the results of the 
war, but, while denying the right of any state 
to withdraw, also denied the right of any 
state or convention of states to exclude any 
state or states from t^e union. The Omaha 
Herald expressed its readiness to unite with 
all men who agreed with the Philadelphia 
declarations, and was anxious to realize the 
best practical results through the coming 
Plattsmouth convention. The democrats were 
thus only a little less cosmopolitan and com- 
prehensive in their call than the republicans 
were in the enlarged name of their party. 
And so the Republican facetiously analyzes 
the Plattsmouth "national union" convention 
as composed of seven office-holders, three 
office-seekers, three democrats who "don't 
like Tipton, and two in the wrong boat." 

The democrats and Johnson republicans 
had simultaneous, but separate conventions, 
the first held upstairs and the second down- 
stairs, in the same building — and their mode 
of procedure exactly anticipated that of the 
fusion parties of Nebraska at a later date. 
Dr. Andrew S. Holladay, postmaster of 
Brownville, presided over the Johnson con- 
vention and Theodore H. Robertson over the 
democratic convention. We are told that 



Judge Lockwood appeared in the democratic 
convention and reported that the "conserva- 
tive" or Johnson convention "accepted im- 
plicitly the resolutions of this (democratic) 
convention, and would heartily endorse its 
action and nominations." The democrats 
nominated J. Sterling Morton for delegate to 
Congress, Frank Murphy for auditor, and 
Andrew Dellone for treasurer. The Johnson 
convention nominated Algernon S. Paddock 
for member of Congress and Robert C. Jor- 




Is.\.\C S. H.ASC.^LL 
Pioneer lawyer and legislator 

dan for librarian. Both conventions — or 
wings of a convention — endorsed the resolu- 
tions and address of the Philadelphia conven- 
tion. 

The Plattsmouth Democrat censured the 
leaders — Morton, Miller, Poppleton, and 
Woolworth — for bad tactics, insisting that 
James R. Porter of Cass county should have 
been nominated instead of Mr. Morton. The 
opposition organ styled the distinguished 
democratic leader as, "J. Sterling Morton, the 
worst copperhead and rebel Nebraska af- 
fords," alleged that Colonel Patrick wanted a 
mild union democrat like Tames R. Porter, but 



372 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




William V. Allen 
United States senator, 1893-1899 



TWELFTir AND LAST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE 



i7Z 




Silas A. Hoi.comd 
Governor of Nebraska, 1S95-1899 



374 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Morton, Miller, Woolworth, and Poppleton 
beat him and forced Morton on the ticket. 
Even the suavity and all-embracing friendli- 
ness of Secretary Paddock's deportment failed 
to stay the poisoned shafts of the 'ioyal" party 
organs. The Republican charges that. 

He has deserted the republican party in the 
time of its most severe trial, in its efforts to 
restore this union upon a firm basis, and al- 
lowed himself to be used as the standard- 
bearer ot the copperhead and rebel party. _ He 
was a professed republican a few weeks since, 
and rested his claims to the highest office 
within the gift of our people with a radical 
legislature upon radical assurances. He was 




Lorenzo Crounse 
Eighth governor o£ Nebraska 

Ijcaten. He went with unseemly haste to 
Washington and secured his reappointment 
to the secretaryship of the territory, by far 
the most valuable office within it. Immedi- 
ately upon his return he heads a movement 
with the expressed intention of disorganizing 
his old party ; and today he is a nommee on 
the same ticket with J. Sterling Morton, a bit- 
ter, uncompromising Vallandigham democrat. 

But if the Republican's pen was dipped in 
bitterness the Herald's was a fountain of gall, 
and even its defense was aggressive attack. 
As a sample Roland for an anti-Paddock 
Oliver the Herald notes that George B. Lake, 
"renegade democrat and .\frican equalizer," 



tries to read Paddock out of the republican 
party. Attacking Thayer's vanity it says, 
"For weeks he has been so busy bragging him- 
self into consequences that his activity has 
been tremendous." 

George Francis Train entered the canvass 
as an independent candidate for delegate, and 
a list of names of thirty-one Irishmen urging 
him to remain in the contest was published. 
They favored him because he had "advocated 
so long the cause of Irish nationality." The 
remark that "Mr. Train has already done and 
is now doing more for the future advancement 
of Nebraska than any other man, or set of 
men, has done for it since it was organized as 
a territory," might be taken to lend color to a 
previous averment that the "program of Mor- 
ton and Miller is Morton and Train for United 
States senators" ; and a later one that "Train 
found that, after being encouraged by Miller, 
ct al., he was set aside for Morton, but he an- 
ticipated them by becoming an independent 
candidate." However, the Herald's puff was 
limited to Pacific railway purposes. While 
this most picturesque personage was very ef- 
fective in his peculiar role, no one would have 
taken seriously a proposal to play him in an 
important political part, and if Morton and 
Miller put him aside once they doubtless did 
it twice ; for he was probably embarrassing 
Morton's canvass, and so in a characteristic 
letter he withdrew from the contest. "When 
men," he says, "emancipate themselves from 
party, when voters regain their independence, 
when the people of Nebraska are more anx- 
ious to have me for their representative than 
I am to represent them, when an election can 
be carried without purchase, perhaps I may 
enter the field again." 

We have another example of the humor of 
this remarkable campaign in the Herald's il- 
lustration of the anxiety of Kountze to be 
elected treasurer: "We never saw Kountze 
before when he could speak more than two 
languages. Yesterday we heard him using not 
less than six, including Danish, and he spoke 
each with equal fluency. Augustus is always 
very busy when there is anything pecuniary 
in sight." This second campaign of 1866, con- 



TWELFTH AND LAST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE 



375 



sidering both the number and abihty of those 
engaged in it and the aggressiveness with 
which it was fought, had not been equaled by 
any political canvass of the territory. The 
formidable array of old war-horses Miller, 
Morton, Poppleton, and Woolworth — old 
relatively speaking only, for they were really 
colts of thirty-five years or under — were 
reen forced by Paddock and Lock wood, with 
Judge Kellogg, an astute politician, in the 
background. Woolworth made speeches in 
this campaign, but refused to become a candi- 
date for state senator. 

Marquett, Mason, TaiTe, Thayer, and Tip- 
ton were the most conspicuous republican 
orators, and they were ably reinforced by 
Orsamus H. Irish of Otoe and Isham Reavis 
of Richardson county, while Dundy "The 
Cautious," but of the longest head, kept more 
in the background, and his productive cunning 
in this instance presently brought him the ap- 
pointment to the federal district bench by 
President Johnson and confirmation by the 
clashing Senate. Other able, and perhaps 
fitter, but certainly less astute aspirants were 
dashed against either this Scylla or that 
Charybdis. With the exception of course of 
George Francis Train's speeches, the inev- 
itable joint discussion between Marquett and 
Morton — for a forensic duel was always in- 
sisted upon when Morton was candidate — 
was the striking feature of the campaign. 
While Marquett was no match for Morton in 
the positive sense, yet he was shrewd enough 
to appreciate, and witty enough to make the 
most of that disadvantage. Morton, in his 
usual aggressive style, consistently pressed 
Marquett to say whether he was for or against 
negro suffrage, but without effect; for suf- 
frage sentiment in the territory was as yet 
either so conservative or so timid as to have 
idaced the white restriction in the pending con- 
stitution whose acceptance republicans were 
urging upon Congress. Morton of course de- 
clared himself positively against negro suf- 
frage, and thereby strengthened his character 
but weakened his vote. He also positively en- 
dorsed President Johnson's policy. Morton 
on the stump and Miller in the press took the 



most aggressive ground against negro suffrage 
and the "disunion" conditions Congress was 
imposing on the return of the rebellious states 
to the Lhiion. The republicans had little else to 
do but to cry "copperhead" and charge their 
opponents with intent to put unrepentant 
rebels in the saddle in the South. And in ex- 
isting conditions the republicans won, almost 
as a matter of course. 

The republicans nominated the same set of 
candidates for both territorial and state legis- 
lative tickets. 

This was the last chance of the democratic 
party in Nebraska for many years ; it re- 
quired a generation of time for it to recover 
sufficiently from the disadvantages of the logic 
of conditions or of its own mistakes, so as to 
be able to make, single-handed, even a for- 
midable campaign ; and during that time re- 
publican majorities waxed rather than waned. 
It was also Morton's last chance ; and it was 
chiefly a compliment to his prowess and not 
out of disrespect or wanton meanness that all 
the bitterness and vituperation, all the old- 
wives' tales, all the facts and all the fiction 
which the greed for office could summon or 
invent, were focused upon him. The republi- 
can press even raked up the scurrilous abuse 
which the democratic editors of Omaha heaped 
on Morton in the early days when he led the 
factional section of the South Platte. "J. 
Sterling Morton has long been a mark for the 
venom of political hatreds. No man in this 
territory has been more bitterly assailed in 
sea.son and out of season. This has arisen in 
his independence of thought and action, and 
might have been expected." The Herald ob- 
served that Mr. Morton's loss by theft of two 
fine horses, one the favorite of his wife and 
children, "has brought out once more the 
venom and malignity which only political 
bloodhounds can cherish towards their op- 
ponents. Men and the press have openly re- 
joiced in his loss." But the very large vote 
which Morton received at home is illustrative 
of the fact that, in spite of his penchant for 
arousing enmity and opposition, those who 
knew him best never ceased to recognize in 
him great qualities which attracted them and 



376 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



inspired admiration and respect. But he 
lacked entirely that essential quality of the 
successful practical politician which composes 
differences and placates enemies ; and he pro- 
ceeded upon the impracticable, uncompromis- 
ing presumption that "he that is not for me is 
against me." 

In the meantime the first, or provisional 
state legislature, which was elected in June, 
met on the 4th of July, proceeded to elect two 
United States senators, and adjourned on the 
11th of the same month. But- President John- 
son having "pocketed" the admission bill 
which was passed by Congress, July 27th, the 
day before adjournment, it failed to become a 
law. Just before the passage of this bill in 
the Senate, Charles Sumner attempted to at- 
tach the same condition to it, respecting negro 
suffrage, which was afterward adopted; but 
his amendment received only five votes — 
those of Edmunds. Fessenden, Morgan, Po- 
land, and Sumner. The bill passed by a vote 
of 24 to 18, all these senators voting with the 
democrats in the negative. In this debate the 
leading advocates of the bill were Nye of 
Nevada and Wade of Ohio, and its chief op- 
ponents were Hendricks of Indiana, Doolittle 
of Wisconsin (Johnson republican), and Sum- 
ner of Massachusetts. Sumner's primary olj- 
jection to the admission measure was the suf- 
frage-restricting word "white" in the proposed 
constitution. Doolittle, Hendricks, and Sum- 
ner pressed the objection of fraud in the elec- 
tion at which the constitution was adopted, 
and which had caused an investigation in the 
legislature. Mr. Doolittle adduced the state- 
ment of Isaac L. Gibbs, who was speaker of 
the house in the legislature of 1857: 

The gentleman for whom I pledged my 
honor was a captain of one of the companies 
of the first Nebraska regiment, who stated to 
me that two of the companies of that regiment 
were raised in Iowa, and the soldiers of those 
companies voted in favor of this constitution 
while they were in the territory of Nebraska ; 
that those same soldiers voted, on a commis- 
sion from Iowa, for Governor Stone at Fort 
Kearney in Nebraska ; that subsequent to this 
voting they have been mustered out and have 
gone home to Iowa where they reside. I say 
that for his statement, stated to me upon his 



own knowledge, I do vouch for his honor as 
a man and a soldier. 

In the House, Kelly of Pennsylvania pressed 
Rice of Maine to yield to hijn so that he might 
offer an amendment similar to that of Sumner, 
but Rice declined on the ground that if he 
should entertain such an amendment "it would 
be the means of killing the bill." A predic- 
tion then that at the end of six months negro 
suffrage sentiment would have so grown and 
crystallized and that republicans would have 
so far recovered their wonted confidence, 
after the demoralizing Johnson disturbance, 
that the state would be admitted with Sum- 
ner's amendments as an accepted condition, 
and by a two-thirds vote over Johnson's veto, 
would have seemed visionary. 

The twelfth and last session of the terri- 
torial legislature convened in Omaha, January 
10, 1867. The two districts comprising re- 
spectively Cedar, Dixon, and L'eau-qui-court, 
and Dakota, Cedar, Dixon, and L'eau-qui- 
court were not represented. Mr. Chapin of 
Cass county was chosen speaker of the house, 
receiving 23 votes against 11 cast for ]\lr. 
Baker of Lincoln county. The absence of 
Governor Saunders from the territory at this 
time gave Acting Governor Paddock an op- 
portunity to deliver the message, which in its 
Ijusiness aspect was creditable ; but its closing 
bold appeal in behalf of President Johnson's 
reconstruction policy stirred the now domi- 
nant congressional faction of the Republican 
]iarty to wrath, and drew a storm of protest 
from the party organs. The territorial trea- 
surer had reported the remarkably large sum 
of $23,324.56 on hand, and adding to this the 
tax levy for 1866, not yet collected — $69,- 
973.86 — the militia reimbursement appropria- 
tion by Congress, $45,000, and delinquent 
taxes, $26,983.24, and then making an esti- 
mated allowance for loss on delinquent taxes, 
$10,000, and for possible disallowance of mil- 
itia accounts $8,000, the acting governor op- 
timistically ventured to congratulate the 
territory on the possession of a surplus of 
$61,810.22 above the indebtedness of $85,- 
471.44. The treasurer reported that during 
the current year he would have sufficient funds 
to redeem the outstanding warrants as well as 



TWELFTH AND LAST TERRITORLAL LEGISLATURE 



377 



the bonded debt, and recommended the pas- 
sage of a law compelHng holders of warrants 
to surrender them. Here we have perhaps 
the first positive manifestation that orderly 
administration and general solvency and thrift 
have been attained — in fair measure, though 
by very slow growth. 

The concurrent advent of the free home- 
stead and corporation land grant systems al- 
ready arouses jealousy and fear of abuses, 
and the message sounded a note of warning 
and alarm : 

AMierever the lands are subject to location 
under this [homestead] law, the newly made 
cabin of the homestead settler is found ; and it 
is not an extravagant estimate that another 
year will find one-twelfth of the population 
of the territory on homestead lands, and fully 
that proportion of our aggregate productions 
in the granaries of this class of our fellow- 
citizens. 

It is then pointed out that it is "a very 
great hardship to the enterprising settlers in 
the valleys of the Nemahas, the Elkhorn, and 
the Loup Fork that the lands surrounding 
their homesteads should thus be tied up from 
actual settlement for the benefit of a corpora- 
tion (the Burlington & Missouri River Co.) 
which contemplates the construction of a rail- 
road through a section of country far removed 
from their homes." And then to the core of 
the question : 

I do not doubt that if the evil effects of this 
baleful system of land grants were properly 
represented by you in memorials to congress 
some remedies for present evils might be ap- 
plied ; or at all events, some barriers placed 
against this rapid absorption of the public 
domain in the future by railroad monopolists 
and land speculators. We need every avail- 
able acre in this territory, not already given 
away by the government for the construction 
of railroads and agricultural colleges in other 
states, for our own state endownments and 
for the industrious poor who, from all sections 
of the union, and from foreign countries, are 
coming to secure homesteads amongst us. 

The governor then expresses his firm con- 
viction that the whole country would be bene- 
fited if the Union Pacific railway company 
would at once exchange its lands for United 
States bonds, at a fair price, so that they might 



be held exclusively for location under the 
homestead law. 

The message urged the construction of a 
free bridge across the Platte river, for the old, 
familiar reasons : 

The construction of a bridge over the 
Platte river is a much needed improvement. 
The crossing of this stream, always difficult, 
is at certain seasons of the year an utter im- 
possibility, and communication between two 
great sections of the territory is for this rea- 
son extremely limited. A journey to the ter- 
ritorial capital from some of the most popu- 




WlLLIAM F. SWEESY 

Prominent pioneer of Omaha, Nebraska 

lous counties south of the Platte is consid- 
ered quite as difficult to perform on account 
of the dangers and delays in crossing the 
Platte, as one to St. Louis — five hundred 
miles distant, and from the North Platte to 
Chicago is quite as cheerfully vmdertaken as 
one across the Platte into the rich grain- 
growing districts below it. Such an obstacle 
to commercial intercourse between the two 
sections should be immediately removed, if 
it is in the power of the people to do it. It 
is not at all strange that with such a barrier 
in the way of travel and commerce, the people 



378 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



of l)oth sections should not only lose their 
acti\e sympathy for and interest in each other, 
but that they should be easily led into mis- 
understandings, jealousies, rivalries, and 
strife. 

The fact that "a bridge," merely, was de- 
manded illustrates the still limited progress of 
settlement westward from the Missouri river. 

The message favored the admission of the 
territory as a state, but it reflected the con- 
servatism of President Johnson as to the suf- 
frage question, inasmuch as it "would give the 



I 


mm- 




l^l^?t?!^!S9|| 


m^ 




^^W 


H| w-'-'' 


fll 


i'gB 




^B^BbI^?'^^ <'-t.. \ ■ . . -^ 



E ii(fraviti<i loaned bij Stbiuakii Slate Utalorical Society. 

Thom.\s Weston Tipton 
United States senator, 1867-1S7S 



franchise to intelligence and patriotism wher- 
ever found, regardless of the color of its 
possessor." 

The prospective glories attendant on the 
completion of the Union Pacific railway and 
the appeal for Johnson's reconstruction policy, 
under the head of "peace and union," are re- 
served for rhetorical exaltation in the still in- 
evitable peroration. How perilously near — 
haxing regard to his later political preferment 
■ — IVIr. Paddock came to being a democrat ap- 



pears in the fact that he boldly questioned the 
expediency of the proposed 14th amendment 
to the Constitution: "If the amendment 
threatens to perpetuate hatred, strife and dis- 
cord it should be abandoned at once, whatever 
sacrifices of cherished political dogmas or par- 
tisan prejudices are involved." It was stated 
that 262 miles of track had been laid on the 
Union Pacific road during the year, and it was 
now complete to the 30Sth mile post. 

But "the big thing which has engaged the at- 
tention of our legislature since its organization 
has been the legislative printing." Since the 
republicans had been in control the secretary, 
following Morton's example, had placed the 
printing in the hands of a public printer vir- 
tually of his own choosing without clash with 
the legislature ; but now the Johnson schism 
stimulated Secretary Paddock to place it with 
printers of his own faction — the Barkalow 
brothers — whom the Herald speaks of as 
"two conservative young republicans." A 
resolution, introduced by Abbott, directing the 
chief clerk of the house to j^rocure the printing 
of the laws, journals, messages, rules, bills, and 
other incidental papers of the two houses, was 
defeated. This move was in the interest of 
.Mr. Balcombe, the orthodox editor of the Rc- 
piihlican. A. F. Harvey, in speaking against 
the resolution, related that Secretary Morton 
had successfully resisted E. D. Webster's iii 
tempt to control this printing in the same way 
in 1860-1861, and that Mr. Dix, secretary ot 
the treasury, had decided that the legislature 
had no authority whatever over it. This de- 
cision had been acquiesced in ever since and 
Secretary Paddock had given out the printing 
wherever he wanted to. The Republican, furi- 
ous at the loss of this patronage, made scurril- 
ous attacks on Paddock in which "apostate," 
"renegade," "traitor," "light-top-gear," and 
"weakmind," were the more moderate epithets. 
The Herald retaliated with attacks to match on 
the record of Mr. Balcombe, publisher of the 
Republican, as agent of the Winnebagos. The 
Advertiser interjected that "the secretary of 
the territory has always controlled this printing 
since its infamous usurpation from the legisla- 
ture by Morton," and scolded the Repitblica)^ 



TWELFTH AND LAST TERRITORL\L LEGISLATURE 



379 



for "spreading it on ( Paddock ) too thick for 
the occasion," offering as a salve that hoary 
and paradoxical characterization of politicians : 
"As an officer he is sound, as a citizen he is a 
gentleman, as a politician he is rotten to the 
core." And yet so smooth was Paddock's ex- 
terior political finish that such poisoned darts 
glanced from it harmless, as he pursued his 
way to two elections to the United States Sen- 
ate by the orthodox Republican party. The 
contrasting orthodoxy of Senator-elect Thayer 
appears in a note to the Republican in his pro- 
test that he had not tried to persuade the 
"acting-president" to sign the Nebraska state 
bill ; "I abhor the course, the 'policy,' and the 
treachery of Andrew Johnson." 

Republicans at this session consumed much 
valuable time in the empty enterprise of mak- 
ing a record on the question of negro suffrage. 
A bill to remove distinctions in the school laws 
on account of race or color was the subject ot 
a heated contest. It passed the house by a 
vote of 25 to 10, and the council by 10 to 3, but 
was vetoed by Acting Governor Paddock. Mr. 
Harvey, democrat of Otoe county, for the pur- 
pose of putting ardent suffrage reformers on 
record, introduced a resolution declaring that 
the members of the house are in favor of "im- 
partial and universal suffrage, and believe 
fully in the equality of all races, colors, and 
sexes at the ballot box." This was amended 
so as to declare simply for impartial suffrage, 
and then passed by a vote of 22 to 9. Another 
resolution introduced by Mr. Harvey, thank- 
ing President Johnson for his veto of the Ne- 
braska enabling act, was defeated 21 to 13. 
Negro suffrage was at last adopted at this ses- 
sion by striking out the restrictive words "free 
white" from the election law ; though amend- 
ments to the bill by Doane striking out the 
word "male," and providing that no negro or 
Indian, who could not read the Constitution 
of the United States and write his own name, 
or did not possess property to the value of 
$250, should be entitled to vote, were defeated 
by only 7 against 6. 

This legislature was not prolific of enact- 
ments, and in the case of general laws was al- 
most barren, partially because the preceding 



session had at last completed a tolerable re- 
vision of former laws, and largely because time 
and attention were given to factional squabbles 
with the temporarily aberrant Secretary Pad- 
dock over petty printing spoils, and to such 
facetious partisan measures as the enfranchise- 
ment of imaginary negroes. There were no 
well-known, recognized leaders of the republi- 
can party in either house, for the reason, 
doubtless, that they were all striving for the 
higher congressional and judicial places which 
would be opened by the coming admission to 




JOHN Mei.vin GrAH.'NM 

statehood. The partisanship of this session 
had, perhaps, been whittled down the smaller 
to conform to these conditions. 

The special enactments of interest author- 
ized the city of (Jmaha and the city of Belle- 
vue, respectively, to raise $100,000 to be used 
in securing the construction of a railway 
bridge across the Missouri river at each place. 
This was but the preparation for Bellevue's 
last, and, as the event proved, death strug- 
gle. Omaha was to win the bridge, but at a 
cost to which this proposed gratuity was a 
bagatelle. The organization and the last elec- 
tion of officers of Saline county were legal- 



380 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




U.wii) Butler 
First governor of Nebraska 



TWELFTH AND LAST TERRITORL\L LEGISLATURE 



381 



ized ; Lincoln county was attached to the first 
judicial district ; Saunders county was detached 
from Cass to which it had been joined for 
judicial, election, and revenue purposes ; the 
sixteen townships east of Jefferson county 
and lying adjacent to the same, known as 
Jones county, were annexed to Jefferson 
county, and the officers of Jones county were 
authorized to remain as officers of Jefferson 
county until their successors should be quali- 
fied ; the name of L'eau-qui-court county 
was changed to Emmet, provided the electors 
of the county should vote at the next general 
election in favor of the change; and the lim- 
its of the new counties of Clay, Webster, 
Hamilton, Adams, and Franklin were defined. 
But this session was prolific of joint reso- 
lutions. The first of these was a sop to Con- 
gress for admission, and it declared that the 
legislature favored the adoption of the pend- 
ing amendments to the federal Constitution, 
and that in case they should be "submitted to 
us as the legislative assembly of the state of 
Nebraska we would immediately ratify the 
same." Another prayed for the establishment 
of a fort or sub-military post on or near the 
Republican river at some point between Tur- 
key creek and Beaver river, for the protection 
of "southwestern Nebraska, as well as north- 
western Kansas, from the threatening inva- 
sions and barbarous outrages of roaming 
tribes of desperate savages, who frequent all 
that superb scope of country south of the 
Platte and north of the Arkansas river, and 
prohibit the ingress of the white man." An- 
other prayed for a bounty for the Nebraska 
volunteers of the Civil war which should 
place them on the same footing as soldiers 
from the states for whom the federal govern- 
ment had provided additional compensation in 
the nature of bounty money ; or, in lieu of 
money, a grant of 160 acres of public land was 
requested. At this early period Congress was 
requested to extinguish the Indian title to the 
Otoe reservation and throw it open to settle- 
ment. Another resolution congratulated the 
managers of the Chicago & Northwestern 
railroad company on the completion of its 
line "within a few miles of the eastern boun- 
dary of the territory of Nebraska." When it 



was too late to become available on account of 
the admission to statehood, the lifelong prayer 
of the territory for an appropriation for a 
penitentiary had been granted, and the legisla- 
ture in a joint resolution thanked Mr. Hitch- 
cock, the delegate in Congress, for his media- 
torial efforts to obtain an answer to the oft- 
repeated legislative petition. 

This last territorial legislature adjourned, 
finally, February 18, 1867, and it ended as 
spectacularly and frontier-like as the first had 
begun. The republican majority had passed 
an apportionment act which took a councilman 
away from democratic Otoe county and added 
one to Nemaha and Richardson. A new bill 
was offered as a substitute, but on account of 
dissatisfaction in a North Platte district it 
could not be passed. The whole scheme of 
reapportionment was killed through the timely 
arrival of Rolfe of Otoe who was immedi- 
ately sworn in. The Neics gives this graphic 
account of the summary action : "A pre- 
cedent was read from Jeft'erson's manual; a 
motion was made removing the speaker which 
was put and carried so quick that he did not 
know what hurt him ; he drew a pistol — the 
sergeant-at-arms drew his sword, — the 
speaker vacated the premises — a new speaker 
(Abbott) was elected. Mr. Rolfe was sworn 
in by Governor Saunders at about ten o'clock 
at night. The apportionment bill was killed, 
and the law-making machine began to go as 
though it had been greased and did more busi- 
ness in an hour and a half than had been done 
before in a week." 

Mr. Rolfe, who lived until very recently, an 
exemplary citizen of Otoe county, described 
the revolution in the following nutshell : 

Omaha, Feb. 16, p. m, 
J. S. Morton : Just had a legislative row 
— Chapin is deposed and Abbott is in the 
chair — pistols were drawn by the opposition, 
but they had a scarcity of nerve. We have 
busted them. Rolfe. 

On the third day of the second session of 
the Thirty-nrh'th Congress, December 5, 1866, 
Senator Wade of Ohio introduced a bill (Sen- 
ate file No. 456) for the admission of Ne- 
braska~TntO the Union, and it was passed on 
the 9th of January following by a vote of 24 



382 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



to 15, with the following amendment offered 
by Mr. Edmunds of Vermont : 

And be it further enacted, That this act 
shall take effect with the fundamental and 
perpetual condition that within said state of 
Nebraska there shall be no abridgment or de- 
nial of the exercise of the elective franchise 
or of any other right to any person by reason 
of race or color, excepting Indians not taxed. 

On the l.^th of January the House passed 
the bill by a vote of 103 to 55 after adopting 
the following amendment, offered by Mr. 




Jacob E. Frey 
Early settler, Richardson county, Nebraska 

Boutwell of Massachuusetts, as a substitute 
for the Edmunds amendment : 

Strike out the third section in the follow- 
ing words : And be it further enacted, That 
this act shall take effect with the ftuidamental 
and peri^etual condition that within said state 
of Nebraska there shall be no abridgment or 
denial of the exercise of the elective franchise, 
or of any other right to any person by reason 
of race or color (excepting Indians not taxed,) 
And insert in lieu thereof the following: 

And be it further enaeted. That this act 
shall take effect with the fundamental and per- 
petual condition that within said state of Ne- 
braska there shall be no abridgment or denial 
of the exercise of the elective franchise or of 
any other right to any person by reason of 
race or color, excepting Indians not taxed ; 
and upon the further fundamental condition 
that the legislature of said state, by a solemn 



public act, shall declare the assent of said state 
to the said fundamental condition, and shall 
transmit to the president of the United States 
an authentic copy of said act, upon receipt 
whereof the jjresident by proclamation, shall 
forthwith announce the fact, whereupon said 
fundameiUal condition shall be held as a part 
of the organic law of the state ; and thereupon, 
and without any further proceeding on the 
part of congress, the admission of said state 
into the union shall be considered as com- 
plete. Said state legislature shall be con- 
vened by the territorial government within 
thirty days after the passage of this act, to 
act upon the condition submitted herein. 

The following day the Senate concurred in 
this amendment. On the 29th of January 
F'resident Johnson vetoed the bill on the 
ground that the part of it composed of the 
Boutwell amendment was unconstitutional, 
and he suggested that the conditions ought to 
be suljmitted to a vote of the people. 

On the 8th of February the bill was passed 
in the Senate over the President's veto by a 
vote of 31 to 9. The nine in opposition were 
Charles R. Buckalew of Pennsylvania, Gar- 
rett Davis of Kentucky, James R. Doolittle of 
Wisconsin, LaFayette S. Foster of Connecti- 
cut, Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana, Edwin 
D. Morgan of New York, Daniel S. Norton of 
Minnesota, David T. Patterson of Tennessee, 
and Willard Saulsbury of Delaware. Four 
of these — Doolittle, Foster, Morgan, and 
Norton — were republicans, and Foster was 
president of the Senate. In the list of the 
ayes are such well-known names as John Sher- 
man, Charles Sumner, Lyman Trumbull, and 
Benjamin F. \\'ade. The next day the bill 
passed the House by a vote of 120 to 43. 

The question of the right of Congress to 
impose the negro suffrage condition precedent 
to admission occasioned a great debate in the 
Senate, the most polemical part of which was 
contributed by two great lawyers — Edmunds 
of Vermont on the affirmative and Reverdy 
Johnson of ^Maryland on the negative. Some 
of the ablest reptiblican senators opposed the 
contention of Edmunds — among them Wade 
and Sherman of Ohio, Fessenden of Maine, 
Kirkwood and Grimes of Iowa, and Doolittle 
and Howe of Wisconsin. The strongest op- 
ponents of Edmunds's position, in addition to 



NEGRO SUFFRAGE CONDITION IN CONGRESS 



383 




ASHTON C. Shaixenberger 
Governor of Nebraska, 1908-1910 



384 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Reverdy Johnson, were Doolittle of Wiscon- 
sin, Howard of Michigan, and Hendricks of 
Indiana. Wade at first opposed the condition 
as unconstitutional, but while he did not seem 
to think it was worth while to press it, he ad- 
mitted that he had been technically converted 
by the argument. Reverdy Johnson argued 
with great force that the effect of Edmunds's 
contention was that "Congress has a right to 
form a constitution for the people of a terri- 
tory who may desire to come in as a state." 
Mr. Sherman said emphatically : "I am in 



^toJi* 




^m^ 




^^01 


^ 


.■^. •'':''" " 


^1 


■ V 





Elias Hicks Ci,.\rk 
Prominent lawyer, Omaha, Nebraska 

favor of admitting Nebraska without any 
amendment, without any qualification, without 
any condition, and I think it is an unwise 
policy to impose conditions on the admission 
of Nebraska." But while the polemical power 
and habit of Edmunds did not convince, 
neither did the insistent moral consistency of 
Sumner move or trouble the evasively prac- 
tical Sherman ; and so he added : 

But still as the friends of the measure think 
that the declaration drafted by the senator 
from Vermont will strengthen the bill, I am 
rather disposed to vote for it. I believe it 
will be entirely nugatory. I do not believe 



that we have the power by any act of Con- 
gress to restrain the people of Nebraska from 
framing such a constitution, republican in 
form, as they choose. I have no doubt they 
can amend this constitution or they can disre- 
gard this condition ; it does not operate on 
them : it is not really in the nature of a con- 
dition. I vote for it simply because I be- 
lieve its adoption will strengthen the main 
measure and enable us to admit the state of 
Nebraska into the union. 

Wade and Sherman emphasized the fact that 
the constitution of their own state, Ohio, had 
the same white restriction of the suffrage as 
that of Nebraska. Wade pressed also the 
proposition that this was a question for the 
states alone. "Up to this hour the regulation 
of the elective franchise has been regarded as 
a state question. It belongs, under the con- 
stitution as it now stands, exclusively to the 
states of the union." Wade urged also that 
"one reason why the territory of Nebraska 
should be very soon admitted is that the land 
there is lieing taken up by your college scrip, 
by your railroad grants, &c." Soon there 
would not be enough left "to give to the state 
for school purposes and for various other pur- 
poses those grants which we have uniformly 
made to new states." Sherman argued along 
the same general lines, and, like Wade, insisted 
that the question of relative population was 
not important, and that, at any rate, Nebraska 
had more inhabitants than most of the exist- 
ing states contained at the time of their admis- 
sion. Wade said that the bureau of statistics 
of the treasury department had been ordered 
"to make out as well as they could the number 
of inhabitants" ; and their return showed 88,- 
530. When it was pointed out that the vote 
at the last October election was only 9,136, 
Wade insisted that owing to the scattered con- 
dition of the population this vote was an un- 
certain guide. The fact that the federal cen- 
sus of 1870 showed a population of 122,993 
tends to support Wade's contention that the 
estimate of the bureau of statistics was very 
conservative ; but since the impetus to growth 
resulting from the ad\-ent of the railways to 
the territory was very strong in the years im- 
mediately following 1867, no accurate deduc- 
tion can be made from a comparison of the 



NEGRO SUFFRAGE CONDITION IN CONGRESS 



385 



estimates of that year and of the census of 
1870. 

Though the advocates of the condition were 
clearly beaten in the debate, the majority 
seemed disposed to take Sherman's and Wade's 
view, that it would not be of practical im- 
portance. This indeed turned out to be the 
fact, because before the provision was tested 
in the courts, as it otherwise would have been, 
the adoption of the fifteenth amendment to 
the constitution superseded it. Charles Sum- 
ner strongly advocated the amendment of 
Senator B. Gratz Brown of Missouri, which 
provided that the people should ratify at the 
polls an agreement against restriction of negro 
suiifrage. This he thought would clinch the 
question, while ratification by the legislature 
might not. Mr. Sumner took the broad view 
of the moralist that discrimination against the 
negro as to sufifrage was repugnant to the 
principles of the Declaration of Independence 
and therefore of the federal Constitution. The 
restrictive provision of the Nebraska constitu- 
tion, if not annulled by the act of Congress, 
would render the government unrepublican. 
Mr. Kirkwood very pertinently retorted that 
the constitutions of twenty out of the twenty- 
six states then comprising the Union contained 
this very restriction against negro suffrage, 
and he thought it strange that Congress should 
not have known what a republican form of 
government was when it admitted all these 
states ; and then he demanded, "Why do you 
not require us in Iowa to make our constitu- 
tion republican in form?" 

Wade attacked Sumner for calling Ne- 
braska a "rebel state" and the proposed con- 
stitution a "rebel constitution" ; but Sumner 
replied that he read that language from a 
letter from a citizen of Nebraska. Wade re- 
torted that the republican members of the 
legislature had voted unanimously for the 
constitution and only copperheads voted 
against it. He said the constitution was 
copied almost literally from that of Wiscon- 
sin, "and as to the negro restriction they 
seem to have followed the usual form." 

Mr. Hendricks of Indiana criticised the in- 
diiiference of those who believed the restric- 
tion unconstitutional. "This precedent," he 



said, "will establish that the Congress of the 
United States and the territorial legislature 
have the power to change a constitution that 
the people have deliberately made." He was 
willing to accept Brown's amendment — which 
Sumner favored, but for a ditTerent reason, — 
to submit the question to the people instead of 
the legislature. But party spirit and exigen- 
cies demanded haste, and won the day, alike 




Mrs. Phebe A. (Andrew) lt.ark 

over constitutional conservatism and the de- 
termination of Sumner to have the restriction 
insured beyond question of a popular vote. 

The debate in the House was no less spirited 
than in the Senate. George S. Boutwell, the 
mover of the conditional restriction as it 
passed, Thaddeus Stevens, James A. Garfield, 
and William B. Allison were the leading re- 
publicans who supported the measure, but such 
noted members of the same party as John A. 
Bingham, James G. Blaine, Henry L. Dawes, 
Columbus Delano, and Robert S. Hale stoutly 
opposed it. Mr. Boutwell rose to the same 
transcendental or speculative moral heights as 
Mr. Sumner occupied in the Senate, and in- 
sisted that "when a state deprives a particular 
class of men of participation in the govern- 



386 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



merit in which they live, just to that extent 
the government fails to be republican in form." . 
To this Mr. Delano retorted in the same 
strain as Kirkwood's retort in the Senate, 
that "it is worse than idle for us to assert 
that the form of government presented by Ne- 
braska (in her constitution) is not republican 
in form. The whole history of the nation 
gives the lie to the assertion that the Nebraska 
state government is not republican in form. 
. . . Upon what principle can we say to 
the people who live in Nebraska, 'You shall 
not come into this Union as a state unless you 
come upon conditions other than those which 
have been recognized as fit to constitute a 
state a partner in the great government of the 
United States ever since that government was 
formed'?" 

Mr. Maynard took issue with the conten- 
tion that the adoption of the condition by the 
legislature would give moral assurance of its 
observance. "I submit that the moral assur- 
ance will be the other way. The people of 
Nebraska have adopted a constitution in which 
they have restricted the right of suffrage to 
white men. . . We may in passing this 
bill intimate to them and to the country what 
our views and principles are, but we have no 
assurance that those principles will be re- 
garded or that our views will be adopted by 
them. On the other hand all the assurance 
we have is that they will be disregarded, and 
that our views will not be adopted." 

Mr. Bingham took the same ground as 
Sherman had taken in the Senate: "I would 
not vote for this bill but for the conviction 
that the section in question (the Edmunds 
amendment) has no more validity than so 
much blank paper, and that so much of the 
bill as is valid is just and ought to pass that 
the people of Nebraska may be admitted as a 
state of the Union." Again, if the third sec- 
tion is passed and is valid in law, Nebraska be- 
comes a state, not upon the constitution made 
by the people but on a constitution made by 
Congress, "and I venture to affirm that the leg- 
islation which is attempted to be imposed upon 
this state by the third section of this bill has 
no parallel in anything that has ever before 
been attempted by an American Congress." 



Mr. Bingham was consistent and denounced 
the Boutwell amendment on the same ground : 
"What is proposed by this amendment? It is 
this: That the legislature of a state shall 
change its organic law in direct contravention 
of the express authority of the people of that 
state and only by authority of Congress." 

Mr. Blaine opposed the Edmunds amend- 
ment on the same ground — its utter invalidity. 
"I protest for one against humbugging my- 
self or being humbugged, or assisting in hum- 
bugging my constituents." But unlike Mr. 
Bingham, he would compromise with hum- 
buggery by consenting to be half humbugged 
himself and to humbug the Nebraska consti- 
tution, and to this end he asked Mr. Ashley 
of Ohio, who had yielded him time to speak, 
for leave to propose an amendment providing 
for the assent of the legislature or of the 
people, but was refused. 

Mr. Dawes pointed out that the bill itself 
declared the constitution which the people of 
Nebraska had adopted to be republican in 
form, and the inconsistency of undertaking to 
interfere when this condition had been com- 
plied with, and he stoutly denied that Congress 
had any right to do so. But he thought the 
difficulty could be overcome by submitting it 
to a vote of the people; and again Mr. Ashley 
refused consent to an amendment for that pur- 
pose. Mr. Morrill of Maine showed, as Mr. 
Dawes had shown, that "the first section of 
the bill admits the state without any conditions 
at all, 'upon an equal footing with the original 
states in all respects whatsoever,' while the 
last proposes fundamental and perpetual con- 
ditions." He rightly said that it would raise 
a question for the courts, "and I prefer not to 
go into the courts at all on such a question." 
He argued that there was not need to hurry. 
"Let us welcome Nebraska but not until 
she is ready, as I have no doubt she soon will 
be." Mr. Allison of Iowa believed the con- 
dition precedent was within the power and 
the duty of Congress and would be binding 
upon the people of the state when assented to 
by the legislature. Mr. Garfield thought it was 
doubtful that the Boutwell amendment "does 
legally affix that condition," but he believed 
that the people would not break the covenant 



NEGRO SUFFRAGE CONDITION IN CONGRESS 



387 



they would make in accepting the condition 
through the legislature.^ It was generally as- 
sumed in the course of the debate that there 
were then about one hundred negroes in Ne- 
braska who would be entitled to vote under 
the condition of the act. More than thirty 
years later Mr. Boutwell applied the same un- 
compromising moral spirit and broad moral 
principle to the Philippine question, and no 
doubt if Mr. Sumner had lived he would have 
stood with Mr. Boutwell in regard to this 
question as he did in regard to the Nebraska 
question. To the pe ople of today who face 
the act ual and g enerally recognized breakdown 
of__the_thirtjf__jears' experiment in universal 
n egro suffrage, the matter-of-fact, confident 
assum£tion of the oratory of that Nebraska 
debate that it must and would be established 
as a matter of unquestionable moral obliga- 
tion, without thought of its practicability, 
cornes^as an almost startling echo of the falli- 
bility of human judgment and the vanity of 
huirTaiT^elfishness. Congress failed to pass 
theT!oIora3"o bill over the president's veto, and 
so Nebraska was the first and the last state to 
come into the Union on such capricious, ex 
post facto compulsion. It is true that Con- 
gress required that the constitutional conven- 
tion of Nevada, held in 1864, "shall provide, 
by an ordinance, irrevocable without the con- 
sent of the United States and the people of 
said state, that there shall be neither slavery 
nor involuntary servitude in the said state." 
But that requirement was at most a condition 
precedent, while the Nebraska requirement 
was a condition subsequent. Besides, in 1864 
there was no longer any slavery in fact, and it 
was well known that it was about to be for- 
mally abolished by the pending thirteenth 
amendment, while a large part of the most in- 
telligent people of the country were of the 
opinion that universal enfranchisement of the 
negroes would be impracticable and pernicious 
— an opinion which experience seems to have 
confirmed. 

Mr. Morrill's fear that the Boutwell condi- 
tion would throw the question into the courts 
was justified. Reverdy Johnson wrote to a 
prominent democrat of Nebraska an opinion 
that the state constitution had not been 



amended or altered by the congressional 
scheme, and so statehood had better be ac- 
cepted, "and thus in law and effect exclude 
negro voting."- Accordingly, when twenty 
or more negroes attempted to vote at the 
(^maha municipal election, early in March, 
1867, their constitutional right to do so was de- 
nied. The Herald charged that the negroes 
were marched up to the polls under armed 
leaders wanting a fight, and the Republican 
denied the truth of this charge and alleged that 
Mayor Miller and Sheriff Dellone both de- 
clared that the negroes had no right to vote 
and that a mob of four hundred armed demo- 
crats backed up their declaration. 

The constitution of Missouri, framed in 
June, 1820, contained this provision : "It 
shall be their [the general assembly's] duty, 
as soon as may be, to pass such laws as may 
be necessary to prevent free negroes and mu- 
lattoes from coming to, and settling in this 
state, under any pretext whatever." 

The principal reason for this drastic mea- 
sure doubtless lay in the fear that free ne- 
groes coming in contact with the slaves might 
stir them to mutiny or other trouble. But the 
Congress imposed as a condition precedent to 
the acceptance of the constitution that the leg- 
islature of Missouri should agree, in substance, 
not to enforce this restriction. While the 
legislature — June 26, 1821 — assented to the 
condition, after a fashion, it did so in a spirit 
of independence and with a plainness of speech 
worthy of a better cause, and which Nebraska 
might have emulated to her honor and dig- 
nity. 

It insisted that as the state came into the 
Union under the constitution and laws of the 
United States, and were bound thereby, that 
sufficed. 

Although this general assembly are of 
opinion that the congress of the United States 
have no constitutional power to annex any 
condition to the admission of this state into 
the federal union, and that this general assem- 
bly have no power to change the operation of 
the constitution of this state, except in the 

1 These debates took place in January, 1867, and 
are recorded in the Cong. Globe, pt. 1, 2d sess., 39th 
Cong. 

2 Omaha Republican, March 1, 1867, quoting Oma- 
ha Herald. 



388 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




Charles H. Van Wyck 
Governor and United States senator 



NEGRO SUFFRAGE CONDITION IN CONGRESS 



389 



mode prescribed by the constitution itself, 
nevertheless, as the congress of the United 
States have desired this general assembly to 
declare the assent of this state to said funda- 
mental condition, and forasmuch as such dec- 
laration will neither restrain nor enlarge, limit 
nor extend the operation of the constitution of 
the United States or of this state, but the said 
constitutions will remain in all respects as if 
the said resolution had never passed, and the 
desired declaration was never made, and be- 
cause such declaration will not divest any 
power or change the duties of any of the con- 
stituted authorities of this state, or of the 
United States, nor impair the rights of the 
people of this state, or impose any additional 
obligation upon them, but may promote an 
earlier enjoyment of their vested federal 
rights. Therefore, be it resolved that this 
state has assented, etc. 

There was no important reason for the leg- 
islature of Nebraska to undertake to annul by 
resolution a practically negative provision of 
the state constitution. Its haste to do so, and 
unqualifiedly, showed a lack of dignity and 
an unworthy subserviency to partisanship — if 
not a selfish greed — in strong contrast to the 
assertion of constitutional rights and princi- 
ples by the legislature of our adjoining state, 
and remains an unique incident in such pro- 
cedure. 

A bill passed by Congress prohibiting the 
denial of the elective franchise to negroes be- 
came a law January 25, 1867, without the sig- 
nature of the president, and it was stated that 
Mr. James M. Woolworth had given a written 
opinion to an Omaha democratic caucus to 
the effect that by the territorial law negroes 
were entitled to vote. But after March 1st, 
these provisions had been superseded by the 
state constitution. Since the adoption of the 
fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States so soon settled this vexed 
question, the suffrage status of the few 
negroes in Nebraska in the meantime is not of 
practical importance. After every practicable 
measure to enforce negro suffrage, in those 
states where these unfortunate people of an 
inferior race are numerous enough to invest 
the question with importance, has been ex- 
hausted and proved futile, it is, it seems, by 
common consent of the people of all sections 
recognized as impracticable, and the formid- 



able guaranties of the constitution and the 
laws remain only a dead letter. 

Striking evidence is not wanting of the 
change in public sentiment wrought by expe- 
rience whose outcome ought more generally to 
have been foreseen. In the sp ring of _the_year 
1903, Mr. Root. ^gcretaiQf _of war jn Pf,^§i4gnt 
Roosevelt's administration, in an address be- 
Tore tlie Union League club of New York 
"^y,' pronounced the fifteentliairiend^ment to 
the""Constituliiiii n failure. Sunn :ifler this 
Mr. Henry Watterson, editor of the Louisville 
Courier-Journal, and the leading journalist of 
the South, was invited by the Hamilton club 
of Chicago, the conservative republican organi- 
zation of that metropolis, to deliver an ad- 
dress. Mr. Watterson not only spoke thus 
plainly and boldly, but his remarks were vigor- 
ously applauded by his northern hearers : 

After thirty years of observation, expe- 
rience and reflection — always directed from a 
sympathetic point of view — I am forced to 
agree with the secretary of war that negro 
suffrage is a failure. It is a failure because 
the southern blacks are not equal to it. It is 
a failure because the southern whites will not 
have it. 

The negro can never become in a beneficent 
or genuine sense an integral and recognized 
part of the body politic except through the 
forces of evolution, which are undoubtedly 
at work, but which, in the nature of the case, 
must needs go exceedingly slow. Where there 
is one negro fit for citizenship there are myr- 
iads of negroes wholly unfit. The hothouse 
process has been tried and it has failed. If, 
invested with every right enjoyed by the 
whites, the blacks, gaining in all things else, 
have brought corruption into the suft'rage and 
discredit upon themselves, is it not a kind of 
madness further to press artificial methods, 
which however justified, theoretically, from 
educational look-outs in Michigan, Iowa, and 
Wisconsin, fall helpless to the ground in their 
practical application to the semi-barbarous 
toilers in the cotton fields and corn lands oi 
Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina?^ 

Other speakers of national note have re- 
cently expressed opinions similar to those of 
Mr. Watterson's, and typical parts of these 
addresses and of those made in the debate on 
the admission of Nebraska are in striking con- 

2 Copied from Chicago papers. 



390 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




GuRDON W. Watti.es 
President Trans-Mississippi exposition 



FIRST STATE LEGISLATURE 



391 



trast as opinions held in two different periods 
but only a single generation in time apart. 

In a lecture at Yale university, April 22, 
1903, President Hadley said that the North 
had made a great mistake in giving the ballot 
to the negro before he was fitted for it. "It 
was not the fault of the negro ; it was the 
fault of those who gave him the ballot without 
previous preparation. The North did not rec- 
ognize this at the close of the war. It had 
recognized the dictum that all men are born 
free and equal. When the North recognized 
the conditions which prevailed in the South it 
acquiesced in the suppression of the negro 
vote." And yet, to the mind and conscience 
of the intelligent and candid, this is a dis- 
tressing condition and a humiliating confes- 
sion. Without the ballot these millions of 
negroes thus thrust upon a superior race and 
under institutions in advance of their capacity 
to appreciate or support, can not avert or es- 
cape grievous oppression. This discordant 
anomaly, this flat contradiction of our politi- 
cal principles, which jeers at our bills of rights 
and sets aside our constitutional covenants, and 
from which we see as yet no escape, is the in- 
evitable and inexorable penalty visited upon 
the children of those who were guilty of the 
original sin of African slavery. And it is not 
inexplicable that, just as our eyes were open- 
ing to full recognition of this predicament, we 
should have entangled ourselves voluntarily in 
a worse one of the same sort in the Philippine 
islands ? 

The state legislature which had been elected 
in the fall of 1866 convened in special session, 
February 20, 1867, in response to the procla- 
mation of Governor Saunders issued on the 
14th of that month, for the purpose of com- 
plying with the conditions imposed by the act 
of Congress. The senate was composed of 
eight republicans and five democrats, and the 
house of representatives of thirty republicans 
and nine democrats.* Each of the houses at 
once introduced a bill accepting the conditions 
for admission prescribed by the act of Con- 
gress. In the senate the bill was referred 
after the second reading to a special committee 
consisting of Doom of Cass county, Hascall 
of Douglas, and Reeves of Otoe. Doom and 



Hascall reported, after a recess of ten min- 
utes, in favor of the passage of the bill. Reeves 
moved to adjourn for a day so that he might 
have time to make a minority report ; but the 
motion was defeated by a vote of 3 to 7. The 
bill then passed by a like vote. Freeman of 
Kearney county and Reeves and Wardell of 
Otoe county voting in the negative. When 
the senate bill was sent to the house it was at 
once read the requisite three times under sus- 
pension of the rules and passed by a vote of 
20 to 6. Those voting in the negative were 
Crawford and Trumble of Sarpy county, Dun- 
ham of Douglas, and Graves, Harvey, and 
Rolfe of Otoe. On the 21st the houses agreed 
on a joint resolution to send a copy of the act 
to the president and also one to John M. 
Thayer, who had been elected United States 
senator, and then adjourned. 

J. Sterling Morton gave Mr. Hascall the 
credit for his vote as follows : 

Isaac S. Hascall, the only representative of 
the Douglas county democracy in the state 
senate, stood solitary and alone among demo- 
crats in the legislature in advocating and vot- 
ing for the admission of state under the Afri- 
can conditions. We understand Mr. Hascall 
made a long speech in support of his position, 
which receives unusual favor with Mr. Pres- 
son, Mr. Doom, Mr. Rogers and other radi- 
cals. They ordered Mr. Hascall's speech 
published, wanted it spread on the journals 
immediately, and testified their approbation of 
it in every way possible. This is rather an 
ignoble distinction for Mr. Hascall as a demo- 
crat, and we are of the opinion that, however 
he himself may feel, the democracy of Doug- 
las, who placed him in the senate, will not be 
very particularly flattered by it. 

Undue distinction was given to this speech 
of Hascall's by the pro-state party because he 
was an acquisition from the enemy, just as 
there is always more joy, temporarily, in a 
political party, as there is said to be in heaven, 
over the one proselyte and deserter than 
over the ninety-and-nine well-tried regulars or 
saints. The speaker undertook to give his 
cause character by ascribing respectability to 
its origin. The constitution, he said, was 
framed by nine members of the legislature — 
of 1866 — five of whom were democrats, and. 



* Nebraska Advertiser, Xov. 8, 1866. 



392 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



in addition, William A. Little, who had been 
elected chief justice of the state supreme 
court. Judge William Kellogg, chief justice of 
the territorial supreme court, Hadley D. John- 
son, Governor Alvin Saunders, General Ex- 
perience Estabrook, and others, of Omaha, as- 
sisted by able men, without regard to party, 
from other parts of the territory. The demo- 
crats had not made statehood a party issue at 
their convention, and the republicans had de- 
clared in favor of it at their convention, and it 
had been ratified by voters of both parties. 
Leading republicans, including John M. 
Thayer and Governor Saunders, did not insist 
on impartial suffrage. After the first veto by 
the President, and before the passage of the 
conditional act, Congress provided for impar- 
tial suffrage in all the territories. Negro suf- 
frage therefore already existed by positive 
law, and if the President had not vetoed the 
bill for admission under the white constitution, 
Nebraska would not have negro suffrage now. 

On the first of March, 1867, President John- 
son issued a proclamation declaring that "the 
admission of the state into the Union is now 
complete." This proclamation, forced from 
the unwilling chief executive, was therefore 
an appropriate death warrant for territorial 
Nebraska. For, conceived in storm and born 
of strife, it has now died a violent death. 

The original Nebraska territory was 
bounded on the north by the 49th parallel ol 
latitude — the south boundary of the British 
possessions ; on the east by the White river, 
from the 49th parallel south to the mouth of 
the river — and thence southward by the Mis- 
souri river; on the south by the territory 
of Kansas, or the 40th parallel of latitude ; 
on the west by "the summit of the Rocky 
mountains." The territory of Oregon (or- 
ganized .\ugust 14, 1848), extending from the 
British line down to the 46th parallel of lati- 
tude : the territory of Washington (organized 
March 2, 1853), extending from the southern 
line of Oregon down to the 42nd parallel of 
latitude; and the territory of Utah (organized 
September 9, 1850), extending southward 
from the south boundary of Washington, came 
up to the Nebraska boundary on the west. The 
state of Iowa (organized December 28, 1846) 



and the territory of Minnesota (organized 
March 3, 1849) lay adjacent to the entire east- 
ern boundary of Nebraska territory. After 
the admission of Minnesota as a state. May 
11, 1858, the territory between its western 
boudary and the eastern boundary of Nebraska 
remained unorganized until the formation of 
Dakota, March 2, 1861. 

The first change in the original territory of 
Nebraska was made by the organization of the 
territory of Colorado, February 21, 1861, 
which cut oft' all that part of the present state 
of Colorado north of the Kansas line and east 
of the Rocky mountains, and established longi- 
tude 25 degrees as the line betwen Nebraska 
and Colorado, from the 40th to the 41st 
parallel of latitude. The organic act of Da- 
kota made the second change in the territory 
of Nebraska by cutting off all that part of it 
north of the Niobrara river, from its mouth 
to the point where it meets the 43rd parallel of 
latitude, and north of that parallel of latitude 
to the western boundary. The same act added 
to Nebraska territory that part of Washington 
and Utah lying between the 41st and 43d 
parallels of latitude, and east of the 33d de- 
gree of longitude, that is, a strip extending 
from this degree of longitude east to the orig- 
inal boundary of Nebraska at the summit of 
the Rocky mountains. The third change took 
place when the territory of Idaho was organ- 
ized March 3, 1863. This territory came up 
to the 27th degree of longitude as its eastern 
boundary, which extended from the British 
line on the north to the Colorado line, or the 
41st parallel of latitude, on the south; and it 
extended west to Oregon and ^^'ashington. 
Idaho took away the southwest corner of the 
original territory of Nebraska to the width of 
three degrees and cut oft' the west end of Ne- 
braska, as it had been extended when Dakota 
was organized, to the width of three degrees 
more, that is, the part between the 27th and the 
33d degrees of longitude. The territory of 
Montana, coming south to the 46th parallel, 
was formed out of Idaho, May 26, 1864, and 
the territory of Wyoming extending south 
from the Montana line to the 43d parallel, the 
present north boundary of Nebraska, was also 
formed out of Idaho, Tulv 25, 1868. Idaho, as 



BOUNDARIES OF NEBRASKA 



393 



it was then left, was entirely west of the Rocky 
mountains and outside of the Louisiana Pur- 
chase, and Montana and Wyoming came into 
the Union as states in their original territorial 
form. The 27th degree of longitude — 104th 
from Greenwich — has remained the extreme 
western boundary line of Nebraska ever since 
it was established by the organic act of Idaho 
in 1863, and Nebraska came into the Union 
as a state in the form in which it was left by 
that act. By act of Congress March 28, 1882, 
the territory lying between the Missouri river 



and the Niobrara river, as far west as the 
mouth of the Keya Paha river, and as far 
north as the 43d parallel of latitude, was 
taken away from Dakota and added to Ne- 
braska, thus constituting the 43rd parallel its 
continuous northern boundary. On the 23d of 
October, 1890, the President of the United 
States declared by proclamation that the title 
or claim of the Ponca Indians to this strip of 
territory had been extinguished, and thereby 
jurisdiction over it was vested in the state 
of Nebraska. 



CHAPTER XVII 

Territorial Military History 



POLITICAL and other social relations in 
the United States have been constantly 
disturbed, and during a considerable period 
were disrupted by the presence of two unas- 
similable races. Each of our two race questions 
led to war. The Nebraska country was the sub- 
ject of the controversy which precipitated the 
war over the black race question and the prin- 
cipal field of the long series of wars with the 




Rosalie Lisa Ely 
Daughter of Manual Lisa 

red race. The Indian question grew out of the 
forcible ejectment of the original Indian oc- 
cupants of the country by the white invaders. 
The negro question arose from the abduction 
of the alien blacks from their own country and 
their introduction here as slaves by the same 
white intruders. These contests resulted in 
the subjugation and strictest surveillance of 
that one of these races which could not be 
enslaved and would fight, and in the sympa- 
thetic emancipation and ])remature enfran- 



chisement of the other because it was fit for 
slavery and had submitted to it. 

For many years following the treaty of 1783, 
which acknowledged the independence of the 
American colonies. Great Britain had no mind 
to respect its provision fixing the Mississippi 
river as the western boundary of the new 
nation. On the contrary, there was constant 
scheming on the part of each of the three 
great European powers — England, France, 
and Spain — to detach and appropriate the 
country west of the Alleghenies. England 
held Detroit and other posts within the terri- 
tory of the L^nited States long after the treaty 
of peace, and Spain held Natchez and other 
places on our side of the Mississippi river as 
late as 1798. These conspiracies were finally 
headed off by Jefferson's brilliant diplomacy 
in getting from the great Napoleon a quit-claim 
of the title of France to the Louisiana coun- 
try, and so virtually to all her claims on North 
America. 

At first the Indian question in the Alissouri 
valley was complicated with that of the ag- 
gressive attempts of the English to retain con- 
trol of trade with the Indians, and the first 
military force that ever entered the upper 
Missouri country was sent there for the pur- 
pose of dealing with that phase of the ques- 
tion. This expedition, under command of 
Colonel Henry Atkinson, went as far up the 
Missouri as "Camp Missouri," just below 
Council Bluff, and there established the first 
military jjost in the upper Missouri country, in 
September, 1819. By the end of the year a 
strong fort and barracks for 1,000 men had 
been erected by the troops. 

The post, afterwards known as Fort Atkin- 
son, was garrisoned by the Sixth regiment in- 
fantrv and a regiment of riflemen, 1,126 men 



TERRITORIAL MILITARY HISTORY 



395 



in all. On the 23d of September, 1820, Atkin- 
son, now brigadier-general, and Benjamin 
O'Fallon, Indian agent, made a treaty with the 
Omaha tribe of Indians by which they gave 
to the United States "a tract of fifteen miles 
square of the country around Council Bluff, to 
be bounded by due east, west, north, and south 
lines, and so located that the flagstaf? in the 
area of the new cantonment in Council Bluff 
shall be the center of the aforesaid tract of 
fifteen miles square." General Atkinson was 
commandant at this post until 1823, when he 
was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Leaven- 
worth, who remained in charge until 1825. 
His successor. Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 
Woolley, was commandant until the post was 
abandoned in 1827. its equipment being re- 
moved to the new post called Cantonment 
Leavenworth, afterward Fort Leavenworth. 

On the 22d'of June, 1823, Colonel Henry 
Atkinson, commandant at Fort Atkinson, left 
that post with six companies of the Sixth in- 
fantr}', 220 men, two six-pound cannon, and 
several swivels, to avenge the defeat of Gen- 
eral W. H. Ashley, of the Rocky Mountain 
Fur Company, whose command of volunteers 
had been defeated by the Arikaras at their 
village on the 2d of the same month, with a 
loss of fourteen killed and nine wounded, be- 
sides considerable property. The remainder 
of the force escaped by descending the river 
on their two keel-boats. Colonel Leaven- 
worth's force traveled partly on foot and partly 
in three keel-boats, and was forty-eight days in 
ascending the river to the Arikara village, com- 
puted at 640 miles. Major Joshua Pilcher, 
then president of the American Fur Company, 
who was at Fort Lisa at the time, overtook and 
passed Colonel Leavenworth, and awaited him 
at Fort Recovery with a force of 40 men and 
400 to 500 Sioux. General Ashley's command 
also joined Colonel Leavenworth at this place. 
The whole force of about 800 men attacked 
the Indians on the 9th and 10th of August, and 
soon after the latter date they abandoned their 
villages and in some way they took fire and 
were burned. The fighting was indecisive 
and the casualties were small. Two Sioux 
were killed and two whites and two Sioux 
were wounded. About thirtv Arikaras were 



killed. Colonel Leavenworth's command 
reached Fort Atkinson on the return trip 
near the end of August without having duly 
accomplished its object of subduing the 
troublesome Arikaras. 

On the 16th of May, 1825, General Atkinson 
and Benjamin O'Fallon, Indian agent, com- 
missioners to treat with the Indians of the 
upper Missouri, left Fort Atkinson with an 
escort of 476 soldiers and proceeded up the 
river to a point 120 miles above the mouth of 




Gexer.\l Henry Le.wenworth 

the Yellowstone. The expedition arrived at 
Council Bluffs, on its return, September 19th. 
The commissioners made treaties with the 
numerous tribes who lived along the river, 
and the determination of the English to en- 
croach upon the Indian trade of this region, 
even at that late date, is shown by the fact 
that all the treaties contained an agreement 
on the part of the Indians to arrest all foreign 
intruders and turn them over to an agent of 
the federal government. While from the 
time of our first accounts of the life of the 
Indians of the trans-Missouri plains there 
was incessant warfare between the various 
tribes, yet, until white settlers crowded into 



396 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



the Nebraska country after its political or- 
ganization, and the construction of the Pa- 
cific railway showed the Indians in a plain 
object lesson that the game upon which they 
depended for sustenance would soon be en- 
tirely driven from the plains, their relations 
with the whites were generally peaceable and 
their depredations seldom exceeded thieving, 
to which their constant needs stimulated theii 
native inclination. And so, previous to the 
year 1864, serious disturbances on our fron- 
tier were infrequent, and warfare only of a 
desultory nature occurred, military expedi- 




JOHN PiLCHER 

Son of Major Joshua Pilcher, captain of police 
and government interpreter, Omaha Indian reserva- 
tion. 

tions were meant mainly as demonstrations of 
power, and the military posts, few and far 
between and even then but meagerly garri- 
soned, served as a precautionary, rather than 
an actual defense. 

In the meantime, however, the Indians en- 
tertained themselves with the most active and 
relentless inter-tribal warfare. The Sioux and 
Chevennes, who in the later years of provo- 
cation were cruel enemies of the whites, in 
1847 were classed with the Grosventres, the 
]\Iandans, and the Poncas as "excellent In- 
dians, devoutly attached to the white man, and 
live in peace and friendship with our govern- 



ment." But the same competent witness testi- 
fies that war is the natural element of the un- 
taught Indian, and though those of his agency 
have been "remarkably pacific for some time, 
God only knows how long they will remain so." 

The characteristic thieving propensities of 
the Pawnee Indians led them to prepare to at- 
tack Fremont's party on the Solomon river, as 
it was returning from the Columbia river in 
June, 1844, notwithstanding that they were 
receiving an annuity through the federal gov- 
ernment. Major Wharton learned of this in- 
tended assault, soon after, at Bellevue, where 
he made an appropriate talk on the subject to 
the principal chiefs and braves and gave pres- 
ents to six principal men of the Pawnee Loups 
who interposed, resolved to protect the ex- 
plorer or die with him. The Pawnees south 
of the Platte and those on the north side were 
hostile to one another, and Pawnee parties 
committed outrages on Cabanne's peltry boats 
in the spring of that year. The year 1847 was 
one of general tranquility among the treaty 
Indians and others near them ; but there were 
some depredations by Sioux living on the 
Mississippi and who received annuities, es- 
pecially upon the Winnebagoes, their heredi- 
tary enemies. 

The lowas attacked a lodge of the Omahas, 
but under threat of the Indian department to 
withhold their annuity, they made reparation. 
Under pressure, the annuity Sioux agreed to 
pay an indemnity of $4,000 to the Winnebagos. 
In the St. Louis superintendency war parties 
greatly increased during the year. Sioux 
bands, amounting to 700 or 800 warriors in 
some instances, killed over 150 members of 
the tribes which the federal government was 
attempting to civilize. They made two at- 
tacks on the Pawnees during the summer, in 
one of them killing 23 ; and since the prowess 
of the Pawnees lay more in filching than in 
fighting there was danger of their extermina- 
tion, as well as that of the small band of Otoes 
and the unwarlike and almost defenseless 
Omahas by the relentless Sioux invaders. 
Eighty of the Omahas were killed in these 
raids during the year. The Otoes struck back 
and were attacked the second time. The 
Pawnee and Omaha villages at the time of the 



TERRITORIAL MILITARY HISTORY 



397 



attacks on these tribes in the latter part of 
the year 1847 were near Bellevue, "where a 
number of white families reside." The white 
residents were doubtless all attached either to 
the Indian agency or the missionary establish- 
ment. The hostile parties were from the St. 
Peter Sioux. Other attacks were made by 
wild, that is, non-annuity Indians. The sec- 
retary of war recommended the establishment 
of a small military post at the mouth of the 
Platte for the protection of the Omahas, Otoes, 
Poncas, and other weak tribes in the vicinity 
of the Sioux on the Platte and Missouri rivers, 
in connection with the post to be established 
near Grand Island — afterward called Fort 
Kearney. 

The fact that there was less annoyance of 
emigrants on the Missouri frontier by the In- 
dians and less trouble than usual among the 
Indians themselves in 1848, was ascribed to 
the judicious control of annuities. In the 
spring of 1848 the lowas, under White Cloud, 
killed many Pawnees, principally women and 
children, on their way home from the Council 
Bluffs agency with corn to keep them from 
starving. In July of this year, while a party 
of Pottawattomies, Kansas, Kickapoos, and 
Sacs were hunting bufifaloes on the plains, a 
party of Pawnees sent a peace messenger to 
them who was well received, but he was shot 
by a young Kansan while Keokuk, a Sac, was 
in the act of handing him the pipe of peace. 
In undertaking to avenge this perfidy the 
Pawnees lost five men, and their scalps were 
brought in by the Pottawattomies and Kicka- 
poos. Having assumed a protectorate over 
these Indians and with the full purpose of ap- 
propriating and occupying their country, no 
mere exigency, such as the Mexican war, ex- 
cused the failure of the federal government 
to aft'ord these agency Indians reasonable pro- 
tection of life and property from the savage 
enemies of both guardian and wards. Be- 
sides, the dereliction was the same before and 
after the Mexican war. A like excuse was 
off'ered during the Civil war, but for several 
years after its close there was the same fail- 
ure to meet the demands of palpable condi- 
tions. It is true that these conditions were 
vexatious and difficult in the extreme to deal 



with, but while the aggression of the domi- 
nant race was the irritant cause of these 
troubles, it seems that there should have been 
more readiness in meeting them. 

In 1848, the Sioux killed twenty-eight Paw- 
nees and twenty-six Otoes, and the agent 
urged the establishment of a post at the mouth 
of the Vermillion river — now in South Da- 
kota — as a barrier to their bloodthirsty in- 
cursions, and for the arrest of dishonest white 
intruders into the Indian country. "Not a 
few" white men were settling on the Iowa 
state line twenty miles below, "with no osten- 
sible object in view but to sell whiskey to the 
Sioux Indians and white men in the Indian 
country." 

On the Platte river and in its vicinity were 
stationed 600 men intended for the protec- 
tion of the immigrants to Oregon and Cali- 
fornia. The Pawnees on account of their des- 
titute and starving conditions were the worst 
of all the Indians in these depredations against 
the emigrants. There were offenders, also, 
among the emigrants, but the wild tribes of the 
plains had kept far in advance of the white 
man in the perpetration of rascality. Two 
outrages of the Indians in their relations with 
the United States were reported. The Sioux 
attacked the steamboat Martha on the upper 
Missouri and killed one man, and the lowas 
attacked a party of Pawnees, killing and 
scalping twelve of them. The Sioux were 
moving toward the west and at this time there 
were 2,000 of them living in the region of 
the headwaters of the Platte. In the summer 
of 1848 there was a fight between the troops 
and the Comanche, and a band of Pawnee In- 
dians in the Southwest, on the Cimarron river. 
The commissioner of Indian aflfairs was not, 
at this time, encouraged by the condition and 
prospects of his wards, and he pointed out that 
the contact and competition of this inferior 
race with the superior whites must prove dis- 
astrous to it, and he advocated the plan of seg- 
regating the Indians on small reservations^ 
which was carried out thirty years later. 

The Indians along the Oregon and Santa 
Fe routes were less troublesome than usual in 
1849 — the year of the beginning of the heavy 
overland travel to the California gold fields. 



398 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



On the 10th of September the Omahas, while 
on the way home from their summer hunt, 
were attacked by a band of Sioux and Poncas, 
but they showed unwonted spirit and, making 
a stand behind breastworks, in civilized fash- 
ion, drove back their assailants with a loss of 
eight or nine men, though they themselves 
lost four or five men and about forty horses. 
On the 14th of September the Otoes, also re- 
turning from their hunt, attacked a party of 
Pawnees, killing eleven of them. They were 
persuaded to do this by traders whom the 
Pawnees had robbed. The year 1850 was gen- 
erally one of peace among the Indians them- 
selves, and also between whites and Indians. 
In the spring of 1851, 18,000 barrels of mili- 
tary supplies were landed at Fort Leavenworth 
ty steamboats to be gradually distributed by 
wagon trains during the summer to the chain 
of posts on the Oregon route and in New 
Mexico. 

The Chippewas and Sioux were hostile to 
each other this year. Though the military 
posts in the Indian country were maintained 
at enormous expense, on account of the high 
cost of transportation of supplies, yet it was 
officially alleged that these posts, and in par 
ticular Fort Laramie, and Fort Sumner, just 
established on the Arkansas, were nearly at 
the mercy of the Indians and would hardly 
he able to defend themselves within their own 
walls. 

The tribes of the Council BlufTs agency 
also — Otoes and Missouris, Omahas ana 
Pawnees — "lived on terms of peace and good 
will" during the year 1851. There were no 
reports of disturbances in the Nebraska coun- 
try during the following year, though a band 
of Santees of about sixty lodges and some 
Yanktons, "who infest the waters of the Big 
and Little Sioux," committed depredations on 
the white settlers of the northwestern Iowa 
frontier. At Fort Dodge, on the Iowa fron- 
tier, as well as at Fort Ripley, in Minnesota, 
there was "nothing to defend," and withdraw'al 
of troops from Fort Kearney and construction 
of a military post at the junction of the Re- 
publican and Kansas rivers was advised by 
military authorities. It was urged that there 
was a common road to this point from Fort 



Leavenworth leading to Oregon and to Santa 
Fe. With the exception of the Black feet, the 
Indians of the upper Alissouri agency were 
peaceable and among themselves were faith- 
ful to the Fort Laramie treaty during 1853. 
This treaty was the result of a council which 
began September 1, 1851, and lasted eighteen 
days. It was conducted by D. D. Mitchell, 
superintendent of the central superintendency. 
B. Gratz Brown, who was a candidate for vice 
president of the United States in 1872 on the 
Greeley ticket, was assistant secretary of this 
council, and Father De Smet, "the celebrated 
missionary," as he is called in the superin- 
tendent's report, put his intimate knowledge 
of the Indian country to use by assisting in 
making a map of the territory occupied by the 
tribes which were parties to the treaty. There 
were 8,000 to 12,000 Indians at the council, 
and eight tribes entered into a treaty of friend- 
ship which had an appreciable and lasting in- 
fluence in maintaining peaceable relations be- 
tween the Indians of the Plains. The sanguine 
superintendent indulged in the visionary hope 
that this compact would lead the Indians who 
were subject to its influence to abandon their 
wild life and become an agricultural people. 

Near the end of 1853 a party of Yanktons 
exterminated four lodges of Crows, numbering 
thirty-five men, women, and children, and it 
was reported from the Upper Platte and 
Arkansas agency that Sioux from the north 
had driven off the Arapahos, Cheyennes, and 
Pawnees, who in turn encroached on the 
southern tribes. 

In 1854, one of the most shocking tragedies 
in the history of our intercourse with the 
Indians occurred in the Platte valley near Fort 
Laramie. A young Indian belonging to a 
large body of Brule, Ogallala, and "]\linicon- 
jon" Sioux, numbering between 1,000 and 
1,500 warriors, killed and appropriated a lame 
cow belonging to a Mormon emigrant. Ac- 
cording to the story of the Indians, the animal 
had strayed into their camp, which was situ- 
ated on the Oregon trail, between the trading 
house of the American Fur Company, under 
James Bordeaux, and that of P. Chouteau, Jr., 
& Company, five and eight miles respectively 
below Fort Laramie. The Alormon appealed 



TERRITORIAL MILITARY HISTORY 



399 



to the commandant at the fort for indemnity 
for his loss, and in the evening of the follow- 
ing day Brevet Second Lieutenant John L. 
Grattan, with twenty-nine men, of Company 
G, Sixth regiment of infantry, and two how- 
itzers, marched to the Indian camps under 
orders to bring in the offender. Refusal to 
comply with the demand for his surrender 
quickly resulted in a discharge of small arms 
and the howitzers by the soldiers ; but they had 
time for only a single volley when they were 
immediately overwhelmed by the savages, only 
one man escaping, and he died of his wounds 
soon afterward at the fort. The Bear, head 
chief of the band, was killed and one Indian 
was wounded in the discharge of Grattan's 
musketry, but the artillery' was aimed too high 
for effect. Their butchery of Grattan's little 
band appears to have awakened in the Indians 
their inherent savagery, and they proceeded 
to the trading houses of Bordeaux and Chou- 
teau with the intent both to kill and rob. But 
these Frenchmen were able to exercise their 
proverbial pacifying influence over the In- 
dians, and they were content with pillaging the 
stores of the traders. Bordeaux pleaded with 
them throughout a night of awful suspense to 
refrain from further destruction of life if not 
of property. 

After the tragedy these bands tried to enlist 
Indians of the upper Missouri agency in a 
general war on the whites. For some time 
they kept war parties continually on the road 
between Fort Pierre and the Platte river. 

Accepting the statement of the traders and 
the civil agent of the government, that the 
Indians were provoked by Lieutenant Grattan 
in their attack on his command which, once 
begim, inevitably resulted in its destruction, 
yet the subsequent conduct of these Indians 
explains if it does not justify the vengeance 
visited upon them by General Harney near 
Ash Hollow a year later. 

During the summer of 1854, near the Kan- 
sas river, north of Pawnee Fork, 1,500 Kiowa, 
Comanche, Cheyenne, and Osage Indians, 
armed with bows and arrows, attacked 100 
Sacs and Foxes who used their good rifles so 
effectively that, after charging on the little 



band several times, the assailants retired with 
a loss of si.xteen killed. 

Brevet Brigadier-General William S. Har- 
ney was already noted as a campaigner 
throughout the Indian country of the West 
and Southwest when he was sent in the fall 
of 1855 to punish the Sioux for the Grattan 
massacre. These Indians had broken faith 
with the whites by persistently infesting the 
Oregon trail, and they were a constant terror 
to the emigrants who at this time passed along 
the continental highway in great numbers ; but 




Only picture ever taken of Ni-co-ntij its first production. 

Ni-co-Mi (Voice of the Waters) 
Indian wife of Peter A. Sarpy 

their unwelcome intrusion gave their pursuer 
a welcome and easy opportunity to execute his 
terrible task. On the evening of September 
2d, General Harney's command camped at the 
mouth of Ash Hollow which, on account of 
the water, wood, and shelter it afforded, had 
long been a favorite and noted halting place 
for the California and Oregon emigrant 
trains. This rendezvous of the whites was 
naturally under the watchful surveillance of 
hostile Indians, and it was in its near neigh- 
borhood that General Harney found and 



400 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



nearly annihilated the reputed murderers of 
the unwary Grattan and his luckless com- 
mand. The story of vengeance is best told in 
General Ilarney's report to the secretary of 
war. 

There were at this time about 180,000 In- 
dians within the territory covered by the mili- 
tary department of the West, comprising all 
the region between the Mississippi river and 
the Rocky mountains, and there could be 
spared to garrison and patrol this vast area 
1,855 officers and men. According to the rep- 
resentations of the local traders and Indian 



of war — Jefferson Davis — complained that 
this disturbance "has caused the troops sta- 
tioned there to be diverted from the campaign 
in which it was designed to employ them 
against the Cheyenne Indians." There was 
incorporated in the report of the secretary a 
local statement that "the notorious Jim Lane 
is now at the head of from 600 to 1,000 armed 
outlaws and robbers, busily engaged in the 
work of destruction on the south side of the 
Kaw river." Lane's base or rendezvous in 
the fall of 1856 was the southeast corner of 
Nebraska and southwest Iowa, and his line of 



•ym' 





\ 



Joseph L.\ FleschE (E-sta-ma-za, "Iron Eye") M.\ry L.\ Flesche (Hiii-iui-ga-snun, "One Woman") 



agents and to some criticism in the national 
Congress, Harney's achievement was an un- 
warranted butchery rather than a victory, but, 
wherever truth and justice lie, now difficult 
to find, the battle was "a thunder-clap" to the 
hostile Sioux ; and from the point of view 
of the white invader's safety, which, in the 
last analysis, was of paramount importance, 
it was salutary if not necessary. 

During the year 1856 the federal adminis- 
tration, and the war department in particular, 
was kept very busy with the guerrilla jay- 
hawker troubles in Kansas, and the secretary 



ojjerations to Kansas was called "Lane's 
trail." 

The Cheyenne Indians were aggressively 
hostile in the upper Platte valley during the 
fall of 1856. On the 24th of August they 
fired upon a mail carrier several miles east 
of Fort Kearney, wounding him in the arm. 
Captain H. W. Wharton, commandant at the 
fort, immediately sent a mounted detachment 
of forty-one men of Companies E, G, and K 
of the First cavalry, under First Lieutenant 
G. H. Steuart, in pursuit of the Indians, whom 
thev overtook and attacked on Grand Island, 



TERRITORIAL MILITARY HISTORY 



401 



some twenty miles from its head, killing ten 
and wounding about art equal number. There 
were seventy to eighty Indians in the band, 
forty-five of them men. On the 25th of Au- 
gust, about thirty miles below Fort Kearney, 
a party of Cheyennes attacked Almon W. 
Babbitt, secretary of the territory of Utah, 
who was on his way to Salt Lake with a train 
of four wagons. The party was attacked in 
the night while encamped on the north side of 
the Platte. Two men and a child were killed, 
and the child's mother and another passenger 
of the train were carried off. Mr. Babbitt 
proceeded on his journey from Fort Kearney 



stand against his charge, but their horses were 
so fleet that they escaped with only nine killed. 
Sumner's loss was two killed and nine 
wounded, among the latter, Lieutenant James 
E. B. Stuart, subsequently the great Confed- 
erate cavalry leader in the Civil war. 

On account of the insurrectionary attitude 
of the Mormons in 1857, Captain Stewart Van 
Vliet was sent to Utah in advance to procure 
supplies for the army which was to follow. 
He started from Fort Leavenworth with a 
small force, July 30, 1857, reached Fort Kear- 
ney in nine days, and arrived at Salt Lake 
City on the thirty-fourth day. Colonel Albert 




Site ok Fort Kearney, Parade in the Foreground 



in a carriage with two other men, and at a 
point on the north side of the Platte, about 
120 miles west, all three of the men were 
killed by Indians and all their property, in- 
cluding a considerable amount of money, was 
carried off. 

In 1857 there was a growing spirit of in- 
subordination in the wild tribes of the prairies, 
and there was trouble with Indians in every 
part of the West and Southwest and on the 
Pacific coast. The Cheyennes continued their 
active hostilities, and on account of their "late 
outrages against the whites," Colonel Sumner 
attacked about 300 Cheyennes on Solomon's 
Fork, July 29th. The Indians would not 



Sidney Johnston, afterward the famous Con- 
federate general, escorted by six companies 
of the Second dragoons, the Fifth and Tenth 
regiments of infantry, and Reno's battery, fol- 
lowed in September, and his command crossed 
the south fork of the Platte on the 29th. 

Brigham Young, as governor of Utah and 
ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs, is- 
sued a proclamation forbidding the troops to 
enter the territory. The secretary of war — 
John B. Floyd — justified these operations on 
the ground that Governor Young defied the 
federal power. He had boldly announced that 
if his newly appointed successor should come 
to Utah the Mormons would "place him in a 



402 



HISTURV OF NEBRASKA 



carriage and send him back." Nevertheless 
the troops entered and camped in the terri- 
tory, and the new governor assumed his of- 
fice. Young, in the meantime, yielded to the 
inevitable and, where a weaker man would 
have been obdurate, this really great leader 
chose discretion as the better part of vaior. 
By the beginning of 1858 there was a force 
of 2,588 in the territory which reenforcements, 
under orders to march in the spring, would 
swell to 5,606. 




they were the work of the Mormons, sanc- 
tioned, if not directed, by the jMormon 
church. If it may not be said that the In- 
dians loved the Mormons more, they at least 
hated them less than the gentile whites, and 
during these years of accumulated troubles the 
saints were unmolested by their savage neigh- 
bors. 

In 1858, it was reported that 30.000 Indians 
of the upper Missouri agency were turbulent 
and discontented, and there was no adequate 





■^'•ii 


!^ 




4 "^^ j 






« 









Thomas Henry Tibuues ^'osette L.^ Flesche Tibbles (In-stlia'-the-am'-ba, 

Prominent in newspaper work, Omaha and Lincoln "Bright Eyes") 



Though the attitude of the commanding 
general appears to have been as cautious and 
moderate as that finally assumed by the Mor- 
mon leader, it was not until the latter part of 
1859 that the war department was able to re- 
port that there was no further need of the 
army in Utah and that it would be withdrawn 
during the coming season. It was asserted 
by high authority that, "murder and robberies 
of the most atrocious character have been per- 
petrated in the territory upon emigrants from 
the states, journeying towards the Pacific," 
and that it was the general impression that 



force to restrain them and protect emigrants, 
to Oregon and Washington. The Arikaras 
were ill-tempered and at war with the Sioux,, 
and the Crows attacked them on the west. 

Tlie brief Pawnee campaign of 1859 was the 
most important local military movement dur- 
ing the territorial period. About the first of 
July of that year messengers representing 
citizens of Fontenelle brought news to Omaha 
that the Pawnees were systematically and ag- 
gressively committing depredations upon the 
property, and outrages upon the persons of the 
settlers in the Elkhorn valley, from Fontenelle- 



TERRITORIAL AIILITARY HISTORY 



403 



northward. These settlers asked for imme- 
diate assistance from the territorial govern- 
ment. When the urgent petition of the mes- 
sengers was presented, Governor Black was 
at Nebraska City, then more than a day's 
journey from the capital, and to meet the 
emergency a petition numerously signed by 
citizens of Omaha, was presented to J. Ster- 
ling Morton, secretary of the territory, to act 
as governor and immediately send a military 
force against the Indians. While the provi- 
sions of the organic act, which constituted tne 
secretary acting governor in the absence of 
the governor from the territory, did not cover 
this case, yet Mr. Morton at once assumed 
authority, presumably under color of the pro- 
vision in question, and requested the com 
mandant at Fort Kearney to send a detach- 
ment of cavalry to Fontenelle. In the mean- 
time General John M. Thayer, who was, col- 
orably at least, commander of the militia of 
the territory, by virtue of his election by the 
legislature in 1856, proceeded to the place of 
the disturbances with the light artillery com- 
pany of Omaha, numbering about forty men, 
and arrived at Fontenelle on the 2d of July. 

On the 6th of July Governor Black started 
from Omaha with a company of volunteers 
and Company K of the Second dragoons, 
which had arrived from Fort Kearney under 
Lieutenant Robertson, and joined General 
Thayer on the 8th, when the latter assumed 
■command of the combined forces. The expe- 
•dition proceeded up the Elkhorn, and on the 
morning of the 12th, in the vicinity of the 
present town of Battle Creek, overtook and 
at once charged upon the Indians, who had be- 
gun to retreat. In preference to battle, how- 
ever, the savages promptly offered both peni- 
tence and indemnity for their past bad con- 
duct and fair promises for the future, and the 
campaign ended then and there without blood- 
shed. 

This positive policy and aggressive action 
no doubt exercised a strong and lasting influ- 
ence over the Pawnees, but it was overstating 
the truth to say that the incident "accomp- 
lished perfect peace with the Pawnees from 
that time forward." The irrepressible thiev- 
ing propensities of these Indians were often 



exercised in after years, resulting, often, in 
murder and other outrages. 
. In 1859 hostilities continued with the Co- 
manches and Kiowas and extended from Texas 
to the headwaters of the Arkansas and Cana- 
dian rivers, and the ubiquitous Indian fighter. 
General W. S. Harney, was now dealing with 
hostile tribes and watching the threatening 
British in Oregon. During that year the bor- 
der tribes of Nebraska lost many lives in their 
buffalo hunting expeditions, at the hands of 
the Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahoes. In 
1860 there was a state of war between the 
United States and many of the most powerful 




BtocK House at Old Fort Kearney, Nebraska City 

tribes of Utah, and petitions were presented 
by citizens of the territory for the protection 
of the pony express. They recited that the 
Indians "have recently broken up many sta- 
tions on the road, murdered the occupants and 
driven off the stock used in transporting the 
mails and express." There was method, be- 
yond the instinct for plunder, in this madness 
against the mails ; for established mean? of 
transportation suggested to the Indians the 
fast-coming occupancy of the whole country 
by the white invaders. In 1863 a band of 
Brules attacked the Pawnee agency, and after 
killing several squaws was driven off by a 



404 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



company of the Second Nebraska cavalry, 
which was stationed there ; and the raids of the 
Sioux were frequent and bold. 

The great Sioux uprising in Minnesota 
and Dakota, in 1862, in which it was es- 
timated that 644 white settlers and 93 
soldiers were killed, left a hostile spirit 
which influenced the conduct of the In- 
dians of the upper plains until they were 
finally segregated under the present reserva- 
tion system. In the spring of 1863, General 
Alfred Sully with his command went up the 




Joseph Robidoux 
Frontiersman and Indian trader 

Missouri river from Sioux City to cut off the 
retreat of such hostile Indians as General Sib- 
ley might drive out of Minnesota and eastern 
Dakota, and on the 3d of September his com- 
mand fought one of the important battles be- 
tween the whites and the Indians of the Plains. 
General Sully's force comprised eight com- 
panies of the Second regiment, Nebraska cav- 
alry — 350 men, rank and file, under command 
of Colonel Robert W. Furnas — the Sixth 
regiment, Iowa cavalry, and a company of the 
Seventh Iowa and a battery. The Indians 
had 1,200 to 1,500 warriors in the main of 
Santee, Brule, Yankton, and Black feet Sioux 



and some "cutheads." After a short and 
sharp fight, just at dark, the Indians were 
routed with a loss of about 150 killed and all 
of their eiifects, except their arms and ponies. 
The darkness doubtless saved them from much 
greater loss. When the Nebraska men came 
up with the enemy they dismounted and 
fought on foot with Enfield rifles at sixty 
paces. There were "among them probably 
some of the best shots in the world,'' and their 
fire at this close range was murderous. The 
loss of the Nebraska regiment was two killed, 
thirteen wounded, and teti missing, and that 
of the Sixth Iowa, eleven killed and eighteen 
wounded. The battlefield was near White 
.Stone Hill, and is known by that name. The 
liill is situated "about fifteen miles west of 
lames river and about half way between the 
latitudes of Bonebute and head-water of Elm 
river, as laid down on the government map." 

Hostilities against the whites were increas- 
ing from year to year, and in 1864 and 1865 
nuirders and other outrages, on the upper 
Platte in particular, were numerous and atro- 
cious, though there was a prevalent fear 
among the friendly Sioux and Arapahos of 
their own extermination by the soldiers. These 
outrages extended through the westerly settle- 
ments of Nebraska, and produced fear, and 
resentment against the federal government for 
neglecting to provide adequate defense 
throughout the territory. The savage Sioux 
were still the terror of the unwarlike and de- 
fenseless Omahas. In 1864 eleven of them' 
were killed, and in 1865 forty of their horses 
were stolen by the Sioux. 

Though the army was in large measure re- 
leased from the monopoly of the Civil war, 
there was slow response to public sentiment in 
the Indian country which demanded an ener- 
getic military policy as the only remedy for 
the now intolerable Indian hostility. 

By the arrangement of the military divi- 
sions in June, 1865, at the close of the Civil 
war, the division of the Mississippi, which fell 
to General W. T. Sherman, included the de- 
partment of Missouri, under General John 
Pope. By the order of August 6, 1866, this 
department became the division of Missouri, 
and it included the territory between the 



TERRITORIAL :SIILITARY HISTORY 



405 



Mississippi river and the Rocky mountains. 
The department of the Platte in this divisioii 
was under Major-General Cooke, and that of 
Dakota under Major-General Terry. The fol- 
lowing organizations of regular soldiers were 
assigned : To the department of the Platte, 
Battery C, Third artillery ; Second regiment, 
cavalry ; Eighteenth, Twenty-seventh, and 
Thirty-sixth regiments of infantry, and 200 
Indian scouts. General Sherman proposed to 
restrict the Sioux to territory north of the 
Platte, west of the Missouri river, and east 
of the new road from Fort Laramie to Vir- 
ginia City; and the Arapahos, Cheyennes, 
Comanches, Kiowas, Apaches, and Navajos 
south of the Arkansas and east of Fort Union, 
New Mexico, the intention being to keep all 
the territory between the Platte and Arkansas 
rivers, where the two great railroads were 
under construction, free from hostile Indians. 
In pursuance of this policy General Sherman 
made a two-months tour of the plains in the 
summer of 1866. In the same year Edward 
B. Taylor of Nebraska and Colonel Henry E. 
Maynadier, commandant at Fort Laramie, as 
member of a special peace commission, made 
treaties at that post with the Ogallala and 
Brule Sioux and negotiated with the Chey- 
ennes and Arapahos with the same purpose. 
Commissioners were also sent to negotiate 
with the hostile bands of Sioux in the north, 
between the Platte and Missouri rivers, and 
two years later it was said in high official 
places that "scarcely had the compacts been 
proclaimed when depredations and hostilities 
were again renewed." 

Peace negotiations had now become a well- 
defined national policy, and a peace commis- 
sion was appointed by the President of the 
United States, under the act of Congress of 
July 2, 1867. It may be that this peace policy 
lessened depredations and loss of life, and it 
perhaps smoothed the way to the general seg- 
regation of the Indians on reservations, which 
was accomplished about ten years later ; but it 
was bitterly assailed by the local press of Ne- 
braska and condemned by public opinion of 
the settlers whose lives and property were at 
stake. And the better judgment seems to 
point to the conclusion that a positive and ag- 



gressive war policy would have reached the 
desired end more promptly and avoided much 
of the massacre and destruction of property 
which were to open the way to a finally en- 
forced peace. 

From the time Fort Atkinson was aban- 
doned in 1827, until the establishment of old 
Fort Kearney, on the present site of Nebraska 
City, there was no military post in the Ne- 
braska country. In 1838 General Edmund P. 
Gaines, commander of the western military di- 
vision, recommended that a fort be established 
"at or or near the mouth of the Big Platte on 
the right bank of the Missouri river." In 
1842 the garrison at Fort Leavenworth num- 
bered only 262, and the nearest posts were 
Fort Atkinson and one at the Sac and Fox 
agency, in Iowa, and Fort Snelling in Minne- 
sota. In 1844 Fort Des Moines had been 
added to the posts of the Northwest, and there 
were 351 soldiers at Fort Leavenworth. The 
secretary of war again recommended estab- 
lishing a chain of posts from the Missouri 
river to the Rocky mountains. "A military 
fort placed on the very summit [of the Rocky 
mountains] whence flow all the great streams 
of the North American continent would no 
longer leave our title to the Oregon country 
a barren or untenable claim." 

The already light garrisons of the widely 
scattered posts of the Indian country were 
depleted at the outbreak of the Mexican war. 
Fort Des Moines was abandoned, March 10, 
1846, and the garrison was ordered to Santa 
Fe ; and on the 20th of June the regular gar- 
rison was withdrawn from Fort Atkinson 
(Iowa) and sent to the same place. The 
garrisons of Fort Snelling and Fort Leaven- 
worth were reduced, the troops withdrawn 
going to Mexico. The commissioner of In- 
dian aflfairs and the agent at Council Bluffs 
agency, in their reports for 1847, urged the 
building of a fort above the Platte, near Belle- 
vue, "in connection with that to be established 
near Grand Island," for the protection of emi- 
grants and the weaker tribes of Indians against 
the Sioux. The quartermaster-general of the 
army declared that the only practicable places 
for posts on the emigrant route to Oregon and 
California were on or near Grand Island.. 



406 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




SB o j: o 

■^ ^ •" 

^ "J £ S 

? 5 ° 

c "^^ I.- 

= I- rt QJ 

•i ° — 

~ "" ij 

£. .r" ^ 2 

«, 3 o P 



o 



■a J 
-go 



o 



5 M^ 



j:; rt. 



F^^ 



c £: t:'^ 


o,^ o 


M-l J3 


t3 ho 


.2-i §2 


ture 
ort. 
t of 
feet 


'_/ l*H X 


•a^ss; 


, -=^y5 


o O -^ 


_= ^ a t-» 


W OJ Q 3 


-G u: O 


■^-. -M ^ 


^M^ c«~ rt 


o c 


- ° o 5 

^ ^. -t-t o 


" Qj rt C 


., > u 


z; -'y^-o 


— 0-Z3 n 


."t: ^ 3 


5E^£ 


-- " S S? 


= o •" o 


^ l^ t+H 


^ c o ^ 


S ■/:• = 


3^P 


=--§c2| 


■^< .U 


5 4jrl-^ 


— E 


£■0 rt 


= 0."^ 






"•^ ■/! 


^ « ^+-' 

u S 5i 


-' T -^ 


^ u j=; •" 


j:^ J, —^ 


-3 ** c 


^•^.S c ^ 


ite 
fica 
ttle 
wni 


■■C/3--U3 


>. t^ 


1/ . « -s 


■:: 2.S S 


iver 
he 
look 
e pr 


'-. ^- ■" 1 j= 




; '-J C Ji *" 






-^ 1- ' - 




1. 

aero 
and 
offic 
W. 



TERRITORIAL .MILITARY HISTORY 



407 



about ninety miles below the junction of the 
forks of the Platte river, at Fort Laramie — 
then a fur company's post — 170 miles above 
the forks, and perhaps a small post higher up 
on the north fork. 

The second military post within the present 
Nebraska was established in July, 1847, near 
the center of the tract which subsequently be- 
came the town site of Nebraska City. It was 
doubtless found to be too far from any line 
of travel, and, there being no settlements to 
protect, was only occupied temporarily. The 
post was abandoned in May of the following 
year. In accordance with recommendations 
of General John C. Fremont, following his 
western explorations, Congress provided by 
the act of May 19, 1846, for the establishing 
of military posts along the Oregon route. The 
order issued from the war department March 
30, 1849, to establish Fort Laramie, makes the 
following reference to the founding of Fort 
Kearney : 

To carry out the provisions of the 6th sec- 
tion of the Act of May 19, 1846, relative to 
establishing military posts on the Oregon 
route, and to afford protection to the numer- 
ous emigrants to that country and California, 
the first station has already been established, 
imder instructions of the Secretary of War of 
June 1, 1847, on the Platte river near Grand 
Island, and is known as Fort Kearney. The 
first garrison of this post will be one company 
First Dragoons and two companies Sixth In- 
fantry, to be designated by the commander of 
the department. 

In 1847, the war department made requisi- 
tion on the state of ^lissouri for a battalion of 
mounted volunteers, "with a view to establish 
military posts on the Oregon route." Hither- 
to it had been impracticable to comply with 
that act, the Mexican war "demanding all the 
available force in that quarter." A battalion 
of 477 men and officers was raised, but not in 
time to prosecute the objects in view that 
year. The season was so far advanced that 
the troops could not proceed farther than 
Table creek, on the Missouri river, about 100 
miles above Fort Leavenworth — the site of 
old Fort Kearney and of the present Nebraska 
City. The commanding officer — - Lieutenant- 
Colonel Powell — was ordered to winter there. 



and as early as practicable in the ensuing 
spring "hasten the completion of the posts, for 
the establishment of which he had received 
special instructions from the war department." 
In the meantime he should punish aggressions 
of the Sioux and Pawnees on the peaceable 
bands of other tribes and the persons and prop- 
erty of emigrant citizens, and attend to the pay- 
ment of annuities to tribes in the vicinity. 
"The department was prevented by the de- 
mand for troops in Mexico, during the recent 




Henson Wiseman 

Early settler, Cedar county, Nebraska, where his 

family was massacred by the Indians ■ 

war, from effecting much in respect to the es- 
tablishment of military posts on the route to 
Oregon, required by the act of the 19th of 
May, 1846, beyond the selection of the first 
station on Platte river, near Grand Island and 
known as Fort Kearney." The post was for- 
mally established in May, 1848. As early as 
1849 the garrison at Fort Kearney was used 
to some extent for the protection of emigrants 
from the then hostile Pawnees. The fort at 
that time is described by Stansbury, who found 
the famous Captain (now Colonel) Bonneville 



403 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



in coiiiniand with two companies of infantry 
and one of dragoons : 

The post at present consists of a number of 
long low buildings, constructed principally of 
adobe or sundried bricks, with nearly flat 
roofs ; a large hospital tent ; two or three work 
shops enclosed by canvas walls ; storehouses 
constructed in the same manner ; one or two 
long adobe stables with roofs of brush, and 
tents for the accommodation of officers and 
men. 

In 1849, a regiment of mounted riflemen 
was detailed "to establish two more of the 
chain of posts along the route to that terri- 




Major John W. Pearman 
Prominent early resident of Nebraska City 

torv (Oregon) — one to be at or near Fort 
Laramie, a trading station of the American 
Fur Company, . . .' and the other at the 
trading establishment at Ft. Hall, on the head- 
waters of the Columbia river," near enough to 
the Mormon settlement at Salt Lake to draw 
supplies, "and at the same time sufficiently 
near the direct road to r)regon to afford a 
stopping place for parties of emigrants to 
rest, repair their wagons, etc." 

After the close of the Mexican war more at- 
tention was paid to the defense of the Indian 
country. In 1853 Fort Riley was established, 
and though situated on the Kansas river, 
near the site of the present Junction City, it 



is designated in the otificial report as in "Ne- 
braska Territory." 

General troubles with the Sioux Indians, 
and in particular the Grattan massacre, led 
the war department to begin an aggressive 
campaign against them in the following spring, 
the formal order for which was issued by the 
secretary of war, March 2, 1855, and General 
William S. Harney was naturally selected 
to command the forces. His command 
comprised ten companies of the Sixth in- 
fantry, six of which were at Jefferson 
barracks ; three were taken from Fort 
Laramie and one from Fort Kearney ; the 
light battery of Fourth artillery from Fort 
Leavenworth ; two companies of the Sec- 
ond infantry from Fort Riley; and four from 
Carlisle (Pa.) barracks; and four companies 
of the Second dragoons from Fort Riley. The 
four coinpanies of the Second infantry from 
Carlisle and the two companies of infantry 
from Fort Riley were transported by boat up 
the Missouri river. The rest of the troops in 
cjuestion were ordered to rendezvous at Fort 
Kearney and Fort Laramie. General Harney 
marched with his forces — about 1,200 in 
number — from Fort Laramie to the battle- 
field of the Blue Water; and on the 19th of 
October he arrived at Fort Pierrp nfter scout- 
ing the Brule country on the White and 
Cheyenne rivers. General Harney's army 
wintered at and in the vicinity of Fort Pierre. 
On the 14th of April, 1855, P. Chouteau & 
Co. sold the trading post called Fort Pierre, 
which they had established in 1832, to the 
United States for a military post, possession 
to be yielded June 1, 1855. The consideration 
for the transaction was $45,0(X) on the part 
of the United States and little more than a 
collection of huts in bad repair on the part 
of the company ; but such discrepancies were 
familiar incidents in the dealings of the In- 
dian department of the western frontier. Two 
steamboats were bought and six others hired 
to transport the first garrison and their winter 
stores to this fort. It was situated on the 
west bank of the Missouri river, opposite the 
site of the present capital of South Dakota, of 
the same name. Owing to a prolonged drouth 



TERRITORIAL MILITARY HISTORY 



409 



in that part of the country it was difficult to 
procure the necessary supply of hay, so that 
it was proposed to winter part of the horses 
near Council Bluffs. General Harney did not 
approve of Fort Pierre as a permanent post, 
largely because the country round about it was 
very barren ; and but little money was spent in 
its improvement. He preferred a location on 
the west bank of the Missouri river thirty 
miles above the mouth of the Niobrara ; and 
through his influence all that was of value and 
portable belonging to Fort Pierre was moved 
to this location, which was named Fort Ran- 
dall, after a colonel of the regular army. A 
part of the garrison of Fort Pierre was sent 
to the new post during the summer of 1856, 
and on the 16th of May, 1857, the fort was 
finally abandoned. 

During the summer of 1856 a considerable 
part of General Harney's command was sta- 
tioned at old Fort Lookout, situated about 
twelve miles below the big bend of the Mis- 
souri river. 

As the political organization of Nebraska 
was born in the throes of a desperate national 
contest, so likewise the ears of its very first 
settlers were attuned to war's alarms. Among 
the organic proclamations issued by Acting 
Governor Cuming was one calling for the or- 
ganization of two volunteer regiments for the 
reason that "dififerent tribes of Indians, within 
the limits of this territory, have made mani- 
fest their purpose to commit hostilities upon 
the pioneers of Nebraska; some of them open- 
ly threatened to root out the frontier settle- 
ments" ; and "some bands of said tribes have 
committed frequent depredations upon parties 
of emigrants to Utah, Oregon, and California 
during the past season and have threatened to 
renew their attacks during the coming spring." 
The territory was in a state of desultory war- 
fare with the Indians from the beginning until 
1868, but hostilities were most severe in 1864 
and 1867. The first regular military organ- 
ization was authorized by the act of the sec- 
ond session of the legislature, January 23, 
1856. This act provided for the formation of 
two brigades, the first for the North Platte 
and the second for the South Platte section. 
The governor was commander-in-chief of these 



forces, and a major-general and two brigadier- 
generals were chosen at a joint session of the 
legislative assembly the day after the act was 
passed. John M. Thayer was chosen major- 
general ; Leavitt L. Bowen, brigadier-general 
of the first brigade, and Hiram P. Downs 
brigadier-general of the second brigade. 

For the Civil war the territory furnished the 
remarkably large quota of 3,307 men and of- 
ficers out of a total population of less than 
30,000. These men were organized in the 
First regiment, Nebraska cavalry, 1,370 rank 
and file; the Second regiment, Nebraska cav- 
alry, 1,384 rank and file ; the Curtis Horse, 341 
rank and file ; the Pawnee Scouts, 120 rank 
and file; the Omaha Scouts, 92 rank and file. 
The First regiment, Nebraska volunteers, was 
organized in June, 1861, as an infantry regi- 
ment ; but in November, 1863, it was changed 
by order of the war department to the cavalry 
branch of the service. The organization of 
the regiment was completed by the 30th of 
July, 1861, with John M. Thayer, colonel; and 
on that date the first battalion, under command 
of Colonel Thayer, left Omaha by steamboat 
and arrived at St. Joseph, Missouri, on the 
1st of August and at Independence in the same 
state on the 3d of August, but returned to St. 
Joseph on the 5th. On the 15th of August 
the rest of the regiment joined this battalion 
at Pilot Knob, Missouri. The regiment went 
into winter quarters at Georgetown, Missouri, 
but during the winter saw hard service in the 
field. On the 11th of February, 1862, Colonel 
Thayer's command arrived at Fort Henry, 
Tennessee, and then went to Fort Donelson 
and arrived there on the 13th. The regiment 
was assigned to a brigade which was com- 
manded by Colonel Thayer, and it made a fine 
record in the attack on this fort, which re- 
sulted in its capture. This regiment also did 
splendid service in the famous battle of 
Shiloh, under the brigade command of Gen- 
eral Thayer and in the division of General 
Lew Wallace. The regiment did good ser- 
vice campaigning in Arkansas and Missouri 
until August 28th, when it was ordered to St. 
Louis. Under its new cavalry organization it 
was again sent to Arkansas, where it was kept 
in active service until January. 1864, when the 



410 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



veterans of the regiment were granted fur- 
loughs until August 13th, and they arrived at 
Omaha on the 28th of January. On the 18th 
of August these veterans were ordered to 
Fort Kearney and arrived there on the 23d. 

By an order dated January 31, 1865, the 
First battalion, Nebraska veteran cavalry, was 
consolidated with the First Nebraska veteran 
cavalry, under the name of the First Nebraska 
cavalry. The new regiment remained in the 
Plains country, scouting and fighting Indians, 
in which service the old organization had also 
been engaged, until it was mustered out at 




Edw.^rd De Morin 
Early Nebraska trader, scout, and guide 

Omaha on the 1st of July, 1866. This regi- 
ment from the first did splendid service and 
won great praise from soldiers as well as civil- 
ians. 

On the 31st of July, 1862, Governor Saun- 
ders issued order No. 1, in which it was re- 
quired that "all male residents of the territory 
between the ages of twenty-one and forty-five 
should forthwith enroll their names in inde- 
pendent or militia companies of not less than 
thirty-five nor more than sixty-four persons 
each." 

There was much resentment shown asrainst 



General Lane's alleged intrusion into the terri- 
tory to raise recruits, under an order of the 
secretary of war, dated July 22, 1862, within 
the department of Kansas which included Ne- 
braska, and on the 18th of August, Governor 
Saunders issued a proclamation as follows : 

Whereas, Certain persons, representing 
themselves to be recruiting officers for volun- 
teer regiments organizing in the states of 
Kansas and Missouri, are striving to induce 
citizens of this territory to enlist in said regi- 
ments ; and whereas, I have been notified that 
officers have been detailed and will shortly ar- 
rive in the territory to recruit in our own regi- 
ment now in the field, which, together with the 
number necessary for our home protection, 
will require every volunteer that the territory 
can furnish : Now, therefore, I, Alvin 
Saunders, governor of the territory of Ne- 
braska, do herebv give notice to all such per- 
sons that they must immediately desist from 
their attempts to procure enlistments in this 
territory for regiments organized or about to 
be organized in any other state or territory, 
and I do forbid any and all citizens of the ter- 
ritory to enlist in any regiment, battalion, or 
company not expressly authorized to be raised 
by this department, or to go beyond the limits 
of this territory to so enlist in any other state 
or territory. 

On the 15th of April, 1862, Colonel Robert 
W. Furnas, up to that time publisher of the 
Advertiser at Brovvnville, left that place with 
Dr. .\ndrew S. Holladay and Lieutenant-Col- 
onel Stephen H. Wattles of Washington 
county for the headquarters of the First regi- 
ment, "Indian Home Guards," in the Indian 
territory of which he was colonel. Colonel 
Furnas was for a time acting brigadier-general 
of the three Indian regiments in the interior of 
the Indian territory and participated in several 
engagements. In the fall of 1862 he resigned 
the office of colonel of the First Indian regi- 
ment for the reason that, "such has been the 
course pursued toward the Indians for the past 
few months that he could no longer render 
them useful in the service." Colonel Furnas 
had "devoted nearly his whole time to military 
matters since the rebellion broke out" — seven 
months in active service in the field. It was 
said that "to him. perhaps, more than any 
other man, is southern Nebraska indebted for 
its military ardor, and the consequent unparal- 



TERRITORIAL MILITARY HISTORY 



411 



led number of men in the field in proportion 
to population," and that "he has gone to work 
vigorously assisting to raise the second com- 
pany from this section for the new cavalry 
regiment." 

On the 9th of September, 1862, Acting Gov- 
ernor Paddock sent the following telegram to 
Secretary Stanton of the war department : 

Powerful bands of Indians are retiring from 
Minnesota into the northern counties of thib 
territory. Settlers by hundreds are fleeing. 
Instant action is demanded. I can turn out a 
militia force, a battery of three pieces of six- 
pounders, and from six to ten companies of 
cavalry and mounted infantry. The territory 
is without credit or a cent of money. Authorize 
me by telegraph to act for the general govern- 
ment in providing immediate defense, and I 
can do all that is necessarj' with our militia if 
subsisted and paid by government. 

This communication was referred to Gen- 
eral Pope who was in command of the mili- 
tary' department — department of the Missouri 
— with headquarters at St. Paul. Inspector- 
General Elliott was sent to Omaha to nego- 
tiate with the governor, and the organization 
of the Second regiment, Nebraska cavalry-, 
with R. W. Furnas as colonel, followed. On 
the 3d of September, 1863, this regiment, 
under command of Colonel Furnas, bore the 
principal part in a sharp and successful en- 
gagement with about 1,000 Indians at White 
Stone Hill, in what is now central South Da- 
kota. The regiment had enlisted for nine 
months and was mustered out at the end of 
that time. 

In December, 1861. the Curtis Horse cavalry 
regiment, which included the Nebraska batta- 
lion commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel M. T. 
Patrick, was organized. Three of the com- 
panies of this battalion were recruited at 
Omaha and the other at Nebraska City. The 
regiment was ordered to Tennessee, but on 
the 14th of February crossed the river and 
went into camp at Fort Heiman, Kentucky. 
It was kept in active service until June 23, 
1862, when it was assigned to the state of 
Iowa under the name of the Fifth Iowa cav- 
alry, with officers as follows : W. W. Lowe, 
colonel ; ]M. T. Patrick, lieutenant-colonel ; A. 
B. Bracket, major; William Ashton, lieuten- 



ant and adjutant ; Enos Lowe, surgeon; B. T. 
Wise, assistant surgeon ; Charles B. Smith, 
quartermaster. This regiment saw constant 
active service until the close of the war. 

Nebraska volunteers of the Civil war were 
cosmopolitan in their enlistment. "Although 
there is in the union army but one regiment of 
infantry and a few companies of cavalry that 
bear the name of Nebraska, yet she deserves 
credit for contributing as large a number of 
soldiers, in proportion to her inhabitants, as 
any state or territory in the union. There is 
scarcely a regiment from either Kansas, Mis- 
souri, Iowa, or Illinois, without more or less 
from Nebraska. In reading of regiments 
from Ohio, Indiana and other places we fre- 
quently find names of soldiers whose home is 
'in Nebraska.' A friend writes that in the 
regiment he belongs to (the Kansas Eighth) 
there are sixty-seven Nebraska boys. In the 
Kansas Second there is one company almost 
exclusively from Nebraska. In the Fifth 
regiment, Missouri state militia, there is 
another company from Nebraska. In [Ben- 
jamin F.] Loan's brigade at St. Joseph, among 
both officers and men there are many Ne- 
braska boys, we know not how many, probably 
not less than 200. If as many have gone from 
other portions af the territory as from Nemaha 
county, there are not less than five thousand 
of the hardy veterans of Nebraska now fight- 
ing in the armies of their country." 

When Indian hostilities broke out in the 
territory in the summer of 1864 Governor 
Saunders called out four companies of militia 
and a detachment of artillery as follows : Com- 
pany A, Captain Thomas B. Stevenson, 53 
men rank and file, mustered into service Au- 
gust 12, 1864, mustered out December 21, 1864; 
Company B, Captain Isaac Wiles, same num- 
ber of men, mustered in August 13, 1864, mus- 
tered out February 13, 1865 ; Company C, Cap- 
tain Alvin G. \\ hite, 57 men, mustered in Au- 
gust 24, 1864, mustered out Febn.iar\' 7, 1865. 
These companies belonged to the First regi- 
ment. Second brigade. The fourth company, 
Captain Charles F. Porter, was Company A 
of the First regiment. First brigade. 47 men. 
mustered in August 30, and mustered out No- 
vember 12, 1864. The detachment of artillerv 



412 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



militia, under Captain Edward P. Childs, num- 
bered 13 men and was mustered in August 30 
and mustered out November 12, 1864. 

In the summer of 1864 a company of Paw- 
nee Indians was formed under Captain Joseph 
McFadden. This company was known as 
Company A, Pawnee Scouts. On January 13, 
1865, the company was increased to 95, and 
mustered into the service of the United States 
under Captain Frank J. North. On May 3, 
1865, a company of Omaha Indians known as 
Company A, Omaha Scouts, Captain Edward 
R. Nash, was mustered into the service of the 
United States and mustered out Tuly 16, 1866. 




Gener.m, William vSeliiy Harnev 

It was estimated that during the ten years 
immediately preceding January 1, 1871, about 
150 persons were killed, and stock and other 
property to the amount of more than $25,000 
destroyed by hostile Indians. 

The comities of Platte, L'eau-qui-court, 
Jefiferson, Cedar, Buffalo, Seward, and Butler, 
besides the unorganized territory to the west, 
were the worst sufferers from these depreda- 
tions. 

Contemporaneous accounts of the troubles 



with the Indians in Nebraska which are pre- 
served in the territorial newspapers and in 
local official publications supplement the re- 
ports of the federal w-ar and Indian depart- 
ments with additional facts and illustrative 
descriptions. In his message to the second 
general assembly, December 18, 1855, Gov- 
ernor Izard relates that on the 30th of the pre- 
vious July he received an express from Fon- 
tenelle bringing the news that a party of citi- 
zens had been attacked about ten miles from 
the town in which men were murdered and 
scalped, and a woman wounded, marvelously 
escaping with her life. The governor had im- 
mediately ordered Brigadier-General Thayer 
to raise a volunteer force, and soon a company 
of forty men was mounted, armed, and equip- 
ped under command of Captain W. E. Moore 
and dispatched to Fontenelle — all within fif- 
teen hours from the receipt of the news of the 
outbreak. .\ post was established at Fonte- 
nelle, and small companies were stationed at 
Ivlkhorn City and one at Tekamah, which were 
kept there until the 9th of October, when it 
was ascertained that the Indians had retired 
into the interior. 

The Nebraska City Nezvs of July 10, 1858, 
reports that the Pawnee Indians — "those mis- 
erable aborigines" — are troublesome to trains 
on the Utah route, and as General Denver, In- 
dian commissioner, made a treaty with them 
the previous September for an annuity of 
$40,000, they ought to be paid in Nebraska 
City so that pledges for good behavior might 
be taken; and. July 2, 1859, the same journal 
reported that recently the Sioux made a de- 
scent on the Pawnee village, situated on the 
Platte river south of Fremont, and burnt it to 
the ground. The Pawnee warriors were ab- 
sent on their annual hunt, but some of the old 
men and women were killed. The Pawnees 
acknowledged their inferiority to their implac- 
able western foes by applying to the Poncas 
and Omahas for assistance. The same paper, 
July 30, 1859, notes the return to Omaha of 
the army that chased the Pawnees, and that, 
according to the Ncbraskian, the citizens gave 
them an enthusiastic welcome. "A more 
thievish, rascally set of scoundrels cannot 
be found . . . but this would have been 



TERRITORIAL MILITARY HISTORY 



413 



no justification for cutting them to pieces 
when they threw away their arms and declared 
they wouldn't fight." They signed a treaty 
for indemnity for all depredations and acceded 
to all demands made upon them. The Dakota 
City Herald of September 10, 1859, says the 
Indians — mainly the Brules and Ogallala 
Sioux — about the Niobrara river "are becom- 
ing too insolent and too bold for quiet to reign 
much longer in these parts." The Omaha Re- 
publican, January 4, 1860, learned from Cle- 
ment Lambert of Decatur that the Brule Sioux 
Indians had made a descent upon the Omaha 
village on December 21st, and carried ofif sixty- 
five horses. The Nebraskian of May 12, 1860, 
states that the Sioux on the Loup had recently 
attacked the Pawnees, killing five squaws, and 
some time before, eighteen of their horses. 

The Huntsman's Bcho, September 6, 1860, 
published at Wood River Center by Joseph E. 
Johnson, observes that "It seems that the de- 
mand of Major Gillis (Pawnee agent at 
Genoa) for troops to protect the Pawnees 
from the rapacity of the Sioux has been in- 
dorsed at headquarters, and already a detach- 
ment of horse and foot have gone over." The 
same paper reports a descent by thirty Chey- 
ennes on the Pawnee village, and that six hun- 
dred Sioux and Cheyennes were at Fort Kear- 
ney "on their way to flax out their friends the 
Pawnees." 

The Dakota City Democrat of April 20, 
1861, had just learned that "the inhabitants of 
Niobrarah, assembled in arms and boarded the 
steamer Omaha, when she landed at that point, 
and demanded that she should go no farther up 
the river, but should at once steam down 
stream. They also stated that they would 
allow no boat to pass up for the purpose of 
removing the Fort Randall troops, as they 
were all the protection the frontier had. A 
difficulty occurred when the citizens and the 
steamboat men commenced on each other. Four 
persons are known to have been killed, and 
several wounded. The Omaha was obliged to 
turn down stream." The Nebraska City 
Neivs, May 2, 1861, insists that there is no 
danger from the Sioux and their allies if they 
are only let alone. Many people are afraid to 
travel up the valley, yet improvements are 



going on and stocks of goods laid in by those 
who are there, without fear of danger. The 
territorial press protested strongly against the 
removal of troops from the forts soon after 
the beginning of the Civil war. 

The Nebraska City Neivs, July 13, 1861, 
complains bitterly that the Nebraska regiment 
is all kept at Omaha while the agent at the 
C)toe reservation had requested part of it to be 
sent there, as the Indians were unruly. The 
News quotes the Brownville Advertiser as say- 
ing that for two weeks "our people have been 




Gener.^l John McCoNmE 
Soldier and pioneer of Omaha 

drawn upon extravagantly as to time, money, 
and rest in the exercise of such precautionary 
means as have been deemed indispensable for 
safety and quiet. The timid are becoming 
alarmed and are leaving. Several farmers 
have left prosperous farms and crops and gone 
back to the states." The News charges Acting 
Governor Paddock with sectional favortism in 
immediately asking the war department to 
send troops up the Platte valley on the report 
that the Sioux are making trouble there. The 
Nezvs of July 20, 1861, reports that several 
families have come in from the Nemahas and 



414 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Salt creek from fear of Indians, but thinks 
there is no good ground for alarm. It relates 
that "Monsieur Vifquain" [General Victor 
Vifquain, who lived on the Blue seventy-five 
miles west] reports that 4,000 Pawnees are 
camped near his ranch, but that they are peace- 
able and show no disposition to trouble the 
whites. They brought their squaws and pap- 
pooses to the settlement for protection while 
they were fighting the Sioux who were be- 
tween them and the buiTalo ranges where they 
wished to hunt. The Nezvs of the same date 
charges that Acting Governor Paddock had 
quietly sent United States troops from Fort 
Kearney up the Platte without any authority 
from the war department. 




"Jim" Lane 
Prominent in the early history of Kansas and Ne- 
braska. A Ueutenant of John Brown 

The Nebraskian, July 17, 1863, reports that 
Colonel Sapp, just from the Pawnee agency, 
predicts that there will be a fight on the Re- 
publican river between the Sioux, who num- 
ber about 5,000, and the Pawnees and Omahas, 
who have 1,800 warriors. The same paper, 
June 3, 1864, refers to a letter from Grand 
Island dated May 24th which says : "It looks 
very much like war here ; 2,500 Yankton Sioux 
are coming down the north side of the Platte 
and have killed ten soldiers ; also 1,600 Ara- 
pahos and Cheyennes are on the south side of 
the river and have nearly disposed of a com- 
pany of Colorado volunteers"; July 31, 1863, 
that, owing to the exposed condition of the 
Nebraska frontier to Indian depredations the 
administration at Washington has suspended 
all operations under the conscription act in Ne- 



braska and Dakota ; and again, July 8, 1864. 
gives an account of the murder of two men by 
the Pawnees which created great alarm and 
excitement. Patrick Murray and his brother- 
in-law, Adam Smith, with a number of hands, 
were cutting hay three miles from the Pawnee 
reserve on Looking-glass creek, and ^Irs. 
Murray was there cooking for the partv. A 
band of Pawnees appeared about seven o'clock 
in the evening, and after cutting the horses 
loose, shot an old man through the head, kill- 
ing and scalping him, and wounded Smith 
with an arrow. They also wounded ]\Irs. 
Murray as she was extracting the arrow from 
Smith, and another man by the name of 
Grimes. Smith died afterward from his 
wound. The same paper, August 12, 1864, 
says that in the Platte valley "murder, rapine 
and plunder are the order of the day," and it 
charges that the governor is derelict in not 
furnishing soldiers. When Colonel Living- 
ston offered the services of his veteran First 
regiment he could get no satisfaction. A large 
train had been destroyed by the Indians the 
day before, at Plum Creek ; and it was reported 
that James E. Boyd's ranch, ten miles east 
of Fort Kearney, had been attacked. At Paw- 
nee ranch William Wilder's train was cor- 
ralled and fought the Indians from four o'clock 
until dark, two of the party being wounded. 
The same paper reports that S. G. Daily had 
sent a dispatch to the governor informing him 
that sixteen men were found on the Little Blue 
who had been killed by the Indians. August 
17, 1864, this journal contains accounts by 
First Lieutenant Charles F. Porter, of the 
Nebraska veteran cavalrj', of attacks on 
ranches and trains both east and west of Kear- 
ney, and he complains bitterly of the utter lack 
of proper means of defense, and insists on 
"war to the knife and no prisoners." The 
hostile Indians comprised Arapahos and Chey- 
ennes, and there were perhaps Brule Sioux 
and Comanches among them. A correspon- 
dent in the same paper charges the outbreaks 
to the dishonest practices of the government 
Indian agents, whose frauds were "of the most 
revolting character — putting to blush the most 
hardened Indian trader." By October 28. 
1864, the Nebraskian insists, in the interest of 



TERRITORIAL MILITARY HISTORY 



415 



trade if not of truth, that Indian troubles be- 
tween Omaha and Denver have been sup- 
pressed and that refugees may safely return. 
The Omaha Republican of August 12, 1864, 
reports that, "the recent Indian murders in the 
Platte valley point clearly and unmistakably 
to a general uprising of the savage hordes who 
inhabit western Nebraska and Colorado, Idaho 
and L'tah. Within forty-eight hours between 
twenty and thirty dead bodies have been found 
at different points west of us and we hear of 
numerous depredations upon stock and trains. 
Men have been murdered at Thirty-Two Mile 
Creek, Lone Tree Station and Plum Creek; the 
pickets at Fort Kearney have been fired upon, 
the train destroyed at Plum Creek was burned 
up and thirteen men murdered. The Indians 
are led on in their infernal barbarities by 
white men painted and disguised as savages." 
The Plum Creek massacre was perhaps the 
most atrocious of all the Indian barbarities in 
Nebraska. On the 9th of August Colonel 
Summers of the Seventh Iowa cavalry found 
that besides the thirteen men killed there were 
five men. three women, and several children 
missing. A hundred Indians attacked a 
wagon train, killing, sacking, and burning with 
characteristic savagerj-. On the 11th of Au- 
gust, 1864, Adjutant-General W. H. S. Hughes 
called for a regiment of six companies to be 
raised each side of the Platte, sixty-four men 
to a company ; the North Platte companies to 
report to Brigadier-General O. P. Hurford at 
Omaha, and the South Platte to report to Col- 
onel Oliver P. Mason at Nebraska City. On 
the 22d the adjutant-general called on all 
able bodied men in the territory, between the 
ages of eighteen and forty-five, to enroll them- 
selves in the militia. The Republican of Au- 
gust 20, 1864, reports a condition of great ex- 
citement at Omaha, and states that the authori- 
ties ha\e ordered business places closed and 
parties capable of bearing arms to report for 
duty. "We have learned enough within the 
last twenty-four hours to satisfy us that the 
city is in peril. It is not chiefly from Indians 
that this peril comes." The Republican pro- 
fessed to believe that there was danger of at- 
tack from bands of white guerrillas, who were 
roaminE' about the countrv and incitins: and 



leading the Indians to attack. Two hundred 
head of cattle belonging to Edward Creighton 
had been driven off only twenty miles west 
of Omaha on the 22d of August and twenty 
families had just come in from the Elkhorn 
settlement. Major General Curtis had recently 
sent 300 of the First Nebraska veterans to 
Plum Creek. 

Ben Holladay filed an omnibus claim against 
the federal government for damages he had 
suffered by Indians while he was a transcon- 
tinental mail carrier. Among the affidavits 
which supported these claims is that of George 
H. Carlyle, one of the drivers on the line: 

On the 9th of August, 1864, I left Alkali 
Station for Fort Kearney. On reaching Cot- 
tonwood Springs I learned by telegraph that 
the Indians had attacked a train of eleven 
wagons at Plum Creek (now Lexington), 
killed eleven men, captured one woman, and 
run oft' the stock. I started down the road, 
and when a few hundred yards off Gillman's 
Station I saw the bodies of three men lying 
on the ground, fearfully mutilated and full of 
arrows. xA.t Plum Creek I saw the bodies of 
the eleven other men whom the Indians had 
murdered, and I helped to bury them. I also 
saw the fragments of the wagons still burning 
and the dead body of another man who was 
killed by the Indians at Smith's ranch, and the 
ruins of the ranch which had been burned. 

The tenth general assembly adopted a me- 
morial to Congress in January, 1865, which 
recited that in August, 1864, "portions of the 
Sioux, Cheyennes, Kiowas, Comanches, and 
Arapahos confederated together for the pur- 
pose of attacking the frontier settlements of 
Nebraska and the emigrant trains en route to 
Colorado and the gold mines." Without the 
slightest warning the Indians had attacked the 
settlements along the Little Blue river in Ne- 
braska, "killing men, women, and children 
without mercy, save in a few instances where 
they carried the women away captives to un- 
dergo a fate more terrible than death itself." 
They had attacked emigrant trains along the 
route named from forty miles eastward of 
Fort Kearney to the western border of the 
territor}', killing settlers and emigrants, and 
driving off stock to the number of several 
thousand. Four companies of militia had 
promptly responded to the call of the governor 



416 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



and marched to the frontier, furnishing their 
own horses and serving as mounted infantry. 
One of the companies served under Major- 
General Curtis throughout the Indian cam- 
paign, while the others guarded emigrant 
trains and the "Great Overland Mail and Pa- 
cific Telegraph," and the frontier settlements. 
This militia was under the immediate com- 
mand of the commandant of the United States 
troops in this department. Three of the com- 
panies served for four months and the other 
for sixty days. Two of them at this time 



Though the people had been very impatient, 
thus irritated by the constant menace and 
actual outrages of the savages during these 
many years, yet so long as the more important 
struggle for the Union lasted, public opinion 
was reasonable in its demands and public sen- 
timent moderate in its expression. After the 
close of the war, however, complaint and de- 
nunciation were unbridled, and making due 
allowance for partisan bias on the part of Dr. 
Miller, his article in the Omaha Herald of 
November 10, 1865, is no doubt a fair ex- 




N.\TioNAL Cemetery .\t Old Fort McPhersox, five miles south of M-\x\vell ox the Uxiox P.xcific 

R.'\ILR0.\D 



had been mustered out by reason of the expira- 
tion of their term of enlistment and two were 
continued in the service. None of these sol- 
diers had received any pay for their services or 
for the service or loss of their horses. As has 
already been recited, an appropriation of $45,- 
000 was made by the national Congress to meet 
the expenses of the war of 1864, and claims 
to the amount of $28,000 were allowed. The 
same assembly adopted a joint resolution of 
thanks for the gallant services of these militia 
companies. 



pression of popular feeling, and a not much 
overwrought presentment of the status of the 
Indian troubles at that time. The aggressive 
editor says that the Indian war had continued 
for three years, beginning in the horrible Min- 
nesota outbreak caused by a long series of 
outrages committed by the whites. "This in- 
famous imbecility [of Stanton's] — persistent, 
dogged, damnable disregard of the interests 
of the west — amounts to high crime, and we 
call upon the press and the people of Nebraska 
and the west to unite in arraigning the pes- 



TERRITORIAL MILITARY HISTORY 



417 



tiferous, buU-headed potentate of the war of- 
fice. . . Counseled by Sherman, Grant, 
Dodge and his subordinates to a certain mili- 
tary course he first assents to practice vigorous 
war against these Indians. The work of prep- 
aration is barely commenced when he coun- 
termands everything, cuts off supplies so as to 
starve a trusting soldiery, reduces the force 
necessary to conquering a speedy peace and 
at last recalls the army, thus leaving the whole 
overland line and thousands upon thousands 
of men, women, and children and millions of 
property exposed to the scalping knife and 
ravages of numerous bands who are again let 
loose to destroy the lives of our people and 
the commerce of the plains." The philippic 
proceeds to insist that the war had but just 



body of Indians, fifteen soldiers and four citi- 
zens were killed according to the report. The 
Omaha Republican of Febniary 3, 1865, gives 
this alarming account of conditions at that 
time : 

Not less than 3,000 Indians are on the line 
of the overland mail route committing every 
species of barbarity and atrocity which their 
fiendish imaginations can invent. They can 
capture Fort Kearney or Fort Laramie at any 
time they choose, and there is no power at the 
disposal of General Curtis or Colonel Living- 
ston to prevent it. They burned Valley sta- 
tion on Saturday and drove oft" 650 head of 
stock and burned 100 tons of government hay 
which cost $5,000. Yesterday they burned 
all the ranches from Valley station east to 
Julesburg. . . The plains from Julesburg 
west for more than 100 miles are red with the 




Engraving from. History of Wyoming by C. G. Coutant. 

Fort L.-\ramie in 1836 



commenced, and that the white man's interests 
were worse oft' than they were a year ago, as 
the Indians were rallying again, believing that 
they could not be whipped. 

The Nebraskian of January 19, 1865, in- 
sists that Indian troubles are still rife notwith- 
standing that the governor's message had de- 
clared that they had "been brought to a suc- 
cessful termination." There is abundant evi- 
dence of a tendency at this time on the part of 
public officers and other promoters of emigra- 
tion and trade for the territory to disregard 
the safety of settlers in their reports of the 
attitude of the Indians. In the fight at Jules- 
burg on the 7th of January, 1865, between 
forty soldiers and some citizens and a large 



blood of murdered men, women and children ; 
ranches are in ashes ; stock all driven off — the 
country utterly desolate. The sober truth is a 
gigantic Indian war is upon us. It is as much 
as a man's life is worth to attempt to run the 
gauntlet between Omaha, Nebraska City, 
Atchison or Leavenworth and Denver City 
with a load of supplies for the mines of Col- 
orado. 

The Nebraska City News, August 16, 1867, 
quotes the Omaha Herald's account of a battle 
between an escort of the Twenty-seventh regi- 
ment, infantrv, commanded by Major Powell, 
and from 2,000 to 5.000 Indians, who attacked 
a train of thirty-six wagons, owned by James 
R. Porter of Plattsmouth, on the 2d of Au- 
gust, five miles from Fort Phil Kearney. The 



418 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



soldiers fought within a corral of wagons and 
breastworks of wagon-beds and ox-yokes. 
After a fierce battle of three hours Major 
Smith with two companies of soldiers arrived, 
wiien the Indians gave up the fight. Sixty In- 
dians and five soldiers besides Lieutenant Jen- 
ness were killed. The same paper, September 
6, 1867, gives an account of a meeting of 
citizens of Saline and Seward counties at Cam- 
den, August 31, 1867, at which a company was 
organized for home protection with General 
Victor Vifquain as captain and A. J. Walling- 
ford and John Blackburn, lieutenants. The 
meeting recommended that similar companies 
be raised on Turkey creek and on the North 
and \\'est Blue with General Vifquain &s 
commander of all the organizations. The 
resolutions adopted recite that for the last 
four years the Indians of the Plains had waged 
incessant warfare upon their neighbors, that 
it was the duty of every man to arm himself, 
and that no Indians he allowed to pass through 
their settlements. 

The Repuhlicau of January 18, 1867, notes 
that 8,000 troops have been ordered for ser- 
vice on the Plains and in the mountains, but 
doubts that these will suffice for a thorough 
chastisement of the Indians. In the massacre 
by the Indians near Fort Phil Kearney, in 
December, 1866, ninety-four soldiers and citi- 
zens were killed. The same paper, February 
8, 1867, in noting that Captain Frank J. North 
of Columbus had been authorized by the war 
department to raise a battalion of Pawnees for 
service on the Plains, says that his Pawnee 
scouts in the last Indian troubles were known 
all over the Plains. The same paper. May 2>\. 
1867, after reporting Indian disturbances 
around Fort Laramie, insists that "it can no 
longer be doubted that there is very great 
trouble out on the plains with the Indians, and 
tiiat the season is to be one of bloody and 
general Indian war." On the 10th of July, 
1867, the Republican says that information 
had been received at military headquarters of 
an attack by forty-five Sioux on twenty-five of 
General Custer's men — • Captain Hamilton, 
Seventh United States cavalry — near the 
forks of the Republican. The Indians were 
driven ofif with a loss of two killed and several 



wounded, the loss of the defense being ona 
horse wounded. On the 26th of June between 
500 and 600 Sioux and Cheyennes attacked 
forty-eight of Custer's men under Lieutenants 
Robbins and Cooke, Seventh cavalry, but were 
driven off. Two of Robbins's men were 
slightly hurt. On the 24th of the same month 
the Sioux surrounded General Custer's camp, 
but were driven oft" with a loss of only one 
man wounded. The Republican of July 17. 
1867, notes a successful skirmish between a 
detachment of Major North's Pawnee Scouts 
and hostile Indians on Coon Creek, Dakota 
territory, in which the training and skill of the 
white officer w'ere successful. 

The Nebraska City Nck's expresses the 
opinion that the new policy under which all 
hostile tribes of Indians were to be put upon 
reservations and cared for and fed would be 
less expensive and more satisfactory than the 
policy of the "inefficient half-waged war such 
as we have been cursed with." The News 
credits General Thayer with having much to 
do in bringing about this policy. The Repub- 
lican of August 14, 1867, noting that the com- 
mission appointed under the recent act of Con- 
gress to treat with the hostile Indians of the 
Northwest will arrive in Omaha, insists that 
peace must be brought about, "or we shall 
have a war so gigantic in its proportions that 
peace or extermination will be the only alter- 
native left to the Indians." Recounting some 
of the difficulties under which the Union Pa- 
cific railway was built this paper says: "En- 
gineers surveying the work have been killed — 
men at work upon the grade have been killed 
— their stock has been stolen and driven oft — 
contractors to furnish ties have been compelled 
to abandon their work, and there are serious 
apprehensions that track laying will be tem- 
porarily suspended." Trade and commerce 
along the line had been curtailed fully one- 
half. "Omaha alone has suft'ered a greater 
loss from the Indian disturbances of the last 
three years than the aggregate of all the pro- 
duce profits of the army contractors would 
produce should the war continue to the end 
of the present generation." It is stated that 
two bands of Sioux — Brules and Ogallalas, 
Red Cloud and his followers controlling the 



TERRITORIAL :MnjTARY HISTORY 



419 



latter — are responsible for much of the 
trouble of the last year. The Brules, under 
Spotted Tail and Standing Elk, have been 
peaceful and will remain so. But the Chey- 
ennes, by far the most formidable, without the 
leadership of the Sioux, would be easily con- 
ciliated. The Sioux are adepts at thieving, 
but for bold and daring enterprise and hard 
fighting the Cheyennes are the most formid- 
able. The Republican of the same date gives 
an account of the looting of a train of cars by 
the Indians. They had undermined a culvert 
six miles from Plum Creek, thus throwing the 
train off the track. 

In the United States Senate, July 17, 1867, 
in speaking on the bill to establish peace with 
certain tribes General Thayer disputed Sena- 
tor Morrill's contention that the Union Pa- 
cific Co. had violated the treaty rights of the 
Indians by running through their lands. Gen- 
eral Thayer said : "The Union Pacific Railway 
has been built over lands which have been 
ceded, over which the Indian title has ceased. 
They may have got now a little beyond the 
ceded territory. I do not know how the fact 
is : but for 300 miles in Nebraska the lands 
have been ceded I know, and so it is in Kan- 
sas, as my friend from Kansas (Mr. Ross) 
informs me." General Thayer argued that 
these Indians should not be sent to Indian ter- 
ritory, but should be kept north where they 
came from and in their present homes. He 
said that depredations had commenced from 
the verv first on ceded lands. The Pawnees, 



Winnebagos, and even the Santee Sioux, a 
band which was engaged in the Alinnesota 
massacre, were now located on reservations in 
northeast Nebraska and were all friendly. He 
did not object to the Sioux Indians being set- 
tled on the northern border of Nebraska, but 
insisted that the policy of moving them on was 
not practicable ; they must be settled some- 
where, and there should be complete separa- 
tion. He said that the Indians were hostile 
to the building of the Union Pacific railway 
because it divided their buffalo range. 

The Republican of August 21, 1867, reports 
that Governor Butler is still in the vicinity of 
the recent outbreak, organizing a force to 
repel the invaders. Beatrice and Big Sandy 
seem to be the only parts yet menaced. The 
same paper contains a dispatch from Governor 
David Butler to his secretary, Charles H. Gere, 
Omaha, dated Big Sandy, August 11, 1867, as 
follows : "Send 100 stand arms, 50 rounds 
cartridges to each, to D. C. Jenkins, Brown- 
ville. Please send immediately. The Indians 
are on the war path." The same paper reports 
that three men were killed in the vicinity of 
Big Sandy on the 8th of August, thirty-five 
miles west of Beatrice. The Republican of 
September 25, 1867, contains a letter from 
North Platte, dated the 18th inst., saying that 
the peace commissioners, and the Indian chiefs, 
Standing Elk, Swift Bear, Pawnee Killer, 
Spotted Tail, Man that Walks Under the 
Ground, and Big Mouth are there for nego- 
tiations. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

Territorial Products 



TJUTH Bryant and Parker discerned 
-■-' with prophetic eye the potential agri- 
cultural riches of the Nebraska country. After 
passing through northeastern Kansas and 
southeastern Nebraska along the valley 
of the Blue, Bryant remarked that, with the 
exception of the single objection of want of 
timber, "the country appears to be the most 
desirable, in an agricultural point of view, of 
any which I have ever seen. It possesses 
such natural wealth and beauties, that at some 
future day it will be the Eden of America. 
When that epoch arrives, he who is so for- 
tunate as to be then a traveler along this 
route, may stand upon one of the high undu- 
lations, and take in at a single glance, a hun- 
dred, perhaps a thousand villas and cottages, 
with their stately parks, blooming gardens and 
pleasure grounds ; their white walls seen 
through the embowering foliage, and glittering 
in the sunbeams from every hilltop and slope 
of these magnificent plains." Even the cyni- 
cally inclined Kelly's prejudices were melted 
by the charming prospect of the country along 
the two Blue rivers : 

Knolls of gigantic dimensions, covered with 
fine timber in young foliage, being irregularly 
scattered over the plain, which was intersected 
with numbers of streamlets, all tributaries of 
the Little Blue; clumps of trees standing here 
and there in the different angles formed by 
their courses. All it required to complete its 
pastoral charms being the flocks and herds, 
and the neat but unpretending cottage of the 
shepherd peeping from the shady grove. 

But in the dimmer distance of 1835 Parker 
was moved to enthusiastic prophecy at sight of 
the fertile land between the Elkhorn and the 
Platte. "This amazing extent of most fertile 
land will not continue to be the wandering 
ground of a few thousand I?idians, with only 



a very feiv acres under cultivation. . . The 
herds of buffalo which once fattened upon 
these meadows . . . and the deer which 
once cropped the grass have disappeared ; and 
the antelopes have fled away ; and shall soli- 
tude reign here till the end of time? No: 
Here shall be heard the din of business, and 
the church-going bell shall sound far and 
wide." Mr. Parker insists that unless the In- 
dians are brought luider civilization and 
Christianity they will continue to melt away. 
He was not sociologist enough to see that the 
contact and competition with the race that 
should teach them the new faith and bestow 
the new knowledge would hasten rather than 
prevent their extirpation. 

All of the early travelers from the '30s to 
the '50s speak of the heavy rain-storms which 
they encountered all the way from the Mis- 
souri river to Fort Kearney. Their reports 
seem to corroborate the most authentic records 
upon this subject, that there has been no 
change of climate in regard to rainfall since 
those times. 

Though Father DeSniet's spiritual vision 
was all pervasive, yet it did not interfere with 
his material insight which was far keener than 
that of his literary contemporaries ; for this is 
the picture he paints of the Plains of 1851 : 

Between the Nebraska and the Wasecha, 
or Vermillion, for about four hundred miles, 
the forests are vast and beautiful, often inter- 
sected by rich prairies of turf and verdure. 
This contrast delights the traveler. Every 
time he enters the desert he cannot refrain 
from admiring this succession of forests and 
plains, this series of hills which encircle them 
and present such a variety of forms — here 
and there covered with trees and underwood 
of a thousand kinds, sometimes rising, bold, 
rugged cliffs, to the height of one or two bun- 



TERRITORIAL PRODUCTS 



421 



dred feet, and then noble plains, ascending 
gradually, with scattered groves, so pleasing to 
the sight that Art seems to have crowned the 
work of Nature. We wonder that we do not 
see farms, barns and fences. . . Nature 
seems to have lavished its gifts on this region; 
and without being a prophet, I can predict a 
future far unlike the past for this desert. 
. . . These plains, naturally so rich and 
verdant, seem to invite the husbandman to 
run the furrow, and promise an ample reward 
to the slightest toil. Heavy forests await the 
woodman — and rocks the stone-cutter. . . 
Broad farms, with orchards and vineyards 
and alive with, domestic animals and poultry, 
will cover these desert plains, to provide for 
thickconiing cities, which will rise as if by 
enchantment, with dome and tower, church 
and college, school and house, hospital and 
asylum. I speak here principally of the region 
from the mouth of the river Kansas to that 
of the Niobrarah or Eau qui coule, and ex- 
tending beyond the Black Hills, continuing 
along their crest to the Rocky mountains, 
thence it follows southwardly the already ex- 
isting limits of Utah, New Mexico, and Texas. 
This region contains several large rivers, 
. the principal of which are the Platte, 
the two rivers just named, and the head-wa- 
ters of the Arkansas, Osage, and Red. . . 
This great territory will hold an immense 
population, destined to form several great and 
flourishing states. 

It has already been observed that, for rea- 
sons pointed out, the social beginnings of Ne- 
braska were factitious and not a gradual 
growth like the settlement of the eastward 
states ; and for several years after the politi- 
cal organization of the territory the political 
field was cultivated with much greater as- 
siduity than any other. Four years after the 
organization of the territory, we are told. 

Scarcely any produce enough to support 
themselves. Plundreds of acres of land, en- 
tered and owned by men who live among us, 
are allowed to lie idle doing no more good 
to the community than when the land was 
owned by the native savages. . . We have 
now a home demand larger by far than we 
can possibly supply, with ready sale, good 
prices, and prompt pay, for everything we 
can produce. 

The further statement is made that the 
federal government had, during that season, 
shipped vast quantities of farm products from 



the east through Otoe county "to the different 
military stations west of here." 

In 1858 it was said that the development of 
farming had taken place chiefly in the last year 
and almost wholly in the last two years. 
"Previous to the last season, farmers, or those 
disposed to cultivate the soil, were engaged, in 
common with other classes, in speculating, and 
did not consider the tilling of the soil suffi- 
ciently remunerative." But "hard times came 
on, speculation ceased, dealing in fancy town 
shares and 'city' property suddenly fell below 
par to a ruinously poor business, and the con- 
sequence was that the chief, first, and best 
employment in Nebraska — agriculture — 
was resorted to, with some as a necessity, with 
others because it would pay better than any 
other kind of business." 

In May. 1859, Pollard & Sheldon, of the 
Weeping Water Falls flouring mill, were de- 
livering sacks of meal at Wyoming for ship- 
ment below ; and the encouraged editor re- 
marks that, "This begins to look like 'living 
at home and boarding at the same place.' Two 
3'ears ago the citizens of this county were de- 
pendent upon the supplies furnished us via 
the Missouri river ; but now scarcely a boat 
departs but it is loaded to the guards with the 
surplus produce of the country seeking a 
market in the south and east." The Ne^cs ob- 
serves that crops in Nebraska never looked 
better than at this season, and in all probabil- 
ity there would be an immense surplus of 
corn ; also that there would be a large surplus 
of vegetables and all kinds of grain except 
wheat in the territory that fall. The same 
paper remarks that "there have never been in- 
jurious frosts here." 

Three years later an important change in 
the prosecution of the chief, or almost sole 
legitimate industry of Nebraska is noted : 

Until within the past year we as a territory 
were non-producers. We were not raising 
our own supplies, and many of our citizens 
were indebted to eastern parties for loans con- 
tracted during the period of speculation, on 
which they were paying exorbitant rates of 
interest ; and what little money we had in the 
territory continued steadily to flow to other 
parts in exchange for the necessary articles 
of consumption. Now behold the change ! 



422 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



We are exporting largely of our native pro- 
ducts and the surplus so largely exceeds our 
consumption, or imports, that for the first 
time in four years, exchange is in our favor. 
The supply of exchange on New York and the 
east, together with that made by the shijjments 
of gold dust, is continually exceeding the de- 
mand, and the result is that in (Jmaha and 
Nebraska City, the princij)al places where 
gold dust is negotiated and sold, exchange, 
though nominally selling at one-half premium, 
is in reality a drug on the market. Money is 
flowing into the territory from all directions. 

Indian corn was established as the principal 
Nebraska crop long before white occupation. 








Lawson Sheldon 
Prominent resident of Cass county 

Coronado found the Indians cultivating this 
staple cereal in 1541. The Rev. Samuel Allis, 
the missionary, observes that the Pawnee In- 
dians in Neljraska, with whom he dwelt in 
1835, had a good corn crop, "and as they had 
])lenty to eat they enjoyed it hugely." Major 
Long found the Pawnees in their villages 
about the Loup cultivating corn with success. 
"Fool Robe, their chief, excused himself from 
feasting us, saying his squaws were all absent 
at the corn fields." 

King corn stiniul;ited the imagination of the 
earliest settlers; and we find a local chronicler, 



after noting the first load of corn for the sea- 
son for sale on the streets at 85 cents — "price 
has usually been $2.00" — exulting in the 
thought that supremacy in corn had gone suc- 
cessively from Ohio, to Indiana, to Illinois, to 
Missouri and to Iowa, and "now NEBRAS- 
KA is about to be crowned the conqueror of 
the conquerors." We are told that in 1860 
corn, so far, was the staple production, but 
the experience of last season dispelled the illu- 
sion that the climate was not suited to wheat. 

Coronado in his letter to the king of Spain 
states that he found in the Quivera country 
"prunes (plums) like those of Spain and nuts 
and very good sweet grapes and mulberries." 
Wild grapes are mentioned by the earliest set- 
tlers as growing in the utmost profusion, and 
their enthusiastic expressions about the abun- 
dance of this fruit remind one of those of the 
children of Israel who had gone to spy out 
the unknown Canaan : "Now the time was 
the time of the first ripe grapes . . . and 
they came unto the brook of Eschol and cut 
down from thence a branch with one cluster 
of grapes and they bare it between two upon a 
stalT." 

The editor of the Arroz^' possessed to a re- 
markable degree that quality of imagination 
which imderlies appreciation, and the first 
number of this paper tells us that "there is 
the greatest profusion of wild fruits in the 
territory that we have ever seen in any coun- 
try," and then, in its own spelling, as free from 
the bonds of conventional usage as the society 
of the plains on which it is encamped, goes on 
to mention them: "Plums, grapes, goos- 
berries, strawberries, rhaspberries, currents, 
cherries, haws and hackberries. Many other 
minor varieties may be found in almost every 
locality, and exceedingly fine and large." 

The press continues to make frequent men- 
tion of the abundance of wild fruits, which no 
doubt were valued as an important part of the 
food supply. As late as August 13, 1859, it 
was said that "there are quantities of wild 
grapes growing along the bottoms of the Mis- 
souri in this vicinity, and on the island op- 
jwsite. Stacks of them are being gathered and 
pressed into wine, jell and a hundred other 
useful domestic purposes. Large quantities 



TERRITORIAL PRODUCTS 



423 



are being used at the hotels in drinkables, add- 
ing great flavor and richness to the liquid. 
The grape is of a superior quality, surpassing 
everything we have ever seen." 

In 1862 one of these local historians breaks 
out in an almost rapturous, but not overdone 
description of the richness of the Nemaha val- 
leys : 

The Big Aluddy across the southwest cor- 
ner of Nemaha county is also well timbered. 
The forest trees are generally burr oak, wal- 
nut, hackberry, ash, red and white elm, maple 
and mulberry. The wild plum — a rich fruit 
— grows everywhere in extensive thickets. 
Wild cherries are interspersed throughout all 
the groves. The woods abound with a sort of 
grape which has been proven by experiment 
to need but little cultivation to make it a use- 
ful luxury. Wild gooseberry bushes, bearing 
a fruit quite as large as the garden berry and 
much more palatable are very plentiful. 
Ras])berries fill the underbrush : and in every 
glade or corner of the prairies, where they are 
protected from the annual fires, strawberries 
bud, flower, and waste their luscious fruit. 
Game is yet plentiful. . Wild turkeys, prairie 
fowl, curlew, geese, ducks, sand hill cranes, 
pigeons, etc., are found in sufficient numbers 
to reward the chase of the laziest sportsman. 
Coyotes, wolf, catamount, wild cat, badger, 
otter, musk rat, mink, coon, squirrel, rabbit 
and beaver skins can be had at all times for 
the labor of shooting or trapping. Deer, elk 
and antelope are still within reasonable range 
of the Missouri river settlements. The buf- 
falo have been driven back from the frontier, 
although a trip of two or three days in the 
spring or fall to the plains beyond the Big 
Blue will bring the hunter to vast herds of 
them, pursuing their semi-annual migrations. 
Rattlesnakes, copperheads, bull-snakes, go- 
phers and ground-squirrels in great numbers 
make some of the annoyances to which the 
settler is subjected. 

As we follow the editor of the Arroiv, of 
excellent fancy, to the farthest frontier, at 
Wood River Center, we find him reveling in 
the same appreciation of the horticultural 
bounties of nature : "Rich, brown clusters of 
grapes — large, juicy and sweet, tho' in a state 
of nature. Of plums we never saw so large, 
or quality better, growing wild, and they seem 
to be abundant, we enjoyed them to a 'ful- 
ness." " It is noted in the same paragraph 
that "trees cut by beaver and numerous paths. 



slides, and dams are found along Wood 
river." 

An item in the Hiintsinan's Bclio is of in- 
terest because it advises us of the early re- 
sponse of Nebraska soil to the hand of the 
cultivator and of the whereabouts of a pioneer 
who was afterward to become a prominent citi- 
zen and governor of the state. The editor re- 
ports that he has received a present of the 
largest and finest watermelon of the season 
from J. E. Boyd who has "a most delightful 
and eligible farm seven miles above — com- 
fortable buildings, several hundred acres 
fenced and near 200 in crops, a pleasant and 
an agreeable lady and a pretty baby." 

The first legislative committee on territo- 
rial library was not lacking in imagination, 
either, judging by its report made through 
Councilman Samuel E. Rogers, on that part 
of the governor's message which related to 
minerals, thus : 

For heavy forest we do find a complete 
equivalent in the vast coal beds which lie em- 
bosomed in our beautiful territory. Enough 
has been ascertained already by the observa- 
tion and researches of the squatter citizen to 
satisfy the incredulous that we have coal 
enough for empires and to spare. This min- 
eral wealth has presented itself in numerous 
openings throughout the whole extent of the 
valley of the Nemaha rivers, and on either 
side of the Platte from its mouth to its far 
distant source. There is no portion of our 
territory yet explored by the settler which 
does not possess ample quarries of choice and 
durable building rock, from many of which 
samples have been taken admitting a polish 
approaching that of marble. We have also 
had credible information from residents of 
Burt county that extensive quarries of red 
marble have been found in that county which 
admits of a beautiful polish. Red sand-stone 
also exists in the same vicinity which is 
worked from the quarry with great facility, 
and which on coming in contact with the at- 
mosphere becomes so hard as to render it an 
excellent and durable building material. Gran- 
ite is said to exist also in the more northern 
counties. Trappers of intelligence assert that 
large specimens of almost pure copper ore, 
easily obtained, may be procured some seventy 
or eighty miles west of the more northern 
counties. . . Trappers have brought into 
settlements from near this vicinity specimens 
of rock-salt in samples sufficiently large, and 



424 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



of quality pure enough to justify the opinion 
that this great staple may yet be mined in 
ample quantities in our own territor)' without 
being stibjected to freight and charges incur- 
red in carrying this commodity from Turk's 
island. 

This quotation is not from the Arabian 
Nights but from the journal of the first ter- 
ritorial council (p. 60). 

The source of the early lumber supply is 
pointed out in an item in the Nebraska Ad- 
vertiser of February 26, 1857, which speaks 
enthusiastically of the fact that the sawmill at 
Brownville had "thawed out" and had begun 
to cut lumber faster than any other mill in 
Nebraska. The Advertiser advises the pro- 
prietors — Noel, Lake, and Emerson — that 
they will have to run day and night to supply 
the demand for lumber. Not less than fifty 
buildings were to be erected at Brownville 
during the ensuing season. The Nebraska 
City News notes that Lowne's shingle factory 
is turning out 40,000 excellent Cottonwood 
shingles a week. A great deal of attention 
was given to gold mining by the settlers of 
present Nebraska during the times of feverish 
excitement over the discoveries of that metal 
in the neighborhood of Denver. The Omaha 
Republican notes that Kountze Brothers, 
bankers of Omaha, had bought from the gold 
mines since January 1, 1860, gold dust to the 
amount of $4,850, and to the amount of $19,- 
000 during the year. 

The Omaha N ebraskian reports that, not- 
withstanding the dry season, wheat, rye, oats, 
and Ijarlev are abundantly fine and heavy and 
seem to test the capacity of the soil for cereals. 
The Nebraskian was of the opinion that the 
Wood ri\cr country was the best wheat-grow- 
ing region in Nebraska and that that cereal 
would be a great staple there. The Nebraska 
City Ncius advises farmers to sow large quan- 
tities of wheat, as it was the best paying crop 
last season. There was to be a large steam 
mill built at Nebraska City so that farmers 
would no longer be annoyed and inconve- 
nienced in getting their grists ground. 

As early as August 14, 1863, the Nebraskian 
announces that the crop of both winter and 
spring wheat was very fine that year and 



strongly urges its increased cultivation : so 
that the general cultivation of this cereal which 
has been in actual practice only during the 
last few years, is a recrudescence of this 
early theory and practice rather than an orig- 
inal enterprise. The Omaha Republican an- 
nounces that Nebraska has become a wheat- 
exporting state with St. Louis the principal 
market. Nebraska wheat commanded a higher 
price by ten cents a bushel in St. Louis than 
the same grain from any other part of the 
country. The Republican confidently prophe- 
sies that Nebraska is destined to be a great 
wheat-growing region ; and the prophecy seems 
to be in process of fulfilment at the present 
time. 

The Nebraska City A^ezvs copies from the 
first number of the Democrat of Dakota City 
an account of great crops of corn raised in the 
past year in Dakota, Dixon, and Cedar coun- 
ties. There were over 200 improved farms in 
Dakota county at that time and 3,000 acres of 
corn. The yield generally ran up to 70. 80, 
90, and 100 bushels an acre. For a climax it 
was noted that Alex MacCready — who after- 
ward became well known as a leader of the 
Greenback party and editor of a greenback 
newspaper — raised 140 bushels an acre. The 
chronicler doubtless assumed that due allow- 
ance would be made for inflation in these 
figures. Dixon county at that time was rais- 
ing much wheat which was ground at the 
Ponca mills. The Nebraskian of August 7, 
1863, rejoices that that season was one of 
great crops all round, including winter and 
spring wheat. Corn averaged from 80 to 100 
bushels an acre. The faithful chroniclers of 
the early press show us that there were occa- 
sional crop failures in those days on account 
of drouth, just as in these later years. For 
example, the Advertiser of July 12, 1860, notes 
that, owing to drouth the early part of the 
season, the straw of wheat was short. Init the 
head and grain were full, large, and plump. 
The same paper notes that "owing to the ex- 
tensive drouth the present season crops will 
fall very short of what they would have been 
ordinarily. Wheat fair, sod corn and po- 
tatoes a failure, com well worked, fair." The 
Nervs of August 7. 1867. states that there were 



TERRITORIAL PRODUCTS 



425 



fine crops of wheat and oats in that county 
that year — over 10,000 acres of wheat with 
an average of 26 bushels an acre. 

At the time of the organization of the terri- 
tory there was undoubtedly a general impres- 
sion that those parts west of a distance of 
forty or fifty miles from the Missouri river 
were not fit for successful cultivation, and 
there was a great deal of skepticism as to 
whether trees or useful crops would grow 
successfully on the uplands even within the 
narrow strip in question. 

But the Hiiiitsuian's Echo of April 25, 1861, 
overcomes the presumption and prophecy of 
the wiseacres by the results of actual expe- 
rience when it says of the Wood river valley 
that, "corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley, potatoes, 
and all sorts of vegetables and roots grow to 
perfection. For melons and other vines the 
fruit is almost spontaneous ; we never saw so 
sweet grown." The timber consisted of Cot- 
tonwood, elm, ash, hackberry, box-elder, and 
oak : and eighteen miles below there was a 
sawmill, lumber being $30 per thousand feet. 
There was a "one horse" grist mill at \\'ood 
River Center. The vast emigration going up 
the valley at that time demanded far more of 
the products of the region than the supply, 
and corn brought from $1.25 to $2.50 per 
bushel ; flour, $5 to $7 per hundred ; potatoes, 
$2 per bushel ; butter, 25 cents a pound, and 
eggs 25 cents a dozen. "We have growing 
apples, peaches, English gooseberries, cur- 
rants, raspberries and strawberries set out 
last year. They stood the winter well and 
look fine." In wild fruits there was abun- 
dance of the finest of plums, grapes, goose- 
berries, black currants, choke-cherries, and 
sand-cherries. In every issue during the two 
summers of the life of the Echo the far-seeing 
editor prophesied as to the future agricultural 
greatness of the Wood river valley. 

The hope, courage, and foresight of the 
leaders of the little band of venturesome pio- 
neers soon began to make themselves felt, and 
we find Governor Black in his optimistic "pro- 
motion" message of 1859 urging settlers to 
plant trees. The alert George Francis Train 
emphasizes the duty of tree planting in the 
Omaha Herald, and in the fall of 1867 the 



Nebraska City Nczi's and the Omaha Herald 
give a great deal of attention to this impor- 
tant topic. The Nebraska Advertiser, while 
under the editorial guidance of R. W. Furnas, 
kept the subject of fruit tree and shrubbery 
planting constantly before its readers. The 
editor of the Herald was so thoroughly alive 
to the importance of tree planting as to abrupt- 
ly set aside his anti-paternalism principles and 
prejudices while he urged the people to pe- 
tition Governor Saunders to call an extra ses- 
sion of the legislature "to lend encouragement 
to some well digested plan." The editor had 
reasons for thinking that the general govern- 
ment might undertake systematic tree planting 
in the western states. The auspicious begin- 
ning in the Nebraska sand-hills justifies, 
though somewhat tardily, the wish, the 
thought, and the guessing of the Herald of 
nearly forty years ago. Citizens of Nebraska 
of the present day need not be told of the 
industry and eloquence with which J- Sterling 
Morton, who was to win national fame in later 
years as the author of Arbor Day, and Dr. 
George L. Miller, through the columns of the 
Omaha Herald, of which he was editor, and 
by his own vigorous example, championed and 
promoted the cause of tree planting in Ne- 
braska. To these prominent pioneers, as well 
as many not so well known, the present com- 
monwealth owes an incalculable debt for won- 
derful results of their courageous faith and 
foresight in beauty and in more material good. 
There was about the same degree of appre- 
hension felt by the early pioneers in regard to 
the invasion of grasshoppers as to the recur- 
rence of drouth. The grasshopper scourge, 
while always menacing and much of the time 
destructive, up to the early '70s, yet proved 
to be a temporary incident of the wildness and 
uncultivated condition of the Plains. In 1857 
the Advertiser complains that "grasshoppers 
have been mowing the prairie farms for some 
time." The Hiintsinan's Echo "regrets to 
learn that clouds of grasshoppers migrating 
south have for several days been doing con- 
siderable damage at some of the ranches 
above." The Omaha Republican of June 16, 
1865, notes the presence of myriads of yoUng 
grasshoppers in the northern counties making 



426 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



sad havoc with the crops. "That region has 
suffered from this scourge several times be- 
fore, and if the ravages this year are as great 
as they were last it is enough to depopulate 
the country." In 1866 the Plattsmouth Herald 
states that grasshoppers are making sad havoc 
of vegetation in Salt Creek and Weeping 
Water regions. The Nebraska City Nezvs 
says : "From almost every quarter of the 
country we hear complaints of the ravages of 
grasshoppers. Fields of corn, wheat, oats, 
etc., are being swept away in a single day. The 
gardens in the city have suffered terribly from 
their onslaught." By July 1st the Nezvs 




Gr.'vSshoi'I'KR Scene, Plattsmouth. Nebr.\sk.\, 1874 

breaks out in rejoicing because, "Northward 
the grasshoppers take their course. Not one 
remains to tell the ravages done by them. The 
chickens since their departure are dying of 
starvation. They refuse to eat anything but 
fresh grasshoppers." The same paper ad- 
vises settlers to let the grass on the prairies 
remain imtil spring and then burn it and 
40,000 millions of young grasshoppers. 

Prospecting for coal was carried on in the 
South Platte section in 1867 with a good deal 
of hope if not enthusiasm. The Omaha Her- 
ald of March 22d congratulates J. Sterling 
]\Iorton on his pluck and perseverance in solv- 



ing the coal question. "A considerable vein 
is already producing coal of as pure and un- 
adulterated a quality as Pennsylvania ever 
j4aced upon the markets of the world." The 
Home Coal Mining Company of Neljraska 
City, at this time had a shaft down 100 feet 
on Mr. Morton's farm, and the A'ezi's of 
March 27th says, "Doubters ma\' sneer, but 
the result will show that pluck, faith, and 
works are always rewarded with success." Un- 
fortunately these optimistic coal miners were 
counting more upon a very vulnerable, though 
venerable maxim than upon scientific data. 
The basis of the Herald's hopes were "several 
large blocks" of this coal "brought from Mor- 
ton's mines." The qualities which failed of 
success in the quest for coal, however, achieved 
it on the same ground by adaptation to na- 
ture's intention and provision. The Ncn^'s of 
October 28, 1867, notes that the editor, J- 
Sterling Morton, raised that year fifty bushels 
of apples on ,?00 trees. As earlv as Septem- 
ber 19, 1861, the Advertiser pins its faith to 
jieaches : "They have done well in this sec- 
tion of Nebraska the present season. There 
need no longer be any doubt as to fruit of al- 
most all kinds being raised successfully. This 
is the first season that i.ieach trees have borne 
to any extent, but this year they have 'literally 
broke down' where they have grown on the 
ujilands. The highest and most exposed posi- 
tions hereabouts have produced the most 
abundant crops." It was nearly forty years 
later that exjjeriments in peach raising in 
southern Nebraska were carried on with suf- 
ficient thoroughness to justify the faith of Mr. 
Furnas, the editor of the Advertiser. 

The production of salt was the object of 
more faith, hope, and enthusiasm than that 
of coal, and proved equally illusive ; though in 
the earlier days, before means of transporta- 
tion had been established, the salt springs near 
the site of the present city of Lincoln were of 
great practical benefit. They attracted the 
attention and su])j)lied the wants of the earliest 
settlers, and as late as 1867 ])robably had more 
influence in estalilishing the capital of the 
state in their neighborhood than any other 
legitimate consideration. We find merchants 
of Nebraska City advertising in the Neics of 



TERRITORIAL PRODUCTS 



427 



April 21, 1860, that they had for sale "the 
best and finest article of table salt, gathered 
from the banks of Salt creek, forty miles di- 
rectly west of this city. Nature is the only 
evaporator used in the manufacture of this 
salt." The Neivs of April 2Sth relates that a 
sample of some thirty bushels of the very 
neatest and best of table salt had been brought 
for its inspection, and it had been "scraped up 
from the banks of Salt creek with a shovel. 
The probability is that the salt, as well as 
gold, silver, and coal mines of Nebraska are 
inexhaustible." The News of May 25, 1861, 
notes that a train of three wagons passed 
through Nebraska City to engage in the manu- 
facture of salt at the springs fifty miles west. 
The same paper says that, "A gentleman the 
other day brought in from Salt creek 1800 
pounds of as fine salt as we have ever seen. 
It met with ready sale. There is a mine of 
wealth out there." The Nezcs of September 14, 
1861, reports that there are "four salt basins 
of a thousand acres each — except one small 
one — filled with small springs that during the 
night ooze out their briny waters and cover 
the plateaus with a thick scum of salt. They 
ebb and flow like the tides of the ocean, dur- 
ing the night time covering the entire surface 
to the extent of thousands of acres and to a 
depth of several inches. By nine o'clock of 
an ordinarily dry day, with sunshine, the 
waters have sunk away, or rather evaporated, 
leaving a crust of salt. There are at present 
ten furnaces." The Advertiser reports that a 
number of persons from Nemaha county and 
Atchison county, Missouri, had been out to 
the salt springs in Saline and Lancaster coun- 
ties manufacturing salt for winter use. "They 
all returned with their wagons filled with the 
very best quality of salt. The salt manufac- 
tured at these springs is precisely the same as 
we get in small sacks called table salt. Here- 
after there will be but little salt brought up 
the river for this region of the country." The 
Nczcs of June 28, 1862, in a description of 
Salt creek valley, says that along this valley 
and near some of its tributaries the saline de- 
posits and springs are found, the first of them 
in township 8, and thence to township 12 they 
are of frequent occurrence. The more 



southerly are not of very great value. In 
township 10 of ranges 6 and 7 are found the 
great springs, the water of which is of suffi- 
cient strength and supply to make the manufac- 
ture profitable. The News of June 7, 1862, 
notes that the surveyor general of Kansas and 
Nebraska "is about to visit and reexamine the 
saline lands lying west of this city in Calhoun 
county." 

By virtue of the act of Congress of March 
2, 1867, in that year Prof. F. V. Hayden made 
a geological survey of the state, and in his 
report to the secretary of the interior he stated 
that there was a great salt basin near the 
town of Lancaster, covering 400 acres, another 
of 200 acres between Oak creek and Salt creek 
and a third of like extent, called Kenosha 
basin, on the Little Salt, besides numerous 
small basins on Middle creek. The largest 
spring was on Salt creek, from which four 
gallons of salt water a minute flowed in a 
single stream out of sand rock. "From June 
to November, 1866, two companies were oper- 
ating in these basins, producing in that time 
about sixty thousand pounds of salt." 

The News of March 20, 1867, quotes the 
prediction of the Omaha Herald that, "What 
the Saline springs have been to New York, the 
Lancaster salt springs are certain to be to Ne- 
braska. . . Salt can be manufactured by 
solar evaporation at Lancaster and laid down 
upon the Union Pacific road at a cost of not 
more than eight cents per bushel. It now 
brings in this market $1.50 per bushel." The 
Herald of March 22, 1867, insists that, "The 
waters of Lancaster contain more of the great 
staple than the Syracuse water by actual meas- 
urement" ; and it insists that they can be 
evaporated by the solar method at a cost of 
eight cents a bushel. A vexatious question 
arose as to whether these salt springs were 
saline lands under the law and so reserved 
from private sale. The report of the com- 
missioner of the general land office for 1861 
states that the notes of the' deputy surveyor 
in 1857 show that there was a small establish- 
ment for boiling the water for salt making on 
section 22, township 10, in that year; and 
that he had "discovered valuable salt springs 
along the bed of the creek and in sections 22, 



428 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



23, 34, and Z7 ." The secretary of the inte- 
rior had advised him that the delegate (pre- 
sumably the delegate to Congress, Mr. Daily) 
had informed him that there was "good reason 
to believe that large quantities of saline lands 
have been reported as ordinary lands by fraud- 
ulent collusion between the surveyors and 
speculators." On the 12th of September, 
1859, John W. Prey located military land war- 
rants on 320 acres of these lands, which in- 
cluded the best of the springs, in sections 21 
and 22, township 10 north of range 6 east, and 
the certificates were issued by Andrew Hop- 
kins, register of the land office at Nebraska 
City. Mr. Prey had obtained these warrants 
from J. S. Morton, who held them as agent 
for eastern owners. As they were worth 
their face for land entry but were below par 
in the market, there might be mutual advan- 
tage in this arrangement. Patents for these 
lands were sent to the land office, but before 
they were delivered the question whether the 
lands were open to private entry arose, and 
the patents were withheld by the order of the 
commissioner of the general land office. In 
the following November Prey made warranty 
deeds of an undivided third interest in these 
lands to Andrew Hopkins, Charles A. Man- 
ners, and J. Sterling Morton, respectively, the 
consideration recited in each deed being $166. 
The commissioner of the land oflice held that 
these lands were reserved as saline lands under 
the act of July 22, 1854. The enabling act of 
1864 granted to the state of Nebraska, when 
it should be admitted into the Union, "all salt 
springs in said state not exceeding twelve in 
number, with six sections of land adjoining, 
to be selected by the governor within one year 
after the admission of the state." Governor 
Butler made a selection of most of the lands 
under this act in June, 1867. In his message 
to the legislature which convened January 7, 
1869, Governor Butler made an enthusiastic 
statement of his belief in the great commercial 
value of the salt basin and said that for the 
purpose of promoting the early development 
of the salt industry he had leased one section 
of the salt lands claimed by the state to Anson 
C. Tichenor, who in turn assigned a half in- 
terest in the lease to the Nebraska Salt Com- 



pany of Chicago ; but this company was neg- 
lecting or refusing to develop the industry. 
On the 15th of February, 1869, the legislature 
declared this lease void, and on the same date 
a part of the reserve — the north half, and 
the north half of the south half of section 21, 
township 10 — was leased by the governor to 
Anson C. Tichenor and Jesse T. Green for a 
term of twenty years. For the purpose of 
testing the legal rights of the purchasers of 
the lands under Prey's entry, as against the 
state and its lessees, on the 24th of December, 
1870, J. Sterling Morton, with several assist- 
ants, including Edward P. Roggen, since well 
known as a politician and secretary of the 
state of Nebraska, took possession of a build- 
ing upon the leased lands which had been 
erected by the lessees for their use while 
carrying on the work of salt production; but 
the premises were not occupied at this time. 
Thereupon, under the direction of James E. 
Philpott, attorney for the lessees, Morton and 
Roggen were arrested on the charge of steal- 
ing firewood which was piled up at the build- 
ing they had appropriated to their use. The 
alleged trespassers were brought before John 
H. Ames, then justice of the peace, since then 
a commissioner of the supreme court of Ne- 
braska, and Seth Robinson, attorney-general 
of the state, appeared to prosecute them. On 
Morton's agreement to desist from any further 
attempt to obtain possession of the disputed 
lands until the question of title should be legal- 
ly settled, the criminal (iroceedings were 
stopped at this stage. 

(Jn the 7th of January, 1871, Mr. Morton be- 
gan an action in the court of Lancaster county 
against the lessees to recover $20,000 damages 
for malicious prosecution and false imprison- 
ment, and the trial resulted in a verdict for 
the plaintiff for the sum of $100. which was 
paid into court for his benefit. On the same 
day on which this suit was begun Messrs. 
Morton, Manners, and Hopkins brought suit 
in ejectment against the lessees. The case 
was tried in the district court of Lancaster 
county and was decided in favor of the de- 
fendants. On appeal to the supreme court 
Justices Lorenzo Crounse and George B. Lake 
affirmed the decision of the district court. 



TERRITORIAL PRODUCTS 



429 



while Justice Oliver P. Mason dissented in a 
long and vigorous opinion, in which he held 
that the reservation act of 1854 did not apply 
to the lands in question. The plaintiffs then 
carried the case to the Supreme Court of the 
United States, where it was contested on their 
part by such eminent counsel as Jeremiah S. 
Black, Montgomery Blair, J. H. Hopkins, and 
Eleazer Wakeley ; and by E. Rockwood Hoar 
for the defendants. Judge Wakeley had been 
Mr. Morton's attorney from the inception of 
the case. The Supreme Court also decided 
against the plaintiffs, Judge David Davis writ- 
ing the opinion, in which he held that the lands 
in question had been reserved as saline lands 
by the act of Congress, and that the patents — 
or right to them — on which the plaintiffs re- 
lied for their title were void from the begin- 
ning. The opinion recites that, "It appears 
by the record that on the survey of the Ne- 
braska country the salines in question were 
noted on the field books, but those notes were 
not transmitted to the register's general plats, 
and it is argued that the failure to do this gave 
a right of entry." But the court held that the 
language of the statute was sweeping. "The 
executive officers had no authority to issue a 
patent for the lands in controversy, because 
they were not subject to entry having been 
previously reserved." It appears that before 
Prey located these lands with his military 
warrants the President of the United States 
had offered them for sale, and there being no 
bidders they were thus, so far as this record 
appeared, left open to private filing or entry. 
An article in the Nebraska City News of 
January 11, 1862 — A. F. Harvey editor of 
the paper at this time — throws light on the 
political contention which arose out of the 
filing on the lands : 

The meddling propensities of Wm. H. Tay- 
lor, member of the legislature, candidate for 
congress, etc., have induced him to attempt to 
procure the cancellation of certain entries of 
land in Lancaster comity, supposed to embrace 
the famous salt springs. The Omaha Repub- 
lican approvingly pats William on the back for 
sticking his nose into what was none of his 
business, and points a finger, crying "fraud" 
at Hon. T- Sterling Morton, Gov. Black, An- 
drew Hopkins esq., and the late Gen. Cal- 



houn, because they happen to be owners of 
portions of said lands. 

As for the fraud in the entry of the said 
lands, neither E. B. Taylor, nor the immacu- 
late Wm. H., can truthfully point to any. We 
have before stated, and repeat, at the time the 
surveys were ordered, the department had no 
information of the supposed existence of salt 
springs in Nebraska, and consequently the sur- 
veyors were not instructed. And, at the time 
the surveys were made the country was so 
flooded with water, that it was impossible to 
define any portion of it as saline lands, and 
the deputies could not carry out even the gen- 
eral instruction of the manual. The surveyor 
general, and the department of the interior 
never had, and under the circumstances, could 
not have, any official knowledge of the exist- 
ence of the saline lands. When, therefore, 
after the sales of 1859, the unsold lands be- 
came subject to private entry, these lands like 
others, were only known as common lands ; 
and if Mr. John W. Prey knew the "numbers" 
of them, and having the means to pay for 
them, did buy them and "put money in his 
purse" by disposing of them afterwards, he did 
only what any other man was entitled to do ; 
what Wm. H. Taylor might and would also 
have done had he been sharp enough. 

The fact that certain distinguished demo- 
crats — Messrs. Morton, Black, and Hopkins 
— were the purchasers from Mr. Prey of the 
most valuable of the salt lands seems to be the 
only reason that Taylor has had, in attempt- 
ing to procure the cancellation of the entries. 
Envy and jealousy are prominent character- 
istics of the gentleman, and he has taken the 
opportunity to display them in the most paltry 
form. But that he was blinded by these pas- 
sions he could have let well enough alone, 
knowing as he certainly must, if he has a soli- 
tary particle of common sense that the springs 
in the hands of private individuals, who have 
been preparing to invest considerable capital 
in working them, would be vastly more pro- 
ductive and of much larger benefit to the ter- 
ritory than they can be, by any possible means, 
when under the direction of government 
agents. The whole cancelling affair is one 
outrageous humbug, got up, and carried orl 
through spite, and the most infinitesimal 
meanness. 

In pursuance of "an act to provide for the 
sale and leasing of the Saline lands and the 
development of the Saline interests of the 
state of Nebraska," passed by the legislature 
of 1885, a contract was made with M. C. Bul- 
lock of Chicago, December 22d of that year. 



430 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



for sinking a well to the depth of 2,000 feet 
for a consideration of $10,125. The plant was 
set by April 7, 1886, and actual work was 
begun on the 3d of May and continued to the 
last of August, 1887. At a depth of 600 feet 
flowing water was reached, as in the Cahn and 
Evans well. "This water is some different 
from that obtained at the government square. 
Both flows were found in limestone, the one 
at the square at 560 feet.'' The work under 
the first contract ceased at 2,008 feet. "No 
brine of sufficient strength to warrant the 
manufacture of salt" having been found, a 
supplementary contract was made to go down 
400 feet further. The work stopped at a 
depth of 2.463 feet, "without finding any brine 
or indications of salt." The strongest brine 
was found in a stratum of sand and gravel 
between depths of 195 feet and 205 feet, and 
it tested thirty-five degrees. It was the opin- 
ion of B. P. Russell, the geologist in charge of 
the work, that the salt springs upon the basin 
were caused by the gradual rising of this 
water to the surface. At 205 feet the first 
hard rock was found, and the use of the dia- 
mond drill began. A pipe or casing, nine 
inches in diameter, was sunk in the first forty- 
nine feet of the boring, and then a seven-inch 
pipe was inserted in this and sunk below it 
down to the hard rock at 205 feet. From this 
point to a depth of 365 feet a bit cutting a core 
four inches in diameter was used ; then a bit 
cutting a two-inch core was substituted and 
used to a depth of 1 ,025 feet, where a soft stra- 
tum compelled the reaming of this smaller sec- 
tion and the sinking of a four-inch casing 
through the soft material until hard rock was 
again reached at 1,113 feet. The artesian stra- 
tum of water at 600 feet was a weak brine of 
twelve to fourteen degrees, another flowing 
stratum at 828 feet tested from twenty de- 
grees to twenty-two degrees. 

The geologist in charge was loth to give up 
the boring; for while it had "resulted in no 
discoveries of economic importance," yet 
deep boring would give us the only informa- 
tion of the lower formations of the state. 
Negative results of the experiment were of no 
small importance, for "we know now that 
there is nothing thus far to warrant the ex- 



penditure of money by the state for the de- 
velopment of these salt springs." 

The geologist, however, considered it a 
question of freight charges whether it would 
pay to manufacture salt from this brine of 
thirty-five degrees ; it would pay if a price of 
$1.50 a barrel could be guaranteed. In Mich- 
igan it was not profitable to work brine weaker 
than ninety-five degrees, and there the slabs 
and other refuse of the sawmills furnished 
fuel for boiling without cost. 

While this one-time famous salt basin 
yielded no important benefits to mankind, it 
unfortunately influenced the commissioners to 
unwisely plant the capital city in a semi-basin 
in its uncomely and otherwise injurious con- 
tiguity, from which, year by year, it instinct- 
ively shrinks toward the sightliness, salubrity, 
and unsalted water supply of the adjacent but 
originally slighted slopes. 

Corn and cattle, which in later years have 
come to be the imperial products of Nebraska, 
were here in prehistoric times, but the original 
bovine lords of the plains — • the vast herds of 
buftalos — have been succeeded by their finely 
bred cousins with which the farms and 
ranches, into which the plains have been trans- 
formed, are now stocked. Buftalos were very 
numerous up to the time of the advent of the 
Union Pacific railway. 

In 1835 Parker found them numerous about 
the forks of the Platte, but in greater number 
along the north fork. East of the forks he 
saw very few. Parkman in his trip up the 
Platte in 1846 complains that his party had 
been "four days on the Platte and no buffalo." 
Captain Bonneville in 1832 found many at 
the crossing of the Platte ; but at Chimney 
Rock on the north fork Irving tells us that "as 
far as the eye could reach the country seemed 
actually blackened by innumerable herds." No 
language, he says, could convey an adequate 
idea of the vast living mass thus presented to 
the eye. He remarked that the cows and bulls 
generally congregated in separate herds. In 
1846 Bryant found them numerous above the 
forks of the Platte. "We saw large herds 
during our march, some of which approached 
us so nearly that there was danger of their 
mingling with our loose cattle." This traveler 



TERRITORIAL PRODUCTS 



431 



remarks that hunting these animals is ex- 
citing sport, their speed and endurance being 
such that it requires a good horse to overtake 
them or break them down in a fair race, and 
the skill and practice of a good liunter to place 
the ball in fata! parts. He had -known a buf- 
falo to be perforated with twenty balls and yet 
l)e able to maintain a distance between himself 
and his pursuer. "Experienced hunters aim to 
shoot them in the lungs or the spine. From 
the skull the ball rebounds, flattened as from 
a rock or a surface of iron and has usually no 
other effect on the animal than to increase his 
speed. A wound in the spine brings them to 
the ground instantly, and after a wound in the 



found bulTalos in large numbers above the 
confluence of the forks of the Platte, and at 
one time, "it would be no exaggeration to say 
that at least ten thousand here burst on our 
sight in an instant." Major Long also found 
these animals in vast numbers, on his return 
trip, in the neighborhood of the great bend on 
the Arkansas. In the upper Platte country 
he observes that, "We have frequently re- 
marked broad, shallow excavations in the soil 
of the diameter of from five to eight feet, and 
greatest depth from six to eighteen inches. 
These are of rare occurrence near the Mis- 
souri as far as Engineer Cantonment and in 
other districts where the bison is seldom seen 




Photo by A. E. ^Sheldon, Novemhfir, 2903. 

BuFF.\i,o Bull, Two Ykars Old, ..\xd Shorthorn Yearli 
From the Deer Park of John W. 

lungs their career is soon suspended from dif- 
ficulty of breathing. They usually sink, rather 
than fall, tipon their knees and haunches, and 
in that position remain until they are dead, 
rarely rolling upon their backs." Mr. Bryant 
remarks that the flesh of the bull is coarse, 
dry, and tough, but that from a young fat 
heifer or cow — and many of them were very 
fat — "is superior to our best beef." "The 
choice pieces of a fat cow are a strip of flesh 
along each side of the spine from the shoulders 
to the rump ; the tender-loin ; the liver ; the 
heart ; the tongue ; the hump-ribs ; and an in- 
testinal vessel or organ, commonly called by 
hunters the 'marrow-gut' which anatomically 
speaking, is the chylo-poetic duct." 

Major Long, on his expedition in 1819, also 



NG Buffalo Calves, Six Months Old 

Gilbert, near Friend, Nebraska 

at the present day." He observes that these 
"wallows" become more and more numerous 
as he goes west, "offering a considerable im- 
pediment to the traveler who winds his way 
amongst them, and are entirely destitute of 
grass, being covered with a deep dust." Ma- 
jor Long was convinced from observation that 
these wallows were made by the bulls dusting 
themselves by means of their fore feet, and 
that they also served as places for rolling and 
wallowing. Stansbury also found large herds 
of buft'alos west of the forks of the Platte. 
Kelly found these animals in immense num- 
bers in the same region. They were so nu- 
merous that he was driven to confess that the 
stories he had heard about them in this respect 
had not been exaggerated. 



432 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



In 1851 Father De Smet found that "the 
whole space between the Missouri and the 
Yellowstone was covered [with buffalos] as 
far as the eye could reach." He observed 
that a young Indian lured the cows within easy 
gun-shot by imitating the cries of a calf, and 
he called back the simple creatures to their 
death at pleasure by repeating these cries after 
he had killed part of them. After leaving the 
valley of the Platte, "a very sensible change is 
perceptible in the productions of the soil ; in- 
stead of the former robust and vigorous vege- 
tation tlie plains are overgrown with a short, 
crisp grass ; however it is very nourishing and 
eagerly sought by the herds of buiTalo and 
countless wild animals that graze on them." 

It is notable that but few antelopes were 
found on the Nebraska plains by these earlier 
travelers. 

The Omaha Republican — August 8, 1860 
— ■ notes that several hunters had just returited 
from Kearney bringing with them sixteen buf- 
falo calves which they had captured in that 
vicinity. At this time there were plenty of 
buftalos to be found between Plum Creek 
and Lone Tree Station, twenty miles below 
Fort Kearney. A great many were shot by 
travelers every day for mere sport, and the 
stench from the dead bodies was intolerable. 

The editor of the Hiintsiiiaii's Echo not only 
gives us many facts illustrative of the king- 
ship of the buft'alo in central Nebraska, just 
before the influx of white settlers which fol- 
lowed the building of the principal railroads, 
but he dresses up his information in a quaint 
style and tells his story with a charming 
naivete. On the 26th of July, 1860, he tells 
us that, "A few miles above, on the Platte and 
Wood rivers, there are numerous herds. 
Across the river it is said, they are coming 
over from the Republican in innumerable mul- 
titudes, and many, famishing for food or 
water — whilst making for the Platte for a 
drink, are frightened back by emigrants and 
travelers, yet make immediate efforts to gain 
the water, but are again driven back by the re- 
port of fire-arms ; and, we are told, many thus 
perish before they reach the water." 

On the 6th of September of the same year, 
this defiant note resounds from the Echo: 



Buffalo are again continually coming about 
our farm, ranch and office, bothering us by 
eating our vegetables, cropping the grass, bel- 
lowing and kicking up a dust generally ; and 
not being able to stand it longer we sent the 
boys, and Doc F. out to drive them away ; this 
resulted in prostrating the carcasses of two, 
and as dogs and wolves are scarce we have 
had to breakfast, dine and sup from their flesh 
snice our return. We shan't try to stand it, 
and give timely notice that the echo of fire 
arms will be a common thing in this neck of 
woods, unless these fearfully frightful looking 
creatures desist from peaking into our office, 
and dis-composing our printer. 

In another item of the same issue it is 
stated that "at Kearney it seems, they almost 
come into the town. The driver of the 'ex- 
press" from Denver, . . . was compelled to 
bring his team to a walking pace near Kear- 
ney because of the buft'alo thronging the road." 
.\11 through the growing season, evidently, the 
Ijuftalo was the parainount issue. On the 
27th of September the editor continues the 
story : "Our garden of late has not been mo- 
lested by these burly creatures, and well the}- 
have kept their distance for we have had our 
gun greased and borrowed our neighbor's dog. 
There are still great numbers of them across 
the river, and we intend going over in a few 
days 'to make our winter's meat.' " 

Our editor was a clever punster and pro- 
fusely illustrated his fanciful game stories by 
resorting to that artful trick. On the same 
date he tells us of the abundance of other game 
in this phrase : 

Last week, upon two occasions, from our 
office, we witnessed the playful pranks of sev- 
eral antelope, and again a sprightly red fox 
came up near the enclosure, but cut and run 
when Towzer came in sight ; a nice race they 
had and both made time but reynard the best. 
A week ago three large white wolves hove in 
sight, and played around on the prairie at a 
safe distance — the same chaps, probably, that 
made a tender meal from a good-sized calf of 
ours that had been running out. The buft'alo 
have taken our caution and for two weeks 
have not troubled us, or annoyed our printer, 
jnitting a "period" to the sports of the "cliase" 
in this "section" which has no "paralle!" for 
game, .giving our "shooting-stick" a little rest 
and saving our "lead" and "caps" for the next 
"case:" 



CHAPTER XIX 

Territorial PrBss 



THE territorial press was strongl)^ charac- 
terized by ability and virility. The 
manifestation of the latter quality often de- 
generated into excessive roughness and some- 
times even boorishness, but this extravagance 
was a natural result of the lack of restraint 
by the more refined public opinion, which is 
wanting in new and unorganized societies. In 
the year following the organization of the ter- 
ritory, J. Sterling Morton began to impress 
his strong personality and remarkably aggres- 
sive temperament upon the Nezvs of Nebraska 
City, and during a period of about forty years 
that journal bore the marks of his incisive 
style, though he was either actual or nominal 
editor during only a part of that time. In 
1865 Dr. George L. Miller began to pl^y a no 
less conspicuous part in the journalism of the 
territory through the columns of the Omaha 
Herald, of which he was editor for twenty- 
two years. Less conspicuous but yet remark- 
able for ability and aggressive individuality 
were Edward D. Webster, Edward B. Taylor, 
John Taft'e, and Saint A. D. Balcombe, who 
were from time to time editors of the Omaha 
Republican from 1859 on beyond the terri- 
torial period. Robert W. Furnas, editor of 
the Nebraska Advertiser at Brownville from 
1856 to 1861, was an industrious purveyor of 
territorial news, and next to the Nebraska 
City News, the Advertiser exercised the great- 
est political influence of any newspaper in the 
South Platte section. Orsamus H. Irish ex- 
erted a large measure of leadership in the 
republican party through his intermittent con- 
nection with the People's Press of Nebraska 
City from 1858 to 1866. Milton W. Reynolds 
and Augustus F. Harvey ably edited the Ne- 
braska City Nezvs during a period of about 
four vears each under the territorial govern- 



ment, and Bird B. Chapman, John H. Sher- 
man, Theodore H. Robertson, Merrill H. 
Clark, and Milton W. Reynolds successively 
made the Omaha N ebraskian one of the most 
aggressive and wide-awake journals of the 
territorial times. 

The Nebraska Palladium was the first news- 
paper published for Nebraska, as also the first 




Joseph E. Johnson 
First Omaha editor, Arrozv, 18S4 

published in Nebraska. Its first edition was 
printed at St. Mary, Iowa, nearly opposite 
Bellevue, on Saturday, July 15, 1854, though 
the name "Belleview" appeared in the date line 
and it was published as a Nebraska paper. The 
issue of November 15, 1854, was printed at 



434 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Bellevue and its ])ul)lication was continued at 
that place until its suspension with the issue 
of April 11, 1855. During its entire career 
the name of Daniel E. Reed & Co. appeared 
as editors and puhlishers. Thomas Morton 
set the first type for the Palladium printed at 
Belle\ue, and therefore the first type ever set 
for a newspaper or any other purpose in Ne- 
braska. The first column, second page, of 
the first number printed in Nebraska contained 
a full account of that very interesting incident. 

The next item in the pajjer is an excuse for 
delay in the issue that week, which was owing 
to the removal from St. Mary, and the editor 
announces that on this account he will skip 
the next week's issue. While the date on the 
title page is November 15th, that at the head 
of the editorial column is Saturday, November 
18th, which is probably the day when the 
paper was actually printed. Another item an- 
nounces the arrival at Bellevue, on the 13th of 
November, of "J- S. Morton, assistant editor 
of the Detroit Free Press, and lady." 

It is supposed that the Palladium was named 
after the well-known journal of Worcester, 
Mass. The editor, Mr. Reed, was employed 
in the office of the Worcester Palladium as 
printer's devil ; and in the third item of the 
first issue of the Nebraska namesake, in a 
plea to the governor to speedily appoint a 
Thanksgiving day, he says : "We were born 
and educated in New England, and we love 
our institutions, among which, is that of ap- 
pointing an annual THANKSGIVING DAY." 
Mr. Reed came to Bellevue to teach in the 
school of the Indian agency. He seems to 
have been possessed by the New England or 
Puritan temperament and conservatism to such 
a degree as to prevent his adaptation to his 
new western frontier environment and its so- 
ciety of hustlers. He preached excellent 
moral precepts in season and out of season, 
but, considering the character of the field he 
was cultivating, he overworked them. Not- 
withstanding that during the five months of 
the Palladiuui's existence the editor recorded 
in it many facts and ideas directly appertain- 
ing to the beginning of Nebraska, yet it is to 
be regretted that his somewhat excessive and 
morl.)id moralizing doubtless displaced many 



a ])recious item of information which would 
otherwise have been preserved. Bellevue's 
loss of the capital, which blasted the hopes of 
the ambitious and promising first town of the 
commonwealth, discouraged the publishers of 
the first paper and overstrained the moral con- 
fidence, and apparently broke the heart as well 
as the purse of the introspective editor. In 
the issue of April 11, 1855, he makes the fol- 
lowing announcement : 

We have against our own desire, and that 
of many ardent friends, made up our mind to 
suspend the issue of the PALLADIUM until 
a sufficient amount of town pride springs up in 
Bellevue to pay the expense of its publication. 
The expenses of issuing a paper are such that 
a large amount of advertising patronage is 
required for its support ; and as there has not 
been, and is not now, sufficient inducements 
of this kind, we shall wait until there is, or 
until some others are held forth. We hope 
that time will soon appear. We have been as- 
sured by members of the Territorial Council, 
that it was the design to give us the printing 
of one journal of that body, and that it would 
have done it, had we not have advocated the 
local politics and sectional interests of this 
place, with as much warmth as we felt it our 
duty to do in behalf of the capitalists and poli- 
ticians' of this place. The PEOPLE too. had 
the rights of enfranchisement to be contended 
for. We breasted the surging billows of polit- 
ical strife in behalf of these, and they have 
done what they could to sustain us, and they 
have our thanks. 

The Bellevue Association has given us 
twenty-four bundles of printing paper for 
which we have sacrificed pecuniary interests 
far more valuable to us — and which they are 
either unable, or unwilling to make good. This 
company now oppose us, because we refuse to 
descend low enough in their service to oppose 
other interests in this jjlace, as valuable and 
as righteous as their own. When they make 
good what we have lost in their behalf, it will 
be time enough to ask us to do more. 

We are in hopes to be able to re-issue the 
PALLADIL'M in due time, under better aus- 
pices than it has hitherto been. In the interim 
we intend to make the necessary preparation 
for this ])urpose. 

But that more convenient season, when the 
journalistic conscientiousness so much aft'ected 
l)y our editor should have chance for play, 
never came. The editor's successors long 
since learned that journalism is primarily a 



TERRITORIAL PRESS 



435 



private enterprise, like any other commercial 
business, and primarily governed or enchained 
by commercial ethics. 

The second newspaper published for, 
though not in, Nebraska was the Omaha Ar- 
rozv. The first number of this paper was 
dated July 28, 1854, and Joseph E. Johnson 
and John W. Pattison were its editors and 
proprietors. Between this time and Decem- 
ber 29, 1854, the date of the last number, the 
Arroiij was issued somewhat irregularly thir- 
teen times, and all the issues were published 
at Council Bluffs. This Johnson was cer- 
tainly the most versatile and ubiquitous, and 
probably the most unique figure in the history 
of Nebraska journalism. He was a Mormon 
and probably settled at Kanesville — now 
Council Bluffs — for that reason in 1852, 
where he bought the Bugle of A. W. Babbitt, 
who established it in 1850. The Arroiv was 
printed in the office of the Bugle. 

The bubbling poesy of the salutatory all but 
drowns its practical purpose. 

Well, strangers, friends, patrons, and the 
good people generally, wherever in the wide 
world your lot may be cast, and in whatever 
clime this Arrow may reach you, here we are 
upon Nebraska soil, seated upon the stump 
of an acient oak, which serves for an editorial 
chair, and the top of our badly abused beaver 
for a table, we purpose enditing a leader for 
the OMAHA ARROW. An elevated table- 
land surrounds us; the majestic Missouri just 
oft on our left goes sweeping its muddy course 
adown toward the Mexican Gulf, whilst the 
background of the pleasing picture is filled up 
with Iowa's loveliest, richest scenery. Away 
upon our left spreading far away in the dis- 
tance lies one of the loveliest sections of Ne- 
braska. Yon rich, rolling, wide spread and 
beautiful prairie dotted with timber looks 
lovely enough just now, as heaven's free sun- 
light touches off in beauty the lights and 
shades to be literally entitled the Eden land 
of the world, and inspire us with flights of 
fancy upon this antiquated beaver, but it won't 
pay. There sticks our axe in the trunk of an 
old oak whose branches have for years been 
fanned by the breezes that constantly sweeps 
from over the ofttimes flower dotted prairie 
lea, and from which we purpose making a log 
for our cabin and claim. 

Yonder comes two stalwart sons of the for- 
est bedecked in their native finery. They ap- 
proach and stand before us in our "sanctum." 



That dancing feather which adorns his head 
once decked the gaudy plumage of the moun- 
tain eagle. The shades of the rainbow appear 
on their faces. They extend the hand of 
friendship with the emphatic "cuggy how," 
(how are you friend) and knowing our busi- 
ness request us by signs and gesticulations to 
"write" in the Arrow to the great Father that 
the Omahas want what he has promised them, 
and they ask us also to write no bad about 
them. We promise compliance, whilst they 
watch the progress of our pencil back and 
forth over the paper. But let us proceed. 
What shall we say. But little. 




Orsamus H. Irish 

Omalia Indian agent and prominent Nebraska citizen 
of early days 

The ARROW'S target will be the general 
interest and welfare of this highly favored, 
new and beautiful Territory upon which we 
have now for the first established a regular 
weekly paper. Our caste is decidedly "Young 
American" in spirit and politics. We are in 
favor of anything that runs by steam or elec- 
tricity, and the unflinching advocates of the 
"sovereigns of the soil." 

The pioneering squatter and the imcivilized 
red man are our constituents and neighbors. 
The wolves and deers our traveling compan- 
ions, and the wild birds and prairie winds our 
musicians — more highly appreciated than all 
the carefully prepared concerts of earth. Sur- 
rounded by associations, circumstances, and 
scenes like these, what do you e.xpect from us, 



436 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



anxious reader? Don't be disappointed if you 
do not always get that which is intelhgible and 
poHshed fro'ni our pens, (we mean those of the 
East and South, the pioneers understand our 
dialect.) Take therefore what you get with 
a kindly heart and no grumbling. In the sup- 
port of the national Democratic party, the ad- 
vocacy of the Pacific R. R. up the only feasi- 
ble route — the Platte Valley — the progress 
of Nebraska, and the interests of the people 
amongst whom we live, always count the AR- 
ROW flving, hitting and cutting. 

We'll shoulder our axe and bid you adieu 
until next week. 

The article in the next column entitled "A 
Night in our Sanctum" is worth quoting as 
an example of the fertile fancy and imagina- 
tion of the first Omaha editor. 

The Arroiv's valedictory illustrates both the 
vicissitudes of early territorial journalism and 
the characteristic quaintness of the editor's 

style : 

GOOD MORNING 

Well friends, it has been some time since we 
last met, but here we are again. 

Providence, and THE BAD STATE OE 
NAVIGATION OF THE MISSOURI 
RIVER has played smash with our calcula- 
tions and we have not been able to "come up 
to time" in the issue of the arrow, but expect 
before long to make it permanent at Omaha, 
or piece [place] it in hands that will do you 
justice and honor to themselves. In the mean- 
time we send you the "Bugle" in its place 
which contains every thing of stirring interest 
in Nebraska. — Each subscriber will receive 
his just and true nuniber of papers and in 
the end, will lose nothing. 

We are sorry for this unavoidable state 
of thin,o-s We had press and material pur- 
chased but on the account of the exhorbitant 
rates of freight were detained below. 

John W. Pattison, who afterward became 
prominent in Nebraska journalism and poli- 
tics, was associated with Mr. Johnson in the 
editorship of the Arrow. He was a bright 
young man, and probably as an inference from 
that fact many old settlers of that time believe 
that the articles of striking originality which 
appeared in the Arrozv were from his pen. 
But added to the testimony of others we have 
evidence in the pages of the Huntsman's Echo, 
which Mr. Johnson published at Wood River 
Center, in I860, that he was the author of the 



articles in question. The style of writing in 
the Echo is unmistakably the same as that of 
the peculiar articles in the Arrozv. The ready 
imagination, the lively sensibility to the salient 
features of the writer's environment, the happy 
conceits and the quaint simplicity of style 
which are illustrated in the efTusions of this 
untutored product of the plains would be re- 
markable as specialties in the most pretentious 
periodical of today. Even the workaday in- 
cidents of his bucolic life, which he enjoyed 
with a relish as if he and his rural world were 
designed especially for each other, he pictured 
in his naive fancy. This is the way he records 
the coming of the very materialistic telegraph 
line : 

WHOOP! HURRA! 

The poles — wire — the telegraph — the 
lightning! The first are up, the second 
stretched, the third playing upon the line be- 
tween St. Jo. and Omaha : and the people of 
Omaha are exulting in the enjoyment of direct 
communication with the balance of the earth, 
and the rest of mankind. Dispatches from 
everywhere generally, and any place in par- 
ticular, may be had by calling at the office. 

The poles are already planted nearly half 
way to this place, and in two weeks it is ex- 
pected that all the poles will be up as far as 
Kearney, seventeen miles above here, and the 
laying of the wire soon commenced. And 
soon — • 

Thoughts that breathe and words that burn, 

will glide along the wires with lightning rapid- 

Yesterday Messrs. Kountze and Porter 
called upon us whilst on their trip providing 
for the distribution of the balance of the poles 
along the route. Come on with your forked 
lightning! Strike for the Great Western 
ocean, the land of gold and glittering stones 
and ore. 

The prosy slaughter of a prosier Ijuft'alo 
strikes his poetic vein : 

FATAL CASUALTY 

It will be recollected, that in our last, we 
gave out certain cautions, and warnings, 
against a large class of intruders upon per- 
sonal property ■ — • viz : the tresspassing of 
herds of buifalo upon our town site, and arable 
lands. Unfortunately for the party concerned, 
no heed was given to our ominous warnings, 
and the result has been, the fall of another 
aboriginal bovine — that fell a victim of 



TERRITORIAL PRESS 



437 



curiosity. Walking leisurely to a point near 
our office he seemed to sniff an idea — perhaps 
a good one — or perhaps he took one peep for 
the skeleton of one of his kine, and thus in a 
reflective, designing or calculating mood he 
stopped, and from under his long shaggy 
lashes gazed toward us — stamped our ground, 
pawed up dust and earth, and then, after 
snuffing the breeze towered his head in a 
threatening mood ; we could not stand it long- 
er, but started Sam, who intercepted his pro- 
gress before he had done much damage to 
our garden, and banging away — 

The well-aimed lead pursues the certain sight ; 
And Death in thunder overtook his flight. 

The flesh being secured, our t'other half, 
little ones, self and the balance, have been re- 
galing upon roast, broil, fry and stew, ever 
since. 

This master of a delightfully natural style 
was, contrary to the old maxim, jack of all 
trades. In advertisements in the Emigrant's 
Guide, published at Kanesville, December 15, 
1852, the versatile editor appears as "general 
outfitting commission merchant" ; as keeper 
of "Council Bluff's Mansion" ; as carrying on 
"wagonmaking and blacksmithing" ; as keeper 
of a "cabinet shop" ; and of a "bakery, con- 
fectionery and eating saloon." In the same 
paper he joins two others in certifying as an 
expert that the north route to California up 
the Platte river is best. When he became 
tired of Wood River Center, Mr. Johnson 
followed the tide of his Mormon brethren to 
Salt Lake City. 

While the Palladium and the Arrozv were 
shortlived, the Nczvs of Nebraska City, though 
it was subsequently started, is the oldest pa- 
per in Nebraska at the present time, and was 
the first that had any considerable length of 
life. It was first printed in Sidney, Iowa, in 
the fall of 1854, though with the name Ne- 
braska Nezvs, and Dr. Henry Bradford was 
its first editor. It was moved to Nebraska 
City, November 14, 1854, and occupied the 
second story of the blockhouse of old Fort 
Kearney, which was built in 1846. The 12th 
of the following April J. Sterling Morton was 
employed at a salary of $50 per month as edi- 
tor by its proprietors, the Nebraska City Town 
Site Company, and Thomas Morton became 
foreman or head of the mechanical depart- 



ment. Soon after he became the owner, and 
he continued as part or sole owner and pub- 
lisher until his death, August 10, 1887. J. 
Sterling Morton was editor from April 12, 
1855, to April 13, 1856; R. Lee Barrowman 
from April 13 to August 15, 1856, and then 
Morton again to August 26, 1857; then Mil- 
ton W. Reynolds to October 19, 1861 ; then 
Augustus F. Harvey to August 25, 1865 ; then 
Morton to and through 1868. R. Lee Barrow- 
man became a part owner with Thomas ]\Ior- 
ton and was editor for a short time. 

By virtue of its location in the largest town 
in the territory and the ability and political 
prominence and activity of J. Sterling Mor- 
ton, its editor, the News was the leading jour- 
nal of the territory until the Herald and Re- 
publican outstripped it when Omaha, through 
the stimulus of the Union Pacific railroad, be- 
came the business metropolis. Its name was 
changed from the Nebraska News to the Ne- 
braska City Nezvs, May 15, 1858. 

In the great fire of May 12, 1860, the Nezvs 
office was totally destroyed, and the Mortons 
bought of Jacob Dawson the printing plant of 
the Wyoming Telescope, and also the mate- 
rial of a large printing office at Otoe City, 
eight miles south of Nebraska City, on the 
Missouri river. 

The Nebraska City Nezvs, now in its sixty- 
third year, is published by the News Pub- 
lishing Company, with Charles M. Hubner as 
editor, E. D. Marnell associate and city editor, 
and Otoe C. Morton, son of the late Thomas 
Alorton, business manager. 

The People's Press was started as a weekly 
November 25, 1858, by C. W. Sherfey. 
^^'ithin a few weeks the office was sold to 
Orsamus H. Irish and L. L. Survey, but the 
latter retired soon after and Mr. Irish con- 
tinued as editor and proprietor, while the pub- 
lishers were Irish and Matthias. January 2, 
1860, this partnership was dissolved. Colonel 
Irish continuing the publication, which was 
made a semi-weekly and so continued until 
May following when Mr. Matthias became 
editor. May 12, 1860, the Press office was 
destroyed in the big fire, and the paper was 
issued temporarily from the office of the 



438 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Wyoming Telescope. Colonel Irish then 
bought a press from Dr. G. C. Monell of 
Omaha, and took it to Nebraska City. This 
press was afterward taken to Lincoln, and 
on it was printed the first nvmiber of the 
Conimotrwcalth. 

In June, 1860, Colonel Irish sold the pa- 
per to Alfred Matthias and Joseph E. La 
Master, and in 1861 William H. H. Waters 
and Royal Buck bought it. Under the man- 
agement of Buck and Waters the name was 
changed to Press and Herald. Mr. Buck 
withdrew in 1862, and Herald was dropped 
from the name. January 31, 1860, the Press 
was changed to a semi-weekly, and the office 
boasted a power press with a capacity of 800 
to 1,000 impressions an hour. In 1863 the 
publication of the Daily Press was begun, but 
it was a financial failure, and soon a semi- 
weekly was issued instead. During the winter 
of 1864-1865 Dwight J. McCann and others 
bought the plant and organized the Press 
Printing Company. In 1865 William H. Mil- 
ler took charge of the paper as editor and 
publisher for the company, and conducted it 
until October, 1866, when it again passed into 
the hands of Colonel Irish. In the winter of 
1866-1867 the name was changed to Nebraska 
City Press. In August, 1868, Colonel Irish 
sold an interest to S- B. Price and William H. 
Miller, and in the November following Col- 
onel Irish withdrew, and Thomas McCullough 
became a partner, under the name of Price, 
Miller & Co. In June, 1869, McCullough 
withdrew, followed by Price in October. Mr. 
Miller continued the paper until the summer of 
1870, when it was temporarily suspended, for 
financial reasons. In the spring of 1872 its 
publication was resumed by John Roberts and 
John Reed. The latter failed in business in 
1873, and Roberts sold his interest to William 
A. Brown, who had bought the Chronicle 
from W. 11. II. Waters on May 1, 1872. Mr. 
Brown consolidated both papers in 1874 under 
the name of Press and Chronicle. Later the 
paper was again changed to the Press, and the 
publisher, William A. Brown, was soon suc- 
ceeded by William A. Brown & Sons, and the 
firm became Brown Bros. April 1, 1881. The 
Chronicle had lieen established by W. H. H. 



Waters as a morning daily in 1868, and after 
a spirited contest with three other dailies was 
left the sole occupant of the field in 1870. The 
material used in the publication of the Chron- 
icle was sold to James Thorne and by him 
taken to Laramie, Wyoming, where it was dis- 
posed of in 1876. 

The Wyoming (Otoe county) Telescope 
was established by Jacob Dawson in October, 
1856. Later, S. N. Jackson became asso- 
ciated with him, and the firm continued as 
Dawson & Jackson until the latter's with- 
drawal, July 30, 1859. In his valedictory Mr. 
Jackson says : "No time, since the first set- 
tlement of this Territory, have the different 
presses had more trouble to keep up than for 
the last year, as may be seen from the fact 
that out of fourteen different papers in the 
territory, only seven are now in existence, and 
we doubt if many pay their way. Of these 
there are two north of the Platte, and five 
south." Later H. A. Houston appears as pub- 
lisher of the Telescope, with Jacob Dawson, 
editor. The entire equipment of the Telescope 
office was sold to the Nebraska City News in 
the summer of 1860. 

In April, 1861, Dr. Fred. Renner, a pioneer 
republican and an abolitionist, began the pub- 
lication of the Nebraska Deutsche Zcitung, 
"in the interest of the threatened Union cause, 
and for the promotion of immigration." In 
1867 the name was changed to Stoats Zcitung. 
In November, 1868, Mr. John A. Henzel be- 
came part owner, the style of the firm being 
Henzel & Renner, with Dr. Renner as editor. 
In 1871 Mr. Henzel withdrew, and Dr. Renner 
removed a part of the office to Lincoln, where 
he published the Stoats Zcitung for two years. 
In 1873 he returned to Nebraska City with 
his printing material and resumed the publi- 
cation of the Zeitung, which he continued 
until 1876. The Zeitung had a large circu- 
lation, at least 100 copies going to Germany, 
and it is largely due to its influence that so 
large a number of substantial Germans set- 
tled in southeastern Nebraska. In July, 1879, 
W. A. Brown & Sons of the Daily Press com- 
menced the publication of another German 
paper which they called the Stoats Zeitung, 
and two years later sold the office to Young 



TERRITORIAL PRESS 



439 



& Beutler. While Charles Young has been 
employed in the government printing office at 
Washington for a number of years, Mr. Jacob 
Beutler, assisted by his brother Christian, is 
still conducting the publication at Nebraska 
City as an "independent" in politics. 

In the year of 1859 O. G'. Nickerson of 
New York started a small paper in Otoe City, 
now Minersville, bringing the material from 
New York. This paper was called the Spirit 
of the West. It only continued a few weeks, 
when the material was sold to the Nezvs and 
removed to Nebraska City. 

The first number of the (Jmaha N ebraskian . 
the democratic organ of the capital city and 
the first newspaper actually published there, 
was issued January 17, 1855. Bird B. Chap- 
man, the second delegate to Congress from 
the territory, was the principal founder and 
brought the printing material used in its pub- 
lication from Ohio. The Nebraska Palla- 
dium of January 17, 1855, states that the Ne- 
braskian is to be started that day by "the 
partially defunct combination established in 
Ohio some months since to govern Nebraska 
and take her spoils," meaning Bird B. Chap- 
man, the second delegate to Congress from 
the territory, and his political coterie. John 
H. Sherman, J. B. Strickland, and A. W. Bab- 
bitt were all connected with the N ebraskian. 
August 29, 1855. John H. Sherman was the 
first editor of the Nebraskian and was suc- 
ceeded by G. W. Hepburn, May 21, 1856, 
who was followed by Theodore H. Robertson 
in 1857. Merrill H. Clark and Milton W. 
Reynol ..s were editors from 1859 to 1863, and 
Alfred H. Jackson from that time until June 
15, 1865, when the paper was discontinued 
and the Herald took its place as the democratic 
organ. The Nebraskian was first published 
as a daily in September, 1860, but suspended 
two months later after "a pecuniary loss to 
ourselves of two hundred dollars." 

The Nebraska Nezvs of April 9, 1859, notes 
the recent consolidation of the Nebraskian and 
the Times on the 29th of March of that year 
under the management of Messrs. Clark & 
Robertson. Mr. Merrill H. Clark "is a young 
gentleman just from northern Michigan, of 
considerable means." Robertson sold his en- 



tire interest in the [laper in February, 1861, to- 
Mr. Clark. The Nebraskian of December 18, 
1863, contains a statement that Merrill H. 
Clark and Milton W. Reynolds have sold out 
the daily and weekly to Alfred H. Jackson of 
Dakota City, and that Mr. Clark had been 
connected with the paper for five years and 
Mr. Reynolds had been in the newspaper 
business in Nebraska for six years. After 
Air. Jackson assumed control of the Nebras- 
kian it became negative and halting. In one 
issue two literally heavy editorials were printed 
side by side, one under the ponderous caption, 
"The Rebellion — shall it be suppressed ?" and 
the other headed, "The negro — What is to be 
his destiny ?" The editorial leader of February 
26, 1864, about the necessity of restoring the 
Union under the constitution, occupied five 
columns in minion type. This, doubtless, had 
an important connection with the final sus])en- 
sion of the pa])er the following October. 

The first number of the Omaha City Times 
was issued June II, 1857, by William W. Wy- 
man. A few months later the word "City" 
was dropped from the name. About six 
months after the Times was started George 
W. Hepburn became editor and proprietor 
and James Stewart associate editor, but this 
arrangement lasted only a few months, when 
Mr. Wyman again liecame its publisher. Sep- 
tember 9, 1858, John W. Pattison and Wil- 
liam W. Wyman editors. Mr. Pattison was 
one of the editors of the Arrozv. the first 
(Jmaha paper. The Times was established to 
oppose the political faction led by Bird B. 
Chapman, but his defeat by Judge Fenner Fer- 
guson as a candidate for the office of delegate 
to Congress in 1857 and the subsequent bitter 
but unsuccessful contest for the seat by Air. 
Chapman in the House of Representatives 
undermined his political footing in the terri- 
tory, and in 1859 the Times and the Nebras- 
kian, Mr. Chapman's former organ, were con- 
solidated. While the Times was not wanting 
in ability, it lacked the aggressivness but also 
the scurrility of its principal contemporaries, 
and its columns were usually distinguished by 
dignity and decorum. 

A month before he began to pul)lish the 
Times. Mr. Wyman had been removed fronn 



440 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



the office of postmaster at Omaha Ijy the 
Chapman infltience, and Theodore H. Rob- 
ertson, editor of the Nebmskiau, was ap- 
pointed in his place ; but early in July Mr. 
Wyman was reinstated. Though he specific- 
ally stated in the initial number of the Times 
that its politics was to be democratic and of 
the Buchanan brand, yet this statement was 
no doubt partly perfunctory and strategic ; 
and no doubt, like many other democrats of 
that time, his sympathy already leaned away 
from the strong pro-slavery attittide of the 
Buchanan faction of the Democratic party, and 
this inclination soon led him, with countless 
other democrats, across the republican line. 
And so in this postoflice controversy the dis- 
comfited editor of the Nebraskian attacked 
Mr. Wyman as a "black republican in whose 
veins not a single drop of democratic blood 
ever cotirsed, and whose whole life has been 
devoted to the service of our enemies." That 
the delegate to Congress was not able to con- 
trol the aiJi)ointment of the postmaster of his 
home city to the extent of displacing an al- 
leged party recreant makes the weakness of 
his own influence so [irominent as to obscure 
the charge against the incumbent which, if 
true, should have been quite sufficient in that 
heyday of the spoils system. 

The daily Telegraph was established at 
Omaha by Major Henry Z. Curtis. Its first 
appearance was on the morning of December 
11, 1860, from the office of the Nebraskian. 
Major Curtis was both publisher and editor, 
but associated with him was W. H. Kinsman 
as assistant. The 'Telegraph was first pub- 
hshed as a single page paper of eight columns, 
largely devoted to advertising. It was later 
increased in size to a folio, and on November 
■9th published the first telegraphic news given 
to the puiilic in Nebraska territory. Although 
a circulation of 500 copies was claimed, the 
paper did not pay, and was reduced in size 
Tune 11, 1S61, and August 10th following, 
Major Curtis disposed of the paper to Merrill 
H. Clark of the Nebraskian. The type on this 
paper was set liy the late Charles S. Goodrich 
and Charles W. Sherman, the latter now a 
resident of Dairy, Oregon. 

Republican jiarty sentiment liecame apjire- 



cialjle in Neljraska in 1858, and in that year 
the first steps were taken toward formal party 
organization, and a party organ was estab- 
lished for the first time in the two leading 
towns — Nebraska City and Omaha. 

The Nebraska Republican was first issued 
May 5, 1858, as a weekly by Edward F. 
Schneider and Harrison J. Brown. It was 
jniblished on Thursdays, and was distinctively 
republican in politics. It was bought by Dr. 
Gilbert C. Monell during the same year, and 
he sold it to Edward D. Webster who as- 
sumed control August 15, 1859, and changed 
the name to the Omaha Republican. Webster 
was a protege of Thurlow Weed, and a politi- 
cian of considerable ability. He subsequently 
became secretary to William H. Seward, sec- 
retary of state. September 26, 1861, Mr. 
Webster sold the paper to Edward B. Taylor, 
then register of the land office at Omaha, and 
his brother-in-law, Ezkiel A. McClure, both 
of whom had come from Ohio. Soon after 
the paper was reduced in size to a folio of 
twenty columns, and published tri-weekly ; in 
May, 1863, it was enlarged one column to the 
page, and after Thursday, January 7, 1864, 
was published daily, except Monday. The tri- 
weekly was discontinued January 28, 1864, and 
the issue limited to a regular daily and weekly. 
October 13, 1865, Edward B. Taylor and John 
Taffe, a.s editors, gave way to General Harry 
H. Heath, who supported the policy of Presi- 
dent Andrew Johnson. The firm name of the 
publishers was changed from Taylor & Mc- 
Clure to Heath, Taylor & Company, which 
continued until February, 1866, when Heath 
retired, and the name of the paper was changed 
to Omaha Daily Republican. April 13, 1866, 
Major St. A. D. Balcombe bought a half in- 
terest in the Republican and became business 
manager. The new firm name was Taylor, 
McClure & Balcombe. In July, 1866, the 
style of the firm was again changed to Bal- 
combe & Company, and the issue of July 20, 
1866, announced that Mr. Taylor had sold his 
interest to St. A. D. Balcombe, who thence- 
forth was editor, publisher, and sole proprietor. 
From April 9, 1867, the Republican was is- 
sued as a morning paper. In May, 1869, Ed- 
ward B. Tavlor became associate editor, and 



TERRITORIAL PRESS 



441 



remained practically in charge of the editorial 
department until he was succeeded by John 
Teasdale, Jtily 10, 1870. January 21, 1871, 
Major Balcombe sold a half interest in the 
Republican to Waldo M. Potter, who suc- 
ceeded Teasdale as editor-in-chief. Teasdale 
had won his spurs as editor of. the Ohio State 
Jounnil in 1843, and had established the Iowa 
State Register at Des Moines in 1858. He 
was elected state printer of Iowa and was 
postmaster at Des Moines. In 1871 the Re- 
publican and the Tribune, which had been es- 
tablished a year before on account of the sena- 
torial contest between Thayer and Saunders 
"and succeeded in killing them both," were 
consolidated under the name of Tribune and 
Republican. Mr. Potter was succeeded as 
editor by Charles B. Thomas, formerly editor 
of the Tribune, while Balcombe became busi- 
ness manager, this arrangement taking effect 
June 11, 1871. In January, 1873, Tribune 
was dropped from the name. John Taffe suc- 
ceeded Mr. Thomas as editor in July, 1873, 
and was followed by George W. Frost, who 
later gave place to Chauncey Wiltse. In May, 
1875, a stock company was organized, which 
took over the Republican, and St. A. D. Bal- 
combe was succeeded, August 18th, by Ben H. 
Barrows who had served as consul to Dublin. 
■ Casper E. Yost became business manager, 
Isaac W. Miner secretary, and September 28th 
of that year John Taffe became editor. He 
was succeeded May 18, 1876, by D. C. Brooks 
as managing editor, with Alfred Sorenson as 
city editor, assisted by Frederick Nye. In 
1881 the paper was bought by Yost and Nye, 
who in turn sold their interest in the fall of 
1886 to Sterling P. Rounds, Sr., late public 
printer at Washington, and Cadet Taylor for a 
consideration of $105,000. Rounds and Tay- 
lor organized a stock company, with S. P. 
Rounds, president. Cadet Taylor, treasurer, 
and O. H. Rothacker as editor. December 
15, 1888, Mr. Yost was appointed as receiver 
of the business in the interests of the stock- 
holders. Early in 1889 Frederick Nye and 
Frank B. Johnson obtained control of the 
Republican, and the following October it was 
sold to Major Jeremiah C. Wilcox, of the 
Evening Dispatch, the job department being 



retained by Nye & Johnson. But Mr. Wilcox 
saw and acknowledged that the culmination of 
the struggle for the survival of the fittest was 
at hand, and he suspended publication of the 
daily Republican. July 29, 1890, but continued 
to publish the weekly until the growing 
strength of the Bee during the latter years of 
the life of the Republican clearly indicated 
that one or the other of these journals must 
succumb, as there was not room for two 
organs of the same party in their field. They 
naturally became differentiated, the Republican 
following in the old course of the thick-and- 
thin party organ and corporation apologist, 
while the shrewder manager of the Bee saw 
and assiduously cultivated the now far more 
promising independent and anti-corporation 
field. While there were able men, of whom 
Mr. Yost was conspicuous, among the changing 
managers of the Republican in its declining 
years, yet the Bee had the great advantage of 
a continuous manager of remarkable tenacity 
of purpose and journalistic ability in the per- 
son of its founder, Edward Rosewater. The 
first home of the Republican was on the third 
floor of the Pioneer block, where it remained 
until its removal into a brick building on the 
corner of Thirteenth and Douglas streets in 
the latter part of November, 1876, the build- 
ing being the same one which had been the 
home of the Herald in its early years. Feb- 
ruary 18, 1867, the Republican announced 
that it had that day connected its caloric en- 
gine with its presses — "the first and only of- 
fice in Nebraska where presses were run other 
than by hand." This acquisition was for some 
time the subject of very frequent self-felicita- 
tion by the Republican and of just as frequent 
sarcastic gibes by the unappreciative and 
irreverent Herald. 

In the latter part of 1858 Hadley D. John- 
son began the publication of the Nebraska 
Democrat at Omaha, but he discontinued it 
after a short time. 

The Florence Courier was first issued in 
December, 1856. James C. Mitchell, noto- 
rious as capital commissioner of the first ter- 
ritorial legislature, was publisher and L. H. 
Lathrop editor. John AI. Mentzer was for a 
time editor of the Courier. Recognizing that 



442 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Florence had lost all chances of becoming the 
capital of the territory, the Courier switched 
its hope to the favorable crossing at that place 
for the coming railroads, and its optimistic 
motto was : "We would rather be in the right 
place on 'Rock Bottom' than have the capital 
of the territory." But Florence, like Bellevue, 
was to learn in the dear school of experience 
that under the new railway dispensation cap- 
itals and crossings were to be made by men, 
with little regard for the preparation of 
Mother Nature. Florence still has her rock 
bottom, but Omaha, without that firm foun- 
dation, has the great railroad crossing, and by 
a like manipulation the capital was carried to 
an unprepared and most unlikely spot in the 
interior wilderness. Another paper known as 
Rock Bottom is said to have been published 
at Florence as early as 1854 by W. C. Jones. 
It was printed at Council Bluffs, Iowa. 

The Nebraska Daily Statesman first ap- 
peared at Omaha, Sunday morning, July 17, 
1864, as a democratic paper, W. H. Jones and 
Henry L. Harvey publishers ; but only a few 
numbers were ever issued. The professed ob- 
ject of the publishers was threefold: First, 
"the procuring of bread and butter for their 
wives and babies, the ultimate provision for a 
daily ;uul financial independence" ; 
second, "to furnish the people with an exposi- 
tor of democratic truth" : third, "to sustain 
the Union, the constitution and the laws." 

An eflfort was made by the Harvey brothers 
to revive the Statesman at Nebraska City in 
the spring of 1866, but it proved but little more 
successful than the former attempt at Omaha. 

The Republican of August 7, 1867, notes 
that "Augustus F. Harvey will soon begin the 
publication of the Nebraska Statesman, the 
good-will of which has been purchased. It 
will sustain the action of the administration." 

The Statesman was revived at Lincoln the 
first week of July, 1868, with Augustus F. 
Harvey as editor and Henry L. Harvey as pub- 
lisher. During the Civil war Mr. Harvey had 
!>een characterized by his new party compan- 
ions as a consummate copperhead ; but the war 
was over, and in the business of moving the 
capital and surveying and manipulating its 
nc^\■ site, in which Mr. Harvev took an active 



part, party animosities were easily forgotten 
in the common cause of prospective profit. 
Still, the partnership could not be lasting, and 
its incongruity foretold the short life of the 
Statesman. In January, 1870, Augustus F. 
1 larvey went to St. Louis to engage in the life 
insurance business, which he followed at that 
place until his death. In the early part of 
March, 1871, the Statesman was published as 
a daily, its primary object being to oppose the 
impeachment of Governor Butler. About 
June 1, 1873, it was merged into the State 
Register, with N. W. Smails as editor. 

The Omaha Daily Herald was established 
l)y Dr. George L. Miller and Daniel W. Car- 
penter, under the firm name of Miller & Car- 
penter, and its first issue was dated October 
2, 1865. The Herald was at first a six-column 
folio, and was published in a building at the 
corner of Thirteenth and Douglas streets. It 
started out with only fifty-three actual sub- 
scribers, and the oiifice was equipped with a 
small hand press and a few cases of type. 
Lyman Richardson and John S. Briggs suc- 
ceeded Miller & Carpenter as proprietors 
August 5, 1868, but Dr. Miller still contiiuied 
as editor; and February 11, 1869, he bought 
the interest of Mr. Briggs, the style of the 
firm being changed to Miller & Richardson, 
which continued imtil Alarch, 1888. One of 
the last editors of the old Herald was Frank 
Morrissey, a native of Iowa of Irish descent, 
who died in Omaha a few years ago. He 
had been associate editor and became editor 
when the paper was sold to John A. McShane 
in 1888. He was succeeded by Edward L. 
Merritt as editor, and it was published for one 
year by McShane, and then passed into the 
control of R. A. Craig. In March, 1889, the 
Herald was bought by Gilbert M. Hitchcock, 
who, associated with Frank J. Burkley, Alfred 
Millard, William F. Gurley, and W. V. 
Rooker, began the publication of the Evening 
World in August, 1885. Mr. Hitchcock was 
editor-in-chief, Mr. Burkley business man- 
ager, and Mr. Rooker managing editor. After 
the consolidation of the Ei'ening World and 
the Herald under the name of the JVorld- 
Herald, Mr. Hitchcock continued as editor and 
jirincijial owner, with ^Ir. Burkley as busi- 



TERRITORIAL PRESS 



443 



ness manager. ^Nlr. Hitchcock is still (1917) 
owner and editor of the JVoiid-Hcrald, which 
ever since the consolidation has been the lead- 
ing democratic paper of Nebraska. 

The first number of the Nebraska Adver- 
tiser was issued at Brownville June 7, 1856, 
and, though Dr. John McPherson of that 
place furnished the press and other printing 
material, the paper was published by Robert 
W. Furnas. Dr. AlcPherson had come to 
Brownville in the fall of 1855, and with the 
purpose of establishing a newspaper there he 
removed the material from Tippecanoe, Ohio. 
Robert W. Furnas, editor, and John L. Col- 
happ and Chester S. Langdon, printers, arrived 
at Brownville with the outfit April 9, 1856. An 
item in the first number of the paper complains 
that its issue had been delayed by the deten- 
tion of a part of the press "an unreasonable 
length of time between Cincinnati and this 
point." Dr. McPherson sold to Robert W. 
Furnas a half interest in the proposed paper 
for Brownville townsite lots on condition that 
Mr. Furnas should publish it weekly at least 
one year, and soon after Dr. McPherson gave 
the other half interest in the Advertiser to Mr. 
Furnas, stipulating that it should be non-par- 
tisan and independent. This stipulation was 
carried out with as much consistency as is 
usually observed by professedly independent 
journals, that is, it afforded the editor a better 
opportunity to regard personal and local inter- 
ests than if it had been restrained by the 
bonds of party loyalty. For example, in 1860. 
while the democratic party was dominant in 
the country, the Advertiser could warmly ad- 
vocate the nomination of Douglas, its great 
western leader, for president, and at the same 
time support Daily, the republican candidate 
for delegate to Congress. By virtue of its 
democratic environment the . Advertiser was 
democratic until the democratic party went to 
pieces and Abraham Lincoln was nominated 
for president, in 1860, when it became a re- 
publican organ and remained so for several 
years. October 29, 1857, Chester S. Langdon, 
"who has been foreman of our office since its 
commencement," became associated with Mr. 
Furnas in the publication of the Advertiser 
for the reason that the attention which the 



latter had given "to both the mechanical and 
editorial departments" had overta.xed his time 
and talents. This partnership was dissolved 
April 30, 1858, Mr. Furnas becoming again 
sole publisher and editor. L. E. Lyanna was 
a co-publisher with Mr. Furnas from Novem- 
ber 24, 1859, to November 28, 1861, when the 
Advertiser and the Union, which had been 
started at As])inwall by Dr. Andrew S. Holla- 
day and John H. Maun, in May. 1861. were 
consolidated and Thomas R. Fisher added to 
the partnership of Furnas & Lyanna. May 8, 
1862, Mr. Fisher formed a partnership with 
T. C. Hacker, and they became publishers of 
the Advertiser, Furnas & Fisher remaining 
owners. Fisher was now editor in place of 
Furnas, who was in the federal army. This 
arrangement continued until December 6, 1862, 
when Mr. Fisher became sole publisher and 
editor, and July 16, 1863, the names of Fur- 
nas & Fisher as proprietors were dropped from 
the paper. In the fall of 1863 John L. Col- 
happ became co-publisher and co-editor with 
Fisher, and they were succeeded by William 
H. Miller, September 8, 1864. December 22, 
1864, George W. Hill & Company became 
publishers and John L. Colhapp editor. July 
18, 1867, Robert V. Muir became a member of 
the firm, but Mr. Colhapp continued to be 
editor. November 17 of the same year Jarvis 
S. Church bought the interest of Hill and 
Muir, and the firm name of the publishers be- 
came Church & Colhapp. January' 23, 1868, 
T. C. Hacker became junior partner in the 
firm and business manager. January 6, 1870, 
the original publisher, Robert W. Furnas, 
bought out Church, and the firm became Fur- 
nas, Colhapp & Company, Mr. Furnas being 
editor. January 5, 1871, Church and Hacker 
became the publishers, Mr. Furnas retiring 
from the paper, and in July of the same year 
Church sold his interest to Major Caft'rey, and 
the firm became Caffrey & Hacker. January 
22, 1874, Major Caffrey sold out to George W. 
Fairbrother, and the firm of Fairbrother & 
Hacker continued until December, 1881, when 
Fairbrother became sole proprietor. In March, 
1882, the material was removed to Calvert, 
now Auburn, where the paper continued to be 
jniblished by G. W. Fairbrother & Company. 



444 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



During the campaign of 1870 the Adz'crtiscr 
was pubHshed daily for a few months. 

The Nebraska Adz'crtiser, which is still puli- 
lished at Nemaha, Nemaha county, having 
passed the half century mark, is said to be the 
oldest continuous pulilication in Nebraska, an 
lionor which would belong to the Nebraska 
City News but for a slight break in 1870 when 
the News, for a time, lost its identity in the 
Times. The News, however, has been pub- 
lished in one place, while the Advertiser has 
had a migratory existence, but always within 
Nemaha county. The present publisher and 
editor is W. W. Sanders. 

The Nemaha Valley Journal was first issued 
at Nemaha City in the last week of November. 
1857, by Seymour Belden as editor and pub- 
lisher. It was democratic in politics. It was 
removed from Nemaha City to Brownville in 
1859, but did not long survive. The material 
was ptirchased by the publishers of the Adver- 
tiser, and the ofifice again removed to Nemaha 
City. Another attempt to publish the Nemaha 
Valley Journal was made in Brownville by 
Hill and Blackburn in 1867, but at the end of 
four months the material was removed to Falls 
City. In April, 1869, W. S. Blackburn sold a 
half interest in the Journal to W. S. Stretch, 
who became the sole owner the following fall. 
In March, 1870, E. E. Cunningham purchased 
an interest in the paper and became its editor 
until the spring of 1871. In June, 1872, the 
Journal was sold to Weaver and Fulton, but a 
month later Mr. Stretch resumed control, and 
in September, 1874, it was sold to Rich and 
Hamlin, and was consolidated with the Globe 
in 1875. 

The Aspinwall Journal, of which Dr. An- 
drew S. Holladay and John H. Maun were 
publishers, was removed to Brownville in 
1861, and its publication continued for a few 
months under the name of the Journal, when 
the establishment passed into the hands of the 
publishers of the Advertiser, and the mate- 
rial was sold and taken to Illinois. 

In September, 1860, a four-column daily 
paper entitled the Bulletin, was issued from 
the Advertiser office, but proving unprofitable 
it was suspended in January, 1861.. 

In 1857 Chester S. Langdon and Goff com- 



menced the pul)lication of the daily Snort, 
which was short-lived. 

The first agricultural journal in Nebraska 
was issued as the Nebraska Farmer, by Robert 
W. Furnas, in January, 1860, and it was pub- 
lished about three years. 

Governor Furnas discontinued the Nebraska 
Farmer after 1861, or at least published it 
only intermittently after that date, and finally 
disposed of the publication to J. C. McBride of 
Lincoln, who in turn sold it to O. M. Druse. 
In 1886 Harvey E. Heath purchased the en- 
tire plant and soon after changed it to a semi- 
monthly, and in 1888 to a weekly. In 1898 
the Nebraska Farmer was moved to Omaha 
and consolidated with the Western Stockman 
and Cultivator. H. F. Mcintosh was made 
editor with a one-third interest in the paper. 
In 1902 the Nebraska Farmer Co. was incor- 
porated with a capital stock of $30,000 fully 
paid up. About this time George W. Hervey 
Ijecame associate editor, and the following year 
editor-in-chief, continuing in this position un- 
til July 31, 1905. 

George W. Fairbrother and Theodore C. 
Hacker began the publication of the Nebraska 
Herald at Nemaha City, November 24, 1859, 
with the former as editor, later assisted by 
Reuel Noyes. It was a republican paper, and 
was continued about two years, and called it- 
self "the only republican paper in Nemaha 
county." 

In May, 1861, the Union was started at As- 
pinwall by Dr. Andrew S. Holladay and John 
H. Maim, but the office was removed to 
Brownville after the first issue, and the paper 
was absorbed by the Advertiser. 

In 1857 Martin Stowell, who had been sent 
to Kansas as an agent of the free state pariy, 
went to Peru, Neljraska, and started a small 
monthly ])aper. The paper was printed 
abroad and had no local circulation or sup- 
port. No copies of it have been found of 
late years, and its name even has been for- 
gotten. 

The Peru Times was published by the same 
man in 1860, as a campaign paper, l)ut noth- 
ing further is known of it. 

A few years later an effort was made to 
pulilish at Peru a monthly known as the Or- 



TERRITORIAL PRESS 



445 



chardist, in the interest of horticulturists and 
fruit growers, but only a few numbers were 
issued. In 1866 a campaign paper, printed in 
Brownville with a Peru date line, was issued 
for two months, but no regular newspaper 
succeeded in establishing a permanent home 
in Peru during the territorial period. 

The first paper in Richardson county, the 
Rulo JVcstern Guide, was owned by the Rulo 
Town and Ferry Company, and edited by 
Abel D. Kirk and F. M. Barrett. It first ap- 
peared in May, 1858, and exactly one year 
later was purchased by Kirk and Chas. A. 
Hergesheimer. The latter had served as a 
"devil" on the paper from the date of its 
first issue. It was suspended about the be- 
ginning of the Civil war, but was resurrected 
in 1864, as the Nebraska Register, and con- 
tinued until 1869, when it was sold to H. A. 
Buell. who disposed of it to Samuel Brooks. 
He continued it for two years, then removed 
it to Salem, where it was soon after discon- 
tinued. 

The Broad Axe of Falls City, owned by 
Major J. Edward Burbank and edited by 
Sewall R. Jamison, made its first appearance in 
November, 1858. This was the successor of a 
paper of the same name which had been pub- 
lished at Richmond, Indiana, three years be- 
fore, by the same men. Its motto was "Hew 
to the line, let the chips fall where they may" 
— "There is a divinity which shapes our ends, 
rough hew them as we will." Jamison was 
succeeded in November, 1860, by J. D. Irwin 
of Ohio, and in the summer of 1861 Mr. Bur- 
bank retired. The Broad Axe passed into 
the hands of a firm known as L. B. Prouty 
& Company, and was by them sold to J. J. 
Marvin, who changed the name to Southern 
Ncbraskian. The Broad Axe was resurrected 
in July, 1862, by the Falls City Broad Axe 
Company. The paper was next bought by the 
town lot company of Arago, and published by 
N. O. Pierce. About this time the plant was 
used by Mr. Saxe in issuing a paper printed 
in both German and English. Among other 
publishers following in rapid succession were 
C. L. Alather, G. A. Hill, E. L. Martin, Mettz 
& Sanderson, and H. A. Buell. Mettz & San- 
derson bought the English type of the town 



lot company in 1871. This material was sold 
to F. M. Barrett, who removed it to Falls City, 
where it was used in publishing the Times. 
After a brief existence this paper was sold 
to Scott & Webster, who finally sold their ma- 
terial to Ed. W. Howe, of the Little Globe. 

The Little Globe was established in 1873 
by Ed. W. Howe, now publisher of the Atchi- 
son (Kansas) Globe. The following appeared 
in the prospectus: "Little, but O Lord! 
Prospectus of the Globe (the Little) a jour- 
nal of the third class, to be published every 
Saturday, at Falls City, Neb. The Little 
Globe will be intensely local and as indepen- 
dent as a hog on ice. . . We hope to bless 
this town." This announcement was signed 
"The meekest of men, Ed. W. Howe." After 
about a year the Little Globe was discontinued, 
but appeared again in August, 1875, with the 
same motto, and a short time later was con- 
solidated with the Nemaha Valley Journal 
under the title of the Globe Journal. 

The first paper in Plattsmouth, the Platts- 
mouth Jeffersonian, appeared early in 1857, 
published by L. D. Jeffries, assisted by J. D. 
Ingalls. to whom Jeffries later sold his inter- 
est. Turner M. Marquett was for a time its 
editor. The paper was soon discontinued. 

In 1857 Charles W. Sherfey started the 
Platte Valley Times at Plattsmouth, bringing 
the press from Burlington, Iowa. This paper 
was published for a short time, and then sold 
to Alfred H. Townsend who removed it to 
Pacific City, Iowa. Sherfey went to Nebraska 
City, where he later established the People's 
Press. In the latter part of 1858 Alfred H. 
Townsend removed the material with which 
he had been publishing the Platte Valley 
Times at Pacific City, Iowa, to Plattsmouth, 
where he published it under the name of the 
Platte Valley Herald until March, 1862, when 
he removed the plant to Central City, Colo- 
rado.. 

The Platte Valley Times was established at 
Bellevue, August 1, 1862, by Charles N. Stur- 
gress. The name of Henry T. Clarke ap 
peared as editor. It was democratic in politics 
and known to have been published as late as 
October 27, 1864. ' 

Elijah Giles established the Cass County 



446 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Sentinel at Rock Bluffs City at the end of 
October, 1857. It was removed to Platts- 
mouth in the spring of 1859, where Giles is- 
sued it' for a few months, and then sold the 
plant to Joseph I. Early, who started the 
Democratic Times, which had a short life. 
The Sentinel was still being pulilished as late 
as January, 1863. 

In February, 1865, Hiram D. Hathaway is 
sued the first number of the Nebraska Herald 
at Plattsmouth, which he published until 
March, 1872. He then became associated with 
the Nebraska State Journal at Lincoln, and 
sold the Herald to John A. McMurphy, who 
published it for several years as a republican 
paper. In 1871, under the management of 
Hathaway, the Nebraska Herald was issued 
as a dail}-. 

The first number now to be found of the 
DeSoto Pilot bears date of July 11, 1857, vol. 
1, no. 12. John E. Parish was then editor and 
proprietor, and by September 12th of the 
same year he had been succeeded by Zaremba 
Jackson. 

The Nebraska Pioneer was published at 
Cuming City, and no. 25, vol. 1, appears under 
date of December 24, 1857, with Lewis M. 
Kline as editor and publisher. 

The Cuming City Star. vol. 1, no. 14, ap- 
pears June 19, 1858, with Albert W. Merrick, 
publisher, and H. Nell Maguire, editor. 

The Washington County Sun, published at 
De Soto, was begtm in 1858 by Potter C. 
Sullivan. 

The Nebraska Enquirer, DeSoto, vol. 1, no. 
5, under date of August 18, 1859, had for edi- 
tors and proprietors Albert W. Merrick and 
R. Winegar. In September Mr. Winegar's 
name was dropped, and Merrick appeared as 
editor and proprietor until succeeded by Hugh 
McNeely, April 26, 1860. A. W. Merrick 
again assumed control of the paper in the 
spring of 1861. 

The Pioneer and Star were jniblished at 
Cuming City and the Enquirer and Pilot at 
De Soto. Both towns were in Washington 
county. The Pioneer, Star, and Pilot were 
democratic. The Enquirer supported the 
republican ticket. Mr. Kline, editor of the 
Enquirer, was also a lawyer and mayor of 



Cuming City. Among the advertisements in 
the paper in 1857 were those of Thomas B. 
Cuming and John C. Turk, and of Root (Al- 
len) & Cozad, lawyers and real estate agents 
at Omaha. It is stated in the issue of Decem- 
ber 24, 1857, that thus far the winter had 
been very mild. There had been verv little 
frost or snow and even the little creeks were 
not frozen. In the Enquirer in 1859 are ad- 
vertisements of Thomas P. Kennard, lawyer 
at De Soto ; Joseph W. Paddock, dealer in 
boots and shoes at Omaha ; Abram Castetter, 
real estate and collection agent, De Soto ; and 
W. N. Byers & Company announce that they 
will publish the weekly Rocky Mountain Xci^'s, 
on or about the 1st of April, from some point 
in or near the mining (Pike's Peak) region. 
Advertisements of the leading magazines 
were commonly published in these frontier 
journals, and as neither the ten-cent monthlies 
nor any prototype of them had yet appeared, 
the taste for heavy reading was apparently 
more common then than now. The publishers 
of the Atlantic Monthly announce in the En- 
quirer that they "have commenced the publi- 
cation of a new magazine," and they promise 
a list of contributors which could not be 
matched today, and, furthermore, in com- 
petition with our ten-cent competitors, would 
not be much read today : Prescott, Emerson, 
Bryant, Longfellow, Hawthorne, Whittier, 
Holmes, Lowell, Motley, Edwin R. \Miipple, 
and Edmund Quincy ! 

Civilized settlement, and so substantial 
building, were in their childhood in Nebraska 
at this time, and the obtrusive newness of 
things must have been oppressive and dis- 
couraging to those of antiquarian humor. But 
Zaremba Jackson, editor of the Pilot, could 
read in the prostrate pillars of the yet uncom- 
pleted capitol suggestions of the Acropolis or 
the fragmentary architecture of the Nile. "The 
fi.xed gaze of the admiring beholder is only 
broken by a view of the fallen cokmins of the 
Capitol, whose scattered fragments and half- 
standing pedestals give it the appearance of 
some ancient ruins." The imposing ruins 
were soon after sold as scrap iron for the 
benefit of the territorial treasury by secretary 
J. Sterling Morton. 



TERRITORIAL PRESS 



447 



Tlie Nebraska Advertiser of April 28, 1859, 
as a retort to assumptions of superiority by 
the Nebraskian and the Neivs. boasts that "we 
have published it now near three years, during 
which time it has in no instance failed to ap- 
pear regularly on publication day, and has is- 
stied a half sheet but once, and that on accoimt 
of an accident. Can either of. "the two papers 
in Nebraska' say as much ? Not by a long 
way !"' 

The violence of the political partisanship 
of the leading territorial newspapers is amaz- 
ing to those familiar w'ith the usually urbane 
organs, merely tinted with partisanship, of 
the present day. The roughness of the pio- 
neer papers was of course characteristic of 
their class everywhere and largely due to the 
lack of restraint which is natural and peculiar 
to frontier societies. But this quality was ex- 
aggerated in the journalism of Nebraska's 
territorial life by two distinct sectional con- 
troversies, one local, the other national, but 
cooperative in producing strife. The North 
Platte and South Platte strife began over the 
capital question at the political beginning of 
the territory and did not subside until the 
capital question subsided, just after the com- 
pletion of the territorial period. The terri- 
torial life of Nebraska was also contempo- 
raneous with the most intense period of the 
passions stirred up by the differences which 
led immediately to the Civil war, which were 
further excited b}' the war itself, and which, 
in part by their own unspent force, but largely 
by selfish partisan design, were kept alive and 
preserved after its close. . . The rancor of 
these territorial journalists, then, is explicable, 
but their unbridled exhibition of it is surpris- 
ing by the test of discretion or expediency, re- 
gardless of the perhaps less appropriate stan- 
dard of good manners or even good morals. 
This stricture is especially applicable to the 
violent anti-administration if not positively 
pro-southern tone of the democratic press for 
several years before the Civil war, during its 
progress, and after its close. Such a policy 
would obviously ser\e to weaken and at- 
tenuate the party as it no doubt actually 
did. 

But these verbal aggressions of the demo- 



cratic leaders were more than matched by 
violent action on the other side. Dr. Geo. L. 
Miller's campaign for delegate to Congress 
in 1864, against P. W. Hitchcock, the republi- 
can candidate, was a round of mob violence 
in the South Platte section. There was a de- 
liberate attempt to break up his meeting at 
Nebraska City when he criticized the negro 
policy of the administration ; and the click of 
pistols was an audible response to J. Sterling 
Morton's insistence that the speaker* should 
be heard. At Salem Dr. Miller slept at the 
home of Dr. Brooke under a guard of shot- 
guns, and this experience was repeated at 
other places in those southern counties. He 
was practically mobbed at Brownville, and it 
was impossible for him to gain a hearing. He 
was warned not to go to Pawnee City as his 
life wotdd be in danger; and when he arrived 
there he was refused admission to the hotel. 
Many of his friends were threatened with per- 
sonal violence and destruction of their prop- 
erty if they should vote for him. Jealous op- 
position of the leaders of his own party in 
Douglas county aided in making this campaign 
one of extraordinary strenuousness, even for 
a frontier country, and put the candidates' 
staying qualities to the severest test. 

The council of the first and second assem- 
blies refused to appropriate money to supply 
the members with the territorial newspapers, 
but the federal government appropriated $150 
for supplying territorial newspapers to each 
of the forty-eight members and the two chief 
clerks of the fifth assembly. The following 
resolution was adopted by the lower house of 
the first territorial legislature, January 18, 
1855: "Resolved, that a copy of every news- 
paper published in the territory of Nebraska 
be furnished to each member of this House 
weekly during the session." February 15th 
following, J. W. Richardson of Dodge county 
introduced the following: "Resolved, that 
the chief clerk of this House be instructed to 
inform the editors of the 'Chronotype' and 
'Palladium' that no more copies of their 
papers will be allowed members of this House 
at the Public expense, on account of the fact 
that they have given false reports of the pro- 
ceedings of this House, and have villified mem- 



448 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



bers of this House and the present chief execu- 
tive of this territory'. " The resolution was laid 
over under the rules, but was taken up the same 
day on motion of A. J. Poppleton, and was 
adopted, ayes 15, nays 4. Hascall C. Purple 
then introduced the following : "Resolved, by 
the House of Representatives of Nebraska, 
that the 'Nebraska City News' be excluded 
from this House." William D. Hail of Ne- 
braska City moved to amend by inserting the 
"Nebraskian," after which both the original 



motion and the amendment went to the table 
by a vote of 11 to 9. The house of the third 
assembly supplied each of its members with 
five copies of the papers of the territory. Per- 
haps because they felt that they had little to 
spare, these early legislatures were particular 
in preventing and resenting attacks on their 
good name ; but the sixth legislature had made 
some progress toward the present conception 
and practice of free criticism of legislative 
bodies. 



CHAPTER XX 

Slavery in Nebraska 



THE complete contrast between the atti- 
tude of the first territorial legislature 
and that of the seventh toward the negro ques- 
tion indicates the rapid growth of anti-slavery 
sentiment in the Northwest after the discus- 
sion and passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act. 
As we have seen a bill "prohibiting the settle- 
ment of free negroes and mulattoes in the ter- 
ritory of Nebraska" passed the lower house of 
the first legislature and was favored by four 
of the eleven councilmen who voted on the 
question of its passage. At the third session a 
bill for the same purpose was introduced in 
the house by Mr. Singleton, representing Paw- 
nee and Richardson counties, but it was indefi- 
nitely postponed. A similar bill was also in- 
troduced in the council, and it was laid on the 
table, Bradford and Reeves of Otoe and AIc- 
Donald of Pawnee county voting against the 
motion. The nearer to the negro slave state 
of Missouri these lawmakers dwelt the farther 
away they wanted to keep the negro. At the 
sixth session Mr. Houston Nuckolls of Rich- 
ardson county introduced a bill of the same 
j)urport in the house, but on motion of Hans- 
com it was loaded with an amendment prohibit- 
ing slavery, and the enacting clause was 
stricken out. 

Mr. T. M. Marquett of the committee made 
a report which reflects the conservative opin- 
ion of many anti-slavery men at that time on 
the slavery question : 

In opposing the passage of this bill, the 
imdersigned does not wish to be understood 
as desiring to have negroes or mulattoes 
among us. It is n&t desirable to have them 
here, either as freemen or slaves. It never 
was intended that we should live with them. 
He who created us and them, alloted different 
portions of this earth's surface to each. Thev 
are among us, however, by no voluntary immi- 



gration, by no act of their own, but bv a vio- 
lation of nature's law, which, as it made them 
a different race, also gave them a different 
place on the earth to live. . . 

The undersigned admits that it is a great 
evil to have negroes or mulattoes among us. 
. Gentlemen cannot be in earnest in 
passing a bill which subjects a colored person 
to fine and imprisonment merely because they 
are so uiifortunate as to be a negro, and on 
Nebraska soil. To pass this bill would be to 
pander to the vitiated prejudices of those 
whose highest and holiest ambition is to per- 
petuate slavery, hence they have commenced 
the persecution of a few negroes for the sole 
purpose of driving them into bondage. We 
see, here, when a proposition is made to make 
the soil of Nebraska free, it is followed by one 
to persecute the few negroes that may be so 
unfortunate as to be here. It is our policy to 
steer clear of the negro worshiper, the negro 
enslaver, and the negro persecutor. There is 
another and a better way to get rid of this 
evil ; one more in accordance with the im- 
pulses of this enlightened age; and that is to 
colonize them to Africa, or some other south- 
ern clime, to extend to them the hand of 
philanthropy rather than that of tyranny. 

Therefore, the undersigned would recom- 
mend that this bill and the whole subject mat- 
ter be referred to the committee .on federal 
relations, with instructions to inquire into the 
expediency of memorializing congress to 
adopt some plan by which all the free negroes 
in the United States, and more especially those 
of our own territory may be colonized in 
Africa or some other southern clime. 

By 1858 northern anti-slavery sentiment, 
which had been precipitated by the repeal of 
the Missouri Compromise in the Nebraska act, 
was crystallizing into form. The politicians, 
perceiving the opportunities of the new party, 
were quick to use every advantage for the 
promotion of its fortunes. Democrats of Ne- 
braska, especially, would be estopped by con- 



450 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



sistency from objection to the application of. 
the popular sovereignty rule to the Nebraska 
case. And so Samuel G. Daily laid the foun- 
dation for his political career by introducing 
in the house, at the fifth session, a bill to 
abolish slavery, which was referred to a spe- 
cial committee. The majority of the commit- 
tee — Daily, James Stewart of Douglas, and 
John Taffe of Dakota — made a report whose 
adroitness was ec|ual to, and whose effect was 
perhaps enhanced by its buncombe : 

Your committee, to whom was referred a 
bill for the abolition of slavery in this terri- 
tory, having had the same under consideration, 
beg leave to make the following majority re- 
port: 

The abolition and prohibition of slavery in 
this territory is so clearly in accordance with 
the spirit of the age, and the wants of a pro- 
gressive and enlightened and free people, that 
your committee deem it time wasted to stop 
to prove it to a highly civilized and chris- 
tianized people ; were we living in the dark 
ages of the world's history — in a semi-civi- 
lized state, instead of the latter half of the 
nineteenth century — such a work might not 
be unnecessary. 

And that the legislature of this territory 
has the power legally to enact such a law. we 
have only to refer to the ever living principles 
of all free and republican govenmients, to- 
wit: That the people rule, acknowledging no 
superior dictator, making their own laws in 
their own way. And in no case, in all our 
glorious history, do we find this grand prin- 
ciple more fully recognized, or more clearly 
expressed than in our organic act, where it is 
declared that it is not the "intention of this 
act to legislate slavery into any territory or 
state, or to exclude it therefrom, but to leave 
the people thereof perfectly free to form and 
regulate their domestic institutions in their 
own way, subject only to the constitution of 
the United States." 

And it is upon this doctrine — that the 
people are the fountain of all power — that 
your committee plant themselves, wholly dis- 
avowing the doctrines contained in President 
Buchanan's message, that this territory is as 
much a slave territory as South Carolina or 
Georgia. 

The report was well met l)y the democratic 
minority, Benjamin P. Rankin of Sarpy and 
William C. Fleming of Richardson : 

The nfinority of the select committee to 
whom was referred the liill for an act to al)ol- 



ish slavery in the territory of Nebraska, have 
had the same under careful consideration, and 
respectfully ask leave to submit the following 
report : 

Your committee deeply regret the introduc- 
tion into this House of a bill of this character, 
and greatly fear that it was done at the 
prompting of political ambition, rather than 
through a sincere desire to advance the useful 
and legitimate legislation so loudly called for 
liv the wants and necessities of our people. It 
is unfortunate for our history as a territory 
that the halls of legislation have at times wit- 
nessed scenes of strife and angry contro- 
versy. Sectionalism in territorial matters has 
hitherto distracted our people and done much 
to embitter our social relations, and to de- 
stroy those feelings of brotherhood which 
should ever exist amongst the 'pioneers of a 
new country whose peculiar duty it is to help 
one another in molding and directing the des- 
tinies of a young empire, which we trust will 
be our pride and the glorious heritage of our 
children. 

The duties of a laborious and protracted 
session were about drawing to a close, and 
congratulations were general amongst the 
members that the records of one term at least 
of the Nebraska legislature would not be 
stained with the foot-prints of strife. We 
were felicitating ourselves upon the passage 
of criminal and civil codes, a revenue law, and 
other laws of a general nature which the pub- 
lic wants demanded. But a few days of the 
session still remained, and upon their labors 
hung the fate of the school law, a homestead 
law, and a license law, which were second to 
none in their importance and in their effect 
upon the well being of society. It is to be de- 
plored that there was a single member in this 
hall who would not rather consecrate his ef- 
forts to the passage of these laws rather than 
to the introduction of a measure which can 
have no practical eft'ect other than to sow dis- 
sension and discord amongst our people. 

Slavery does not exist in this territory in 
any practical form, and cannot so exist with- 
out affirmative legislation, recognizing the 
jight of property in slaves, and regulating the 
mode of protecting and controlling them, and 
of enforcing that right. The abstract right 
under the constitution which is claimed by 
some, is in fact only an inchoate right, which 
can have no practical importance in the ab- 
sence of local police regulations upon the sub- 
ject. In the absence then of any such legisla- 
tion upon the subject — in the absence of any 
effort on the part of any member of either 
Ijranch of the legislature to introduce legisla- 
tion for the protection of slavery the minority 



SLAVERY IN NEBRASKA 



451 



of your committee deem it not only unneces- 
sary but extremely unwise and unpatriotic, in 
the present state of the public mind, to hurl 
this fire-brand of strife into our peaceful ter- 
ritory. The page of blood which Kansas has 
furnished to the history of the world should 
have been a warning to the fell hand which 
has attempted to strike such a blow at our 
peace and quiet. 

The minority of your committee would 
therefore recommend the indefinite postpone- 
ment of the bill. Let the pages of our jour- 
nals be ever free from an allusion to the sub- 
ject, and Nebraska will grow old in her career 
of glory, and the word slavery, either for neg- 
ative or positive purposes, will never disgrace 
the fair pages of our statute book. 

All of which is most respectfully submitted, 

B. P. Rankin. 

Wm. C. Fleming. 

Both of the reports were chiefly palpable 
political fencing, and Daily, Tafife, and Ran- 
kin, if not the others of the committees, were 
thus training and posing for popularity in the 
coming congressional lists. The bill passed 
the house by the following vote : Ayes, Ben- 
net, Briggs, Collier, Davis of Cass, Davis of 
Washington, Daily, Dean, Doom, De Puy, 
Gwyer, Hall, Kline, Lee, Marquett, Mason, 
Norwood, Roeder, Seymour, Steele, Stewart, 
Tafife, Wattles, Young ; nays. Bramble, Clayes, 
Fleming, Ramsey, Rankin, Steinberger. The 
bill was indefinitely postponed in the council 
by the following vote : Ayes, Bowen, Craw- 
ford, Doane, Donelan, Furnas, Moore, Miller, 
Porter, Scott ; nay, Dundy. 

The politician in legislative bodies may 
habitually neglect matters of real importance 
to the public, but he never sleeps on a catch- 
penny partisan scheme. Near the beginning 
of the sixth session, Turner M. Marquett of 
Cass county introduced in the house "a bill 
for an act to abolish and prohibit slavery or 
involuntary servitude within this territory." 
But since the institution of slavery could not 
be shown to exist in the territory, it was 
deemed more plausible to assume that it might 
be established in the future, and so Hanscom's 
motion to strike out the word "abolish" pre- 
vailed by a vote of 19 to 16. The democrats 
in general voted no, presumably for tactical 
reasons. The bill now merely prohibited 
slavery in the territory, and in this form it 



passed the house by a vote of 21 to 17. This 
was not of course a party vote, for the house 
comprised 26 democrats to 13 republicans, and 
the council 10 democrats to 3 republicans. 
But republican politicians led in the project 
and they were followed by members of both 
parties. Such names, well known to present 
day Nebraskians, found in the affirmative list, 
are : Andrew J. Hanscom, George B. Lake, 
Dr. William S. Latta, Turner M. Marquett, 
Samuel Maxwell, and John Taffe. 

Like its predecessor of the fifth session, this 
bill was indefinitely postponed in the council, 
as follows : Ayes, Collier, Doane, Donelan, 
Little, Miller, Reeves, Scott; nays, Boykin, 
Cheever, Dundy, Furnas, Porter, Taylor. Of 
those voting against postponement, Boykin, 
Furnas, and Porter were democrats. The 
next day the bill was recalled from the house 
by vote of the council for the purpose of re- 
considering its postponement, but the motion 
to reconsider was defeated by a vote of 6 to 
7, Furnas, Porter, and Reeves, democrats, vot- 
ing aye. 

Mr. Doane then offered the following as a 
joint resolution: 

Whereas, slavery does not exist in this ter- 
ritory, and there is no danger of its introduc- 
tion therein. 

Therefore, Be it resolved by the Council 
and House of Representatives of the territory 
of Nebraska, that we deem it inexpedient and 
unnecessary to waste the time of the legisla- 
tive assembly in enacting or to blot the pages 
of our statute books in publishing acts either 
to regulate, abolish or prohibit slavery in the 
territory of Nebraska. 

Resolved, further, That being opposed to 
the introduction of slavery in this territory, 
and asserting the exclusive power of terri- 
torial legislatures over the whole subject of 
slavery in the territories, by right of inherent 
sovereignty in the people to regulate their ao 
mestic institutions in their own way, and by 
virtue of the provisions of the Kansas and Ne- 
braska bill, this legislature is prepared in any 
proper and practical way to take whatever ac- 
tion may be necessary to prohibit or exclude 
slavery from this territory at any time when 
such legislation may become necessary. 

Resolved, further. That believing the agi- 
tation of this question at this time, by the av- 
tempt to legislate upon the subject of slavery 
in this territory, to be ill-timed, pernicious and 



452 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



damaging to the fair name of our territory, 
the members of this legislature will ojipose all 
such attempts. 

But the council was bent on prohibiting 
slavery, and another joint resolution to that 
end was passed by a vote of 6 to 5. Doane's 
point of order that a similar resolution had 
been postponed by the council at this session 
was overruled by the president, and the ruling 
was sustained by the council, on appeal. 

When this resolution went to the house it 
was referred to a committee consisting of 
Turner M. Marcjuett of Cass county, George 
B. Lake of Douglas county, and Milton W. 
Reynolds of Otoe county. Marcjuett and 
Lake joined in the following report : 

Mr. Sf^cakcr: A majority of your com- 
mittee, to whom was referred C. B. No. 58, 
having had the same under consideration, 
would beg leave to submit the following re- 
port: 

That the bill be amended as follows : 

Striking out in the title the words "joint 
resolution" and insert "a bill for an act,"' and 
likewise add the following: "Section 2d. 
This act to take effect and be in force from 
and after its passage." Those amendments 
are to be seen on the face of the bill : they 
need no comments. The question, disguise it 
as you will, which is involved in this bill, is 
the great question of the age. Our entire 
union is divided into two great parties on this 
question ; one party struggles ever to uphola 
the principles of this bill, the other labors as 
earnestly for its overthrow, and we are now 
called to take one side or the other of this 
great question. 

The power to prohibit, in the opinion of the 
majority of your committee, is conferred on 
vis by our organic act, and, by this measure, 
the opportunity is given to us to test our fidel- 
ity to the freedom, and opposition to the ex- 
tension of slavery. 

The opponents of this measure have not a 
single reason to advance why this bill should 
not pass : they put forth, however, some ex- 
cuses for opposing it. They, come forth with 
the miserable plea that they are opposed to 
blotting our statute books with useless legis- 
lation. vSir, this is not so much a plea against 
this law as it is in favor of blotting our terri- 
tory with slavery. 

They say that slavery does not exist here, 
and that this measure is useless. This excuse 
will not now hold good, for a president's mes- 
sage has just reached us in which it is de- 



clared, and in this opinion he is backed with 
a powerful party, that men have the right to 
bring slaves here and to hold them as such, 
and that this is slave territory. 

We, it is true, may not be of the opinion 
that this doctrine is true, but, sir, if men de- 
clare that they have a right to make this a 
slave territory, shall we not prohibit them in 
this act, and prevent the wrong they would do 
us? If the friends of slavery insist that they 
have a right to hold slaves here, shall we 
tamely submit to it? If they insist on making 
this a slave territory, which they do, shall we 
not insist that it shall be forever free? 

With the amendments proposed, a major- 
ity of your committee would report the bill 
back to the House and earnestly recommend 
its passage. 

All of which is respectfully submitted : 
T. M. Marquett. 
GeoRGE B. Lake. 

The measure, amended into the form of a 
bill, passed the house, 19 to 17, the council 
concurring by a vote of 7 to 3. As a matter 
of course it was vetoed by Governor Black ; 
for in all walks of life, and notably in the 
devious pathway to political preferment, en- 
\'ironment, especially as it bears upon self-in- 
terest, has a more potent influence in shaping 
our principles and determining our beliefs 
than our weak moral vision is able to perceive 
or our weaker moral courage is willing to con- 
fess, and Governor Black had been appointed 
from President Buchanan's own state, and 
artfully, if not naturally, reflected the presi- 
dent's subserviency to the southern, pro-sla- 
very school of politics. 

The veto message of this mouthpiece of 
Buchanan shows the portentous width of 
the breach between the administration and 
Douglas factions of the democratic party.- The 
puerile technicalities employed by the gov- 
ernor in his attempt to prove that the organic 
act did not intend to invest territorial legis- 
latures with authority over slavery indicates 
his ignorance of the debates over the bill and 
of the specific declarations by Douglas upon 
that point. In a heated colloquy with Green 
of Missouri, who was insisting in a speech 
in the Senate, January 12, 1860, that the Dred 
,Scott decision had denied any authority of 
Congress over slavery in the territories, Doug- 
las said : 



SLAVERY IN NEBRASKA 



453 



When the time comes for discussing it, I 
will show that at that period, on the very 
night the Kansas-Nebraska bill was passed, I 
stated that the sole object of the repeal of the 
Missouri restriction was that the people of the 
territory might introduce or exclude slaver}- 
through the territorial legislature while a ter- 
ritory, as well as after they became a state; 
and no man who heard me then, can have an 
excuse for not knowing that I held that the 
territorial legislature, in the territorial capac- 
ity, could do it. The record in the Globe will 
sustain me. . . In the House of Represen- 
tatives, after the Kansas-Nebraska bill was 
passed, the question was put to Colonel Rich- 
ardson, as the democratic nominee for speaker, 
whether he thought a territorial legislature 
could exclude slavery by a territorial enact- 
ment during its territorial existence, and he 
answered in writing ; and after that answer 
every southern member but three voted for 
him as sound on the territorial question. 

In the course of these attacks on Green, 
which were made with his usual terrific force, 
Douglas insisted that the Dred Scott decision 
had not decided the question as to the power 
of Congress to prohibit slavery in the terri- 
tories : 

I receive the Dred Scott decision as an 
authoritative exposition, but I deny that the 
point now under discussion has been decided 
in the Dred Scott case. There is no one fact 
in that case upon which it could have arisen. 
The lawyers engaged on each side never 
dreamt that it did arise in the case. . . The 
understanding was that when a territorial leg- 
islature passed an act on this subject, of which 
any man complained, he should be able to 
bring the matter before the supreme court ; 
and to facilitate that court in getting jurisdic- 
tion, we amended the bill by putting in a pe- 
culiar clause providing that a case affecting 
the title to property in slaves might be taken 
up to the supreme court without reference to 
the amount involved. That clause was in- 
serted in order to get this judicial question 
before the supreme court of the United States. 
How? On a territorial enactment. Nobody 
ever dreamt that the court was going, in a 
decision on any case that did not afTect that 
question, to decide this point without argu- 
ment and without notice, and preclude the 
rights of the people without allowing them 
to be heard. Whenever a territorial legisla- 
ture shall pass an act divesting or attempting 
to divest, or impairing, or prejudicing the 
right to slave property, and a case under that 
act shall be brought before the supreme court. 



I will abide by the decision, and help in good 
faith to carry it out. . . But the difference 
between the senator from Missouri and my- 
self is, that I assert that this question never 
arose. But suppose I am mistaken. You as- 
sert that the question has been decided ; I 
assert that it has not been. Why cannot you 
wait for it to come before the court regularly? 
If you are right, the court will decide it in the 
same way that you think they have already 
decided it. I do not believe they will ever 
decide that way ; but why not allow the ques- 
tion to come before the court on a proper 
case, and allow the argument of it? Let my 
friend from Ohio [Pugh] argue the case be- 
fore the court. 

Though the specious technicalities of the 
veto message sound to us now like a voice 
from the tomb of a buried past, yet they were 
well expressed, and will doubtless be read as 
an interesting illustration of an important 
phase of Nebraska's early development. 

It was hopeless to attempt to pass the bill 
over the veto, and when the question came 
before the council it was laid on the table on 
motion of Porter, one of its supporters. 

A newspaper synopsis of the debate on the 
abolition bill discloses in an interesting way 
the differing attitude of the two parties, and 
of the two factions of the democratic party, 
toward the slavery question. Mr. Marquett 
insisted that the legislature had the right and 
power to prohibit slavery under the organic 
act. In the second place he said that the ene- 
mies of the bill objected to it because they 
were opposed to cumbering the statute books 
with abstract questions. "I look forward to 
the time when the state convention meets to 
see the same parties raise the cry of abstrac- 
tion there. Why, sir, the Declaration of In- 
dependence was an abstraction ; the way our 
forefathers sectired to us the blessings we 
now enjoy was by declaring abstractly their 
rights and maintaining them ; hence it was 
said by Daniel Webster that the Revolution 
was fought on a preamble : and in the days of 
the Revolution men who opposed the right 
merely because it was an abstraction were 
called tories." To the objection that the bill 
created unnecessary agitation, he said that, 
"We can not injure the territory by proclaim- 
ing to the world that the footprints of a slave 



454 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



shall never cvirse her soil. . . But, sir, it 
is not an abstraction ; there are slaves in this 
territory. I have been informed that there 
are no less than seven or eight at Nebraska 
City. I have also been informed that there 
are some fifteen slaves near Ft. Kearney; and 
from the political complexion of the people 
of that section, I am ready to believe it. Slav- 
ery does exist here, and if it is wrong to 
hold a thousand slaves it is wrong to hold one. 
If there is only one slave here then there is a 
necessity for this law." 




MiLTox W. Reynolds (Kicking Bird) 

Mr. Belden of Douglas county, Buchanan 
democrat, said that he voted to reject the bill 
on the day of its introduction because he be- 
lieved it was introduced for mischievous pur- 
poses. He was unwilling to enter on a cru- 
sade against the rights and interests of the 
South. What had that section of the coun- 
try ever done that her institutions should be 
continually and persistently assailed by the 
abolition press and party of the country? 
Then, again, there was no necessity for this 
legislation. It would do no harm to declare 
that the sun should go on in its accustomed 
course, still he had no idea that anybody woula 
think of introducing a bill for any such pur- 



pose. The country had been thrown into a 
constant agitation for no other jmrpose than 
to build up a sectional party. The speaker 
then read the resolution from the Philadelphia 
platform which declared that Congress had 
sovereign power over the territories, and in 
the exercise of that power it was their duty 
to prohibit slavery. 'Tf Congress has this 
power how can the territorial legislature have 
it too ?" 

George B. Lake, afterward judge of the 
supreme court of the state of Nebraska, made 
a very positive and forcible speech, forecast- 
ing his ultimate desertion of the democratic 
party upon the issue in question. This speech 
created a sensation in the house. Mr. Lake 
was willing to meet this question today, and 
was opposed to occupying much time. He 
was prepared to canvass the question and 
record his vote. He believed we had the right 
to exclude slavery, and was not one of those 
who were willing to be driven from the po- 
sition he had taken during the recent canvass ; 
therefore he said emphatically and candidly, 
that the people of the territories, through 
their legislatures, had sovereign power over 
this svibject. That principle was clearly de- 
fined in the Cincinnati platform. Mr. Bu- 
chanan, in his letter of acceptance, recognized 
it in the most emphatic terms. He then read 
from Mr. Buchanan's letter of acceptance: 

This legislation is founded upon principles 
as ancient as free government itself, and in 
accordance with them has simply declared 
that the people of a territory, like those of a 
state, shall decide for themselves whether 
slavery shall or shall not exist within their 
limits. 

The democracy fought the campaign ol 
1856 upon that issue. That was the issue 
made on every stump in all the free states of 
this Union. It was to this living principle 
alone that the democracy was indebted for its 
success in that struggle. "Does the gentleman 
believe we should have succeeded upon any 
other ground? This is a principle that is 
dear to every friend of free government. Men 
may change but principles never do. The 
president may declare, as he has since done, 
that 'slavery exists in all the territories of 



SLAVERY IN NEBRASKA 



455 



this Union as much as in Georgia or South 
Carolina,' if he pleases; but whenever he or 
his cabinet meets the Little Giant of the West, 
the language of his letter of acceptance must 
stare them in the face." His colleague had 
said that this bill was the vitalizing principle 
of the republican party. "That may be so. 
But if the democratic party in this legislattire 
carry out in good faith the principles promul- 
gated in the organic act, and are not driven 
to take ground against the principles advo- 
cated on the stump during the recent canvass, 
the originators of this bill will be but little 
benefited by its introduction." He hoped 
this bill would pass the house. If it did not, 
and if the majority took ground in opposition 
to its passage, the democratic party would be 
driven into a hopeless minority in this terri- 
tory. No party could stand for a single day 
if it took the ground his colleague had taken. 
The principle of popular sovereignty was so 
deeply implanted in the public mind that they 
would be satisfied with nothing short of it. 
If this question was of sufficient importance 
to require us to meet it as we had to upon 
every stump, and explaining, as we did, that 
the people had the right to exclude slavery, 
it seemed to him that every democrat would 
see the necessity of meeting this question 
'promptly and deciding it by forever excluding 
slavery from this territory. 

The attitude of intelligent and leading dem- 
ocrats of this time toward the slavery ques- 
tion is well illustrated by the remarks, in this 
debate, of Mr. Milton W. Reynolds, for sev- 
eral years editor of the Nebraska City Neivs. 
After asserting that "the object of the bill and 
its introduction at this time is evidently for 
the purpose of creating a little stock in trade 
for the next election," Mr. Reynolds pro- 
ceeded : 

Slavery has no existence in this territory. 
The few persons, amounting to but five or si.x, 
held ostensibly as servants, are really in a 
state of willing or voluntary servitude. When 
their masters emigrated from Missouri to Ne- 
braska, they voluntarily and cheerfully accom- 
panied them. Their condition is by no means 
deplorable, and I cannot consider them as ob- 
jects of extraordinary commiseration or 
worthy of the far fetched philanthropy of gen- 



tlemen ever on the alert to discover objects of 
pity beyond the limits of their own com- 
munities and their own neighborhoods. The 
only persons alleged to be held in a state of 
servitude in this territory are three or four in 
number at Nebraska City. These three or 
four beloved servants are in an infinitely better 
condition than a majority of the white ser- 
vants of this very city in which is located the 
seat of government of the territory of Ne- 
braska. Theirs is a paradise compared with 
nine-tenths of the white servants of the north. 
They fare better and go better dressed, and 
are treated more kindly and affectionately 
than the hotel servants throughout the entire 
northern states. In behalf of these servants 
I protest against the passage of this bill. Llave 
they petitioned and prayed your honorable 
body to pass any such enactment? Do they 
desire its passage? Do you not know that it 
will operate most detrimentally, seriously and 
most prejudicially to their best interests? 
Driven out from their homes of quiet ease and 
luxury, they will be obliged to seek a bare 
and scanty subsistence in that cold, cheerless 
and already crowded charcoal district in Can- 
ada, or they will be transported to the cot- 
ton fields and rice plantations of the south. 

On the third trial — at the seventh session 
— the prohibitory measure was enacted into 
law. 

The bill was passed over the veto — in the 
house by 31 to 2, Downs and Porter voting 
nay ; and in the council by the same vote as it 
received on its original passage. 

While the democrats had cooperated with 
the republicans in the formality of prohibiting 
slavery in the territory, the leaders of the 
party dashed from their lips the cup of ad- 
vantage which would have accrued to them 
through this moderation, by persisting in their 
violent opposition to anti-slavery principles or 
tendencies. 

At the twelfth session, Augustus F. Harvey 
of Otoe county introduced a bill to remove 
distinctions on account of race and color in 
the school laws of Nebraska, "by providing 
separate schools for negro children." The 
following minority report discloses the ques- 
tion at issue : 

Mr. Harvey from the select committee on 
the bill, by unanimous consent, submitted a 
minority report, as follows, oti House File No. 
9 — An act to remove the distinctions on ac- 



456 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



count of race and color in the school laws of 
Nebraska. 

That they do not agree with the recommen- 
dation of the majority of the committee. The 
bill as referred to the committee provides for 
the education of colored youth. It gives them 
all the privileges and advantages of the com- 
mon school system, the means of a free educa- 
tion, and lays the foundation of their useful- 
ness to the extent of their ability as humble 
members of the body politic. To the propo- 
sition of the original bill, authorizing the 
boards of education to provide separate 
schools for colored children, the undersigned 
agree, and will heartily concur in any action 
of the House which may adopt it. 

But the amendment proposed by the ma- 
jority of the committee contemplates the ad- 
mission of colored children to our schools on 
an equal footing with white youth. This is 
reaching too far in advance of the age. The 
people of Nebraska are not yet ready to send 
white boys and white girls to school to sit on 
the same seats with negroes ; they are not yet 
ready to endorse in this tacit manner the 
dogma of miscegenation; especially are they 
yet far from ready to degrade their offspring 
to a level with so inferior a race. 

The undersigned do not believe the inten- 
tion of the majority of the committee can be 
carried out by the people; and we do not be- 
lieve that the legislative assembly should force 
upon the people a measure so obnoxious to 
their wishes and habits and the established 
principles of political equity. 

We therefore ofifer the following as a sub- 
stitute for the recommendation of the major- 
ity of the committee : 

Resolved, That the amendment to H. F. 
No. 9, viz., to strike section 2 and 3 thereof, 
do not pass. Aug. F. Harvby. 

E. P. Child. 

The amendments of the committee were 
agreed to by a vote of 19 to 13, and the bill 
passed 25 to 10. The bill passed the council 
by the following vote : Ayes, Doane. Doom, 
^Majors, Neligh, Presson, Reeves, Sheldon, 
Stewart, Wardell ; nays. Bates, Baunier, Free- 
man. Following is a copy of the bill : 

An act to remove the distinctions on account 
of race and color in the school laws of Ne- 
braska. 

Section i. Be it enacted by the Council 
and House of Representatives of the territory 
of Nebraska, That the word "white" in the 
fourth line of section eight of chapter xlviii 
(forty-eight) of the revised statutes of Ne- 



braska, entitled schools, and found upon page 
354 of the printed volume of said revision, 
and the proviso at the end of section 48 of 
same chapter as found upon page 372 of said 
printed volume, be and the same are hereby 
stricken out, and shall hereafter be of no ef- 
fect. 

Section 2. This act shall take effect and be 
in force from and after its passage. 

Secretary A. S. Paddock was acting govern- 
or at this time on account of the absence of 
Governor Saunders, and he interposed the fol- 
lowing veto : 

The Honorable, the House of Representatives: 

I retii.rn herewith to your honorable body, 
in which it originated, "an act to remove the 
distinctions on account of race and color in 
the school laws of Nebraska," without my 
approval. 

The amendments to the present school law, 
provided for in this act, contemplate the enu- 
meration of the colored youths, and the taxa- 
tion of colored persons in the territory for 
school purposes. 1 cannot think it \vas the 
design of the legislative assembly to accom- 
plish only these things by this act. I am quite 
sure it was intended to give the children of 
colored persons who are to be taxed for school 
purposes the privilege of education at the pub- 
lic expense; yet the act itself does not sanction 
this. 

You will agree with me that all who are 
thus taxed should be allowed their proportion 
of the school fund for the education of their 
own children. Any other rule would be op- 
pressive and unjust. I shall gladly unite with 
the legislative assembly in the enactment of a 
law providing for the education of the colorea 
youths of the territory, as well as for the tax- 
ation of colored persons for school purposes. 
Permit me, however, to suggest that better 
results could be expected in the education of 
both white and colored youths if separate 
schools could be provided for each. 

Isluch as we may regret it, we cannot close 
our eyes to the fact that a strong prejudice 
exists in the public mind against the intimate 
association of the youths of the two races in 
the same public schools, which no amount oj 
legislation can eradicate. It cannot be other- 
wise than that in populous towns, contentions 
will arise between the two classes which must 
certainlv retard the educational advancement 
of both! 

I think we should act wisely if, in chang- 
ing the law so that the children of this un- 
fortunate class of our fellow-citizens who are 
now excluded, are to receive education at the 



SLAVERY IN NEBRASKA 



457 



public expense, we should provide for separate 
schools where the number of scholars is large 
enough to warrant it. This should not be 
compulsory, but optional with the citizens of 
the locality specially interested. 

Very respectfully your obedient servant, 
Algernon S. Paddock. 

On the morning of February 14th the house 
directed the sergeant-at-arms to return the 
message to Mr. Paddock because Governor 
Saunders had returned to the territory on the 
13th, the day of the date of the message. Ap- 
peal was made to Governor Saunders but he 
declined to interfere as follows : 

Omaha, Neb., Feb. 14, 1867. 
To the Ho)iorable, the Speaker of the House 
of Representatives: 

Sir — Your communication of this date, in 
which you state that "you are of the opinion, 
(a majority of the House agreeing), that in 
the case arising, in which the secretary has to- 
day returned certain bills as Acting Governor, 
that the House can receive no such communi- 
cations," is received. 

In reply, I beg leave to state that I returned 
to the territory on the evening of the 13th 
inst., but it was at too late an hour for ordi- 
nary business, and I therefore gave no notice 
of my return, to the secretary, until today, the 
14th inst. 

I have this day assumed the duties of my 
office, and I can see no impropriety in the act- 
ing governor returning, today, the business 
of yesterday and prior days of the session ; 
but, of course, I do not assume to legally de- 
cide this question for the House. 

I have the honor to be, sir, very respect- 
fully. Alvin Saunders, 

Governor of Nebraska. 

The intent of the amendment plainly was to 
throw open the public schools to negro chil- 
dren ; but possibly Acting Governor Paddock 
was right in assuming that, though they were 
to be enumerated and the property of negroes 
was to be taxed with that purpose in view, yet, 
without a positive provision in the law that 
these children should be admitted to the 
schools, they would be excluded. The house 
evidently distrusted its act, for no attempt was 
made to override the veto. Illustration of the 
fact that republican policy had now settled de- 
terminedly for general negro suffrage, and of 
the no less determined opposition of the demo- 
crats, is found in the majority and minority re- 



ports of the select committee to whom was re- 
ferred that part of Acting Governor Paddock's 
message which disapproved of impartial suf- 
frage. The majority report, made by Isaac 
Wiles of Cass county and George Crow and 
William Daily of Nemaha county, was as fol- 
lows : 

We hold that the dogma of partial suffrage 
is a dangerous doctrine and contrary to the 
laws of nature and the letter and spirit of the 
Declaration of Independence. "We hold these 
truths to be self evident, that all men are cre- 
ated equal ; that they are endowed by their 
Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that 
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit 
of happiness. That to secure these rights, 
governments are instituted among men, deriv- 
ing their just powers from the consent of the 
governed." Your committee is of the opinion 
that there should be no law prohibiting any 
])ortion of our people from the exercise of the 
right of suffrage on account of race or color : 
and that the qualifications for the elective 
franchise should not be based on education, 
but patriotism, manhood, and natural intelli- 
gence. Entertaining these views your com- 
mittee cheerfully endorses the action of con- 
gress in so changing the organic acts of the 
territories that henceforth, in any territory 
now organized, or hereafter to be organized, 
there shall be no denial of the elective fran- 
chise, on account of race or color. 

The opposing minority report, presented by 
Steritt M. Curran of Douglas county and Au- 
.gustus F. Harvey of Otoe county, was as fol- 
lows : 

We hold that the dogma of impartial suf- 
frage is a dangerous doctrine and contrary to 
the laws of nature and the spirit of the Dec- 
laration of Independence. 

We hold that the right to the elective fran- 
chise is not a natural and inalienable preroga- 
tive, but is one which may be granted or taken 
away at the pleasure of the primary govern- 
ing power, that is, in a democratic form of 
government by the people. 

We hold also, that the dictation by con- 
gress, directing the people of any territory to 
confer the elective franchise upon any race or 
class is without warrant in the constitution 
of the United States, without precedent in the 
history of national legislation, and a gross 
usurpation of the most sacred rights of the 
people. 

The majority report was adopted by a vote 



458 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



of 23 to 9, and the minority report was de- 
feated by a like vote. 

Following is a sample Mortonisni from the 
News: "Sir William Daily, member from 
'PrU,' as he spells it, has prepared twenty- 
seven bills for striking out the word white in 
Nebraska laws. Trouble with the apportion- 
ment bill alone prevented him from striking 
out Brown in Brownville, and inserting 'with- 
out distinction on account of race or color.' " 

The first local record of slaveholding in Ne- 
braska is in the Falladiniu of August 16, 1854. 
As the climax of a severe rebuke of critics of 
the popular sovereignty principle the editor as- 
serts that, "an Omaha squaw is the only negro 
owner in the territory." The Nczvs of No- 
vember 27, 1858, notes that on the day of the 
first appearance of the Press, the opposition 
organ, "two negro women were enticed from 
our worthy townsman, Stephen F. Nuckolls, 
by some white-livered abolitionist," and that 
Mr. Nuckolls had offered a reward of $200 
for their apprehension and return to him. The 
Dakota City Herald tells of the arrest of a 
fugitive slave, Phillips by name, who had been 
at that place about a year ; but he was rescued 
by citizens from the Iowa side of the river. 

A case that well illustrates the method of 
search employed by pursuing parties is that of 
the escape of the Nuckolls slaves through 
Iowa, the incidents of which are still vivid in 
the memories of some that witnessed them. 
Mr. Nuckolls, of Nebraska City, Nebraska, 
lost two slave girls in December, 1858. He 
instituted search for them in Tabor, an aboli- 
tionist center, and did not neglect to guard the 
crossings of two streams in the vicinity. Silver 
Creek and the Nishnabotna river. As the 
slaves had been promptly dispatched to Chi- 
cago, this search availed him nothing. . A sec- 
ond and more thorough hunt was decided on, 
and the aid of a score or more fellows was 
secured. These men made entrance into 
houses by force and violence, when bravado 
failed to gain them admission. At one house 
where the remonstrance against intrusion was 
unusually strong the person remonstrating was 
struck over the head and injured for life. The 
outcome of the whole affair was that Mr. 
Nuckolls had some ten thousand dollars to pay 
in damages and costs, and, after all, failed to 
recover his slaves. 

The Underground Railroad ( Siebert) col- 



lects from the letters of the Rev. John Todd, 
Tabor, Iowa, which were published in the 
Tabor Beacon in 1890-1891, the following ac- 
count of the pursuit of his abducted slaves : 

Eliza, a slave of Stephen Nuckolls, who had 
escaped late in 1859, was arrested in Chicago 
on the 12th of November, 1860, and to escape 
a mob of excited negroes the United States 
marshal was compelled to give the woman to 
the city police, who lodged her in the armory 
for safe-keeping. C)n the 24th the same pa- 
per relates that Eliza had been taken from an 
officer of the government and sent "kiting to 
Canada." The Omaha Nebraskian quoted 
approvingly the comment of the Chicago 
Times and Herald on the incident: 

A runaway slave belonging to Hon. S. F. 
Nuckolls, of Nebraska City, was recently cap- 
tured in the city of Chicago, but almost imme- 
diately forcibly taken from the officers by a 
mob of drunken negroes and black republi- 
cans. In commenting on the affair, the Times 
and Herald of that city says : 

"In the presence of thousands assemljled, a 
mob of drunken and infuriated negroes for- 
cibly overrides the constituted authority of the 
constitution of the United States, and rescues 
a fugitive from the custody of the law, amid 
general rejoicings and midnight howls! Who 
can doubt henceforth the strength of the fed- 
eral government ? Who can question our 
loyalty to the constitution ? Let the south dare 
to talk of seceding, with this glorious evidence 
of our fidelity to our obligations to the law? 
Grand government ! Magnificent civilization ! 
Down with the lawless southern barbarians ! 
Stocks rising! Illinois banks sound! Niggers 
going up ! The jultilee of freedom actually 
come ! 

"Go it darkies ! Hurrah for free speech, 
free homes, free mobs, and free negroes. The 
dav of Jubilee has come !" 

Cyrus H. McCormick, the famous manu- 
facturer of reapers and mowers, was the 
owner of the Times and Herald at this time. 

In 1860 Mr. Nuckolls brought suit in the 
district court of the territory against Reuben 
S. Williams, George B. Gaston, Lester W. 
Piatt, and thirteen other citizens of Civil Bend. 
Iowa, for carrying off two of his slaves to 
Iowa and then to Canada in 1858. Judge 
Miller, overruling a demurrer, decided that 
in this territory, where there had been no leg- 



SLAVICRY IN NEBRASKA 



459 



islation on the subject, under the constitution 
and laws of the United States, an action might 
be entertained against parties carrying away 
persons owing service or labor. 

The Missouri-Kansas line of John Brown's 
"underground railroad" system for running 
off slaves into Canada ran through southeast 
Nebraska. It passed through Lawrence, 
Topeka, Horton, and Albany, Kansas, cross- 
ing the Nebraska line opposite the last named 
place. It then ran through Little Nemaha, 
Camp Creek, and Nebraska City, crossing the 
river here to Percival, about seven mile.s 
northeast, in Fremont county, Iowa ; then on 
to Tabor, which was a sort of rendezvous. 
From this place there were several roads, but 
all toward the northeast. In December, 1858, 
Brown made a raid into Missouri and led away 
twelve slaves over the route described, and 
then on to Canada and freedom. The party 
of fugitives passed through Nebraska City on 
the 11th of February, 1859, and the News — 
Milton W. Reynolds, editor — gives them a 
God-speed little less than ferocious. The 
headlines of the notice were: "Horse thieves 
and nigger stealers. Fit associates. Boon 
companions! C)ld John Brown of Osawa- 
tomie passes through Nebraska City with a 
troupe of Niggers and a gang of Horse- 
Thieves. Read ! Read ! Ye who are at- 
tacked with Negrophobia !" The exciting 
cause of this tempestuous outbreak of epithet 
follows : 

John Brown, Captain John Brown, Old 
John Brown of Osawatomie. the "Old John 
Brown" who Gerrit Smith, when leading on 
the cohorts of the simon-pure abolitionists in 
the last campaign of New York, being a little 
at the outs with the straight black republicans, 
declared had done more for the freedom of 
'Kansas than the whole republican party, 
passed through this city late last Friday even- 
ing at the head of a herd of stolen niggers 
taken from southern ]Missouri, accompanied 
with a gang of horse thieves of the most des- 
perate character. They had a large number 
of stolen horses in their possession — two of 
\vhich were taken and are now held by the 
deputy sheriff of this county. 

There is an appropriateness and fitness in 
nigger stealers being associated with horse 
thieves that the rankest black repulilican can- 
not fail to appreciate. A fellow feeling makes 



them wondrous kind. Their practices are 
similar, and it is not to be wondered at that 
they exhibit little discrimination in the selec- 
tion of their chattels. If the amount of the 
property stolen is to regfulate the heinousness 
of the crime, it must be confessed the profes- 
sion of the horse thief is the more liberal and 
dignified calling. Osawatomie Brown and 
the notorious ]\Iontgo"mery have carried on 
their depredations during the last few months 
in a high-handed manner. Brown and his 
precious gang have eluded their pursuers ; they 
have gotten into Iowa and may now be con- 
sidered as safely on "tother side of Jordan." 







John Brown 
The abolitionist 



We clip from the Daily St. Joseph Gazette an 
account of their escape from Kansas : 

A gentleman from Atchison, upon whose 
statements we can place the utmost confidence, 
informed us late last evening, of some new 
outrages in Kansas. He states that Osawa- 
tomie Brown, with eleven runaway slaves had 
been surrounded by a posse of men under the 
U. S. marshal, in a little town called Eureka. 
The marshal did not deem his force sufficient 
to attempt a capture of Brown, and sent to 
Atchison City for a reinforcement. Fourteen 
men left this latter place on Sunday evening 
to join the Marshal whose whole force, count- 
ing the men from Atchison, numbered but 



460 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



twenty-five, and with which he marched to 
Eureka to accomphsh his purpose. On reaching 
this point, however, it was discovered that 
Brown had about seventy-five men well armed, 
besides the eleven negroes, and not deeming it 
safe to make an attack upon him, they com- 
menced to retreat. One of the marshal's 
party named William Green lost a horse in the 
retreat, and three others, Dr. Hereford, 
Charles Deitman and Joseph Mc Vey, volun- 
teered to go back with him to Eureka to re- 
cover it. They were set upon by Brown's men 
when near that place and all taken prisoners, 
and are now in his camp. The marshal has 
sent to Fort Leavenworth for troops to assist 
him in arresting Brown, if possible, before his 
escape into Nebraska." 

But Siebert says that Brown had "a mere 
handful of men," and he states that, "at Hol- 
ton a party of pursuers two or three times 
as large as Brown's company was dispersed 
in instant and ridiculous flight and four piison 
ers and five horses taken. . . Under an 
escort of seventeen 'Topeka boys' Brown 
pressed rapidly on to Nebraska City." When 
the fugitives reached Grinnell, Iowa, they 
were entertained by J. B. Grinnell in his own 
house. 

The democratic territorial newspapers were 
from the first hostile to anti-slavery senti- 
ment and propaganda, and this hostility be- 
came bitter and almost violent when the re- 
publican press became aggressive against 
slavery. The Nebraska City News refers to 
the (Jmaha Republican as "our woolly neigh- 
bor" and "our African contemporary" ; and, 
under the head "Dignified and Courteous Iky- 
ing," in charging the Republican with the 
heinous offense of issuing a map of the gold 
regions which shows Fort Kearney as lying 
north of a line due west from Nebraska City 
while it is in fact a mile and a half south of 
that line, calls the Republican "an organ of the 
great moral and religious black republican 
party. It rolls up its ebony eyes from under 
its woolly eyebrows in pious horror, and shows 
a pair of white ivory teeth when we call things 
by their right name in our criticisms upon its 
party." Mr. Theodore H. Robertson, editor 
of the Nebraskian. in the course of a trip to 
the East in the spring of 1860, passed through 
Oberlin, Ohio, and in his paper he assailed 



that place as, "The plague spot of creation, the 
hotbed of fanaticism, the carbuncle upon 
(Jhio, and the black stain upon her fairest es- 
cutcheon, where treason is taught as a virtue 
and where hideous murder is regarded as no 
crime, where abolitionism is taught from the 
pulpit as more sacred than the gospel of 
Christ. In Oberlin, John Brown, the cruel 
murderer, the experienced and skillful horse- 
thief, is canonized as a holier person and bet- 
ter saint than the world ever before saw. The 
peculiar institution of C)berlin is nigger." 

The Nebraska Advertiser attacks Governor 
Black's veto of the slavery prohibition bill 
and quotes severe criticisms of the veto mes- 
sage by the Chicago Times, the Philadelphia 
Press, the P'ittsburgh Post, and the Cincinnati 
Enquirer. The Times said: "In his mes- 
sage, the governor, Hon. Samuel W. Black, 
furnishes the legislature with a literary and 
legal i)roduction which is a weak, very weak, 
condensation of the other Black's famous 
argument. . . If slavery cannot be repealed 
or prohibited in Nebraska by the legislature 
because the constitution protects and guaran- 
tees security to it as property, how can Gov- 
ernor Black as a lawyer . . . maintain 
that the people of Nebraska, by a state con- 
vention, can displace and overrule the consti- 
tution of the United States?" The Press 
said: "The e.xecutive authority of the terri- 
tory is vested in Colonel Samuel W. Black, of 
Pittsburg, who was appointed governor by 
Mr. Buchanan, and who, while always an ar- 
dent democrat, was at no very remote period, 
a warm advocate of the Wilmot proviso, and 
we believe the author of the resolution incor- 
porated in the platform of the democratic 
state convention, adopted at Pittsburgh in 
1849, in favor of the Wilmot jjroviso. In 
the campaign of 1856, Colonel Black was an 
earnest chamjiion of the doctrine of popular 
sovereignty as then understood in our state ; 
and few who heard his eloquent speeches at 
that time, . . . when he advocated the 
right of the people of the territories to con- 
trol their 'domestic institutions,' with special 
reference to the slavery question, would have 
sujjposed that he entertained the slightest 
doubt about the power to decide whether sla- 



SLAVERY IN NEBRASKA 



461 



very should or should not he tolerated among 
them." The Press made the same point as 
that made by the Times, that Governor Black 
imitated Attorney-General Jeremiah Black's 
argument, and that in citing the Louisiana 
treaty he proved too much, because if the 
people of the territory could not override the 
treaty in the passage of laws, neither could 
they do so in forming constitutions. The 
Pittsburgh Post, published at Black's old 
home, and the Cincinnati Enquirer both 
charged him with recreancy to the principle 
of popular sovereignty. 

The People's Press of Nebraska City, in- 
sisted that slavery was an issue: "Democracy 
has made this slave territory. Li your own 
courts — almost within the shadow of your 
own homes — servile laborers are employed 
in places that should be open to the indepen- 
dent competition of the free laboring man of 
(3toe county." This republican organ also in- 
sisted that "the people have, and should exer- 
cise the power of sovereignty, of prohibiting 
slavery." The same paper said: "Leave it 
to the control and operation of those laws of 
nature upon which the democracy ask us to 
rely for the making of this a free state and 
Nebraska will inevitably be a slave state." 
The Press insisted that those who were able 
to buy or hire slaves would do so for the pur- 
pose of making them household servants, if 
nothing more. The wealthy complained that 
housekeepers were constantly annoyed by the 
overbearing and independent conduct of ser- 
vants. The expression was common that, 
"If I were sure that I would be protected in 
holding slaves I would buy a man and woman 
to work around the house; and then if they 
did not do as I wanted them to I would make 
them." In the rapid revolution and the slower 
evolution of our institutions and conditions, 
domestic service appears to remain in the same 
desperate status as it was when it impelled 
housekeepers to yearn even for domestic sla- 
very as a remedy. A call for a democratic 
meeting in Nebraska City to ratify the nom- 
ination of General Estabrook as delegate to 
Congress said : "All who believe in the sover- 
eignty of the people, who deny that the acts of 



the territorial legislature are subject to the 
regulations of congress, who are in favor of 
dedicating the free soil of Nebraska to free 
^\hite men . . . are invited to be pres- 
ent." At a democratic meeting at Nebraska 
City, held for the purpose of nominating dele- 
gates to the constitutional convention, a reso- 
lution asserting the constitutional right of the 
territorial legislature to establish, regulate, or 
prohibit slavery within territorial limits was 
laid on the table by a vote of 26 to 15, Gover- 
nor Black's influence prevailing over squatter 
sovereignty, which was supported by Judge 
John F. Kinney. Stephen F. Nuckolls and 
Augustus F. Harvey sustained Black. A com- 
promise was arranged by the adoption of the 
national platform of 1856, the Plattsmouth 
platform of 1859, and a resolution to the ef- 
fect that Nebraska must be a free state. The 
county convention held subsequently could not 
elect delegates on account of filibustering on 
the part of the anti-Black men, and adjourned 
in confusion. 

Air. Reynolds, editor of the N^ezi's, said that 
he voted against the bill to abolish slavery 
when he was a member of the legislature be- 
cause it had no legal existence in the terri- 
tory, and because he was opposed to the mon- 
strous doctrine that the constitution had car- 
ried it here. "Partly for spite, but mostly to 
get disunion into Democratic ranks, the Re- 
pul>lican members of the last Nebraska Leg- 
islature attempted to abolish slavery in Ne- 
braska" ; and that was "an imaginary evil that 
had no sort of legal or practical existence; 
three or four persons only were held as slaves 
and these only ostensibly, by citizens of Ne- 
braska City." 

Even far-off Nebraska signalled the ap- 
proaching disruption of the democratic party. 
On the passage of the bill two of the leading 
democratic members explained their votes, but 
arrived at opposite conclusions from substan- 
tially the same premises. George W. Doane 
expressed his opinion that President Bu- 
chanan, in his late message, had seen fit to 
st^p far out of his way "to throw this agitat- 
ing question upon the country and upon the 
democratic party; and if he can stand it to 



462 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



introduce this agitation, I can." Mr. Doane 
denounced as heresy the President's conten- 
tion that the people of the territories had no 
right to legislate upon the slavery question, 
and he voted for the bill to emphasize his dis- 
sent from that doctrine. William A. Little, 
who was elected judge of the supreme court 
at the first state election, but died before tak- 
ing the office, was even more fiery than his 
colleague, Judge Doane. in his dissent from 
Buchanan's opinion : 

If we could actually see a black cloud rising 
in the soutli, and should a horde of slaves be 
precipitated upon our fair soil today, no one 
would vote quicker than I, to repel such an 
evil from the land. But where is the danger ? 
Where is this dreaded African spectre that 
like Hamlet's ghost flits ever before the hallu- 
cinated vision of the supporters of this bill? 
Our soil is yet unstained with slavery ; we are 
free, and surrounded with free soil ; Iowa on 
the east, is free. Kansas on the south, is free, 
and is there danger on our northern and west- 
ern borders ? 

Sir, I too, like the gentleman from Burt, 
take issue with Mr. Buchanan. I believe con- 
gress has no power over the territories upon 
this question. But I shall not vote for what 
is now uncalled for. This bill had its origin 
in black republican buncombe. As a democrat, 
I shall not vote to honor their political caprices, 
and exercising common sense, I shall not vote 
to dispel a phantom. Sir, I vote "no" upon 
this l)ill. 

In the issue of June 30, 1860, the Nezvs re- 
lates that six negroes had deserted and es- 
caped from Alexander Majors of Nebraska 
City. "We can hardly think that our city is 
infested with such misguided philanthropists 
as nigger thieves and abolitionists. This 
dirty work is doubtless left for the nasty aboli- 
tionists of Civil Bend and Tabor." The re- 
publican commissioners of Otoe county re- 
turned "these negro servants or persons as 
property and taxed them as such." 

In -Vugust, 1860, nineteen "niggers" were 
run tlirough Nebra.ska City on the under- 
ground railroad and kept at a storehouse over 
night at Wyoming by the editor of the repub- 
lican paper there. As we have already seen, 
the census of 1860 showed that there were 
eighty-one negroes in Nebraska, ten of whom 



were recorded as slaves. The Omaha Ne- 
braskian of August 18, 1860, notes that the 
Falls City Broad Axg says that a cargo of six 
or more fugitive slaves passed through Salem, 
escorted by thirty or forty whites, armed to 
the teeth. 

The following resolutions were adopted by 
the democratic convention of Otoe county: 
"The democracy of Otoe county are in favoi 
of making Nebraska a free state, and we will 
vote for no man as a candidate to the con- 
vention who will not pledge himself to vote 
tor a clause in the constitution prohibiting 
slavery in the state of Nebraska." The Ne- 
braska City News demanded a law excluding 
negroes and negro laborers from the territory 
of Nebraska: "Cannot this be kept sacred as 
a home for white men — a field for white 
labor; or shall it be made, as Kansas is, an 
elysium for vagabond niggers ? Will some of 
our Africanized journals give us their opinion 
upon this question? Will the abolition sheets 
at Omaha, Brownville and Nebraska City 
state whether they are upon the side of white 
men or negroes? . . Do we of Nebraska 
want a population of niggers? Do the whites 
of Iowa want a population of niggers? Does 
anybody, except the blatant abolitionists, want 
the two races to intermingle, amalgamate, and 
die out, as all hybrids do? If yes! support 
■he black republican abolitionized party now 
in power and you can have your desires." 
The same paper notes that no less than five 
or six "newly imported niggers," some es- 
caped contrabands and some free, were in the 
city and offering to work for six dollars a 
month ; and the laboring classes of the North 
are warned of the disastrous end of the eman- 
cipation schemes of the republicans which this 
incident indicates. 

The News referring to a bill just passed by 
the legislature striking out the word "white" 
from the school laws, observes : "The Ne- 
braska legislature has enacted that nigger chil- 
dren sha'l attend school with white children 
and upon the same benches learn the same les- 
sons. . . The high school building at Ne- 
braska City is a magnificent edifice. Our peo- 
ple in paying taxes for its erection and sup- 



SLAVERY IN NEBRASKA 



463 



port may console themselves with the pro; id 
reflection that in its broad aisles and through- 
out its spacious halls, their own children may 
mingle freely with little niggers and enjoy the 
luxury of the aroma arising therefrom, un- 
taxed." The Press had observed exultantly 
that "our high school building of which we 



are justly proud, was built on the broad prin 
ciple of equity and no distinction on account 
of color" ; whereupon the News retorted : 
"The attention of the Press man is called lo 
the fact that a distinction on account of odor 
may yet be made by which both himself and 
the genuine nigger may be excluded." 



464 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




'■^^i<.£<i.- 



^6^ 



[Note— Captain James H. Cook was a famous guide and scout in the Indian campaigns of the 70's 
and '80's, Afterward he became one of Nebraska's big ranchmen.] 



CHAPTER XXr 



The Pioneer Railway of Nebraska 



FROM the -time of the first emigrant travel 
to Oregon, Nebraska has been traversed 
by a great national highway with many im- 
portant feeding branches converging into it. 
This fact, of great commercial importance and 
historical interest, is due to the intersection of 
the state by the great Platte valley, a natural 
way for general travel, an unrivaled railway 
route, and in the direct line of the most rapid 
and constant territorial development and com- 
mercial progress toward the West. In 
Chapter III these early roads have been traced 



It is seldom that an important discovery may 
be attributed to one man or assigned to a 
specific date, and this is true also of the initia- 
tive or suggestion of great enterprises ; and so 
the idea of the building of a Pacific railway 
was in the minds of many men, simultaneously, 
and many years before it was practically ap- 
plied. The pioneers of Nebraska realized the 
importance of a Pacific railway, and actually 
promoted the great project. This is attested 
by the resolutions introduced by M. H. Clark 
in the first territorial legislature, and by a 




Poi.XT WHERE THE UxiON PACIFIC RaILROAP CROSSES THE OvERLAXD TrAIL SEVEN MILES WEST OF BiC SPRING, 

Nebraska. California Hill in the background 



and described according to the best historical 
data available. The first local record of them 
appears in the plats of the surveys which be- 
gan soon after the organization of the terri- 
tory, and, continuing down to and during the 
time in which the first railway of the territory 
— the Union Pacific — was constructed, af- 
ford an accurate outline of the principal 
wagon roads in use during the period of about 
fifteen years immediately before they were 
superseded by the railway system of the state. 



notable memorial to Congress, drafted by Wm. 
A. Gwyer, and adopted at a mass meeting held 
in Omaha January 29, 1859. The Omaha 
Republican gave an account of a meeting held 
at Omaha for the purpose of encouraging im- 
migration, which was attended by George 
Francis Train, Major-General Samuel R. 
Curtis, and Col. J- H. Simpson, all of whom 
were connected with the building of the Union 
Pacific railroad. In his speech, General Cur- 
tis said that in 1825 the commanding officer at 



466 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Council Bluff (General Leavenworth) made 
an elaborate report urging a Pacific railway 
as a military convenience, and that General 
Fremont, when he explored the great moun- 
tain pass at the head of the Platte valley, 
wrote on the spot, "This will one day be the 
route of a railroad that will span the continent 
from ocean to ocean." Progressive temper- 
ament and quick insight, stimulated by lively 
imagination, form a strong American charac- 
teristic. Within two years of the time of the 
introduction of the steam railway into Amer- 
ica a Pacific railroad was proposed in the Emi- 
grant, a journal published at Ann Arbor, 
Alichigan ; and in 1836, John Plumbe, a civil 
engineer, called the first public meeting to pro- 
mote the project, at Dubuque, Iowa. General 
Curtis said that in 1839 he drew up a petition, 
which was printed, signed by many, and for- 
warded to Mr. Adams, who presented it in the 
House with commendations. 

Thomas Ewing, in his report as secretary 
of the interior for 1849, in urging the build- 
ing of a road of some kind to the Pacific, said : 
"Opinion as expressed and elicited by two 
large and respectable conventions, recently as- 
sembled at St. Louis and Memphis, points to 
a railroad as that which would best meet the 
wants and satisfy the wishes of our people. 
But what that road will be, and where and by 
whom constructed, must depend upon the 
action of Congress." 

Asa Whitney, a merchant of New York, 
engaged in trade with China, made the first 
definite proposition for building a Pacific rail- 
way. His first memorial to Congress on the 
subject was presented in 1845. In the third 
memorial, presented in March, 1848. he pro- 
posed to build a road from Lake Michigan to 
the Pacific coast, an estimated distance of 
2,030 miles, on condition that the United 
States should sell him a strip of land sixty 
miles wide along the line at sixteen cents an 
acre; such lands, or their proceeds which 
might be left after the road was built, should 
be reserved to keep it in operation and re- 
pair until it should become self-sustaining, 
and the remainder should then revert to the 
grantee or builder of the road. Whitney es- 
timated that only the first eight hundred miles 



of the grant of land would Ije valuable, and 
he calculated that the cost of the road would 
be $60,000,000. 

The committee on roads and canals of the 
House of Representatives submitted a report 
on this memorial in March, 1850. They ap- 
proved the project for the following reasons: 
That it would cement the commercial, social, 
and political relations of the East and the 
West; would be a highway for, the commerce 
of Europe and Asia to the great advantage of 
this country ; would tend to secure the peace 
of the world ; and would transfer to the 
United States part of the commercial impor- 
tance of Great Britain. The committee pre- 
ferred Whitney's plan to any of the others be- 
cause it was a purely private enterprise in 
which the government would be in no way en- 
tangled ; because the route had fertile land and 
timber in greater quantities than any of the 
more southerly routes ; because the rivers could 
be bridged more easily on this route ; because 
owing to the dryness of the atmosphere, the 
snowfall was less than on other routes; be- 
cause the northern passes are lower than those 
of the south ; because perishable products 
could be carried more safely than on the 
warmer southern routes ; because the higher 
the latitude the shorter the distance to be 
traveled ; because the plan created the means 
for self-execution ; and because no other plan 
proposed to lower the cost of transportation. 

These reasons anticipated, substantially, all 
that were afterward urged to the same pur- 
pose. Bills embodying Whitney's proposition 
were introduced into both houses in 1850, but 
no vote was taken on either. Before the end 
of the thirty-second Congress the project of 
Pacific railways had come to be of leading 
importance. Senator Gwin of California in- 
troduced a bill for the building of a main line 
and branches involving the magnificent dis- 
tance of 5,115 miles. The main line was to 
run from San Francisco, through Walker's 
Pass and New Mexico, and down the Red 
river to Fulton in southwestern Arkansas. A 
numerous family of branches was to spring 
from this trunk, running to the north and to 
the south. Lewis Cass struck the keynote of 
the knell of this overdone enterprise: "It is 



THE PIONEER RAILWAY OF NEBRASKA 



467 



entirely too magnificent for me. I want a 
road, and for the present I want one road, and 
only one road, for one is all we can get now." 
In fact, neither the time nor the method for 
building the road was ripe. This novel and as- 
tounding enterprise was not to be the creature 
of a day. It must be a growth. But the gen- 
eral method by which the road was finally to 
be built was outlined in a substitute for .the 
Gwin bill known as the Rusk bill. This bill 
provided that the President, with the aid of 
army and civil engineers, should designate 
the most practicable route and the termini 
of the railway, and the project should have 
a subsidy of alternate sections of land on 
each side of the road, six miles in the states 
and twelve miles in the territories, and in ad- 
dition United States bonds in the amo.unt of 
$20,000,000. Though President Pierce fa- 
vored this bill or a bill of this kind, the un- 
ripeness of the times, which means largely 
the impracticability of adjusting sectional dif- 
ficulties, defeated the bill. 

The origination of important public mea- 
sures or policies and procuring their enactment 
into law or their practical introduction and 
administration is a test of great statesmanship. 
Stephen A. Douglas, the father of organic Ne- 
braska, exhibited great prescience and capa- 
city for practical leadership in recognizing the 
importance, and instituting a method of pro- 
tecting the rights of the public under the rail- 
way land grant system which he, probably 
more than any other statesman, was instru- 
mental in establishing. He pushed through 
Congress the first railway land grant, by which 
the state of Illinois received 2,595,000 acres 
of land, which in turn was granted by charter 
February 10, 1851, to the Illinois Central 
railway company, to be used in constructing 
its first line of 705^^ miles. Douglas had de- 
feated a previous attempt to grant this land 
direct to an irresponsible company, and also 
a corrupt attempt by the legislature to bestow 
it upon the same interests ; and he then pro- 
cured the insertion in the charter of the Illi- 
nois Central company a provision that it 
should pay to the state annually five per cent 
of its gross earnings. By agreement, after 
two years this payment was increased to seven 



per cent, and the requirement to pay this 
amount was embodied in the state constitu- 
tion of 1870. In the year 1900 the revenue 
paid to the state on this 705 miles of road, 
through the foresight and imperious influence 
of Douglas, was $784,093, and in 1901 it was 
$844,133. If Douglas had remained in the 
Senate through the prodigal and prolific pe- 
riod of railway land grants, many millions of 
acres of the best lands would have been saved 
for direct homestead settlement, and the 
country would have been saved from a long 




From ail ciigraziitg in the History of ]i'yowittg by C. G. 
Coutant. 

Thom.\sC.Dur.\nt Sidney Dillon Thom.\sA.Scott 
Jay Gould 0.\kes Ames 



series of grievous public scandals, and with- 
out impeding proper and healthy railway ex- 
tension. He might have induced a policy of 
precaution or prevention instead of a policy, 
like to that traditional typical feat of leaving 
the stable door unlocked until the horse is 
stolen, which oft'ered opportvuiity for colossal 
land-grabbing and afterward frantically con- 



468 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



denined the principle and sought to recover 
from the grabbers the rich booty which they 
had acquired under the form of the law. 

Douglas was a pioneer projector of a Pa- 
cific railway, and in a speech in the United 
States Senate, April 17, 1858, in advocating 
a Pacific railway bill he said : "I suppose 
that Kansas City, Wyandott, Weston, Leaven- 
worth, Atchison, Platte's Mouth City, Omaha, 
De Soto, Sioux City, and various other towns 
whose names have not become familiar to us, 
and have found no resting place on the map, 
each thinks it has the exact place where the 
road should begin. Well, sir, I do not desire 
to have any preference between these towns ; 
either of them would suit me very well ; and 
we leave it to the contractors to decide which 
shall be the one. . . I am unwilling to post- 
pone the bill tmtil next December. I have 
seen these postponements from session to ses- 
sion for the last ten years, with the confident 
assurance every year that the next session we 
should have abundance of time to take up the 
bill and act upon it. . . I care not whether 
vou look at it in a commercial point of view, 
as a matter of administrative economy at 
home, as a question of military defense, or in 
reference to the building up of the national 
wealth, and power, and glory ; it is the great 
measure of the age — a measure, that in my 
opinion has been postponed too long." Doug- 
las had made precisely the same complaint re- 
garding the disappointing delays in the pas- 
sage of his bills for organizing the territory of 
Nebraska, and in this speech he originated the 
idea which was carried out in the Pacific rail- 
way bill enacted in 1862, leaving the builders 
of the road to determine the route between the 
termini. This enterprise was pressed without 
cessation by Congress after Congress until the 
jjassage of a bill in 1862. 

In the course of this speech, Douglas throws 
much light on the general question of the 
construction of the Pacific railway, as it was 
regarded at that time, and also on the efTorts 
which had been made to carry out the enter- 
prise. He began in a tone of deprecation and 
disappointment : 

I have witnessed with deep regret the indi- 
cations that this measure is to be defeated at 



the present session of congress. I had hoped 
that this congress would signalize itself by 
inaugurating the great measure of connecting 
the Mississippi valley with the Pacific Ocean 
by a railroad. I had supposed that the people 
of the United States had decided that ques- 
tion at the last presidential election in a man- 
ner so emphatic as to leave no doubt that their 
will was to be carried into effect. I believe 
that all the presidential candidates at the last 
election were committed to the measure. All 
the presidential platforms sanctioned it as a 
part of their creed. . . A'arious objections 
have been raised to this bill, some referring to 
the route, involving sectional considerations ; 
others to the form of the bill; others to the 
present time as inauspicious for the construc- 
tion of such a railroad under any circum- 
stances. I have examined this bill very care- 
fully. I was a member of the committee 
which framed it. I am free to say that I 
think it is the best bill that has ever been re- 
ported to the senate of the United States for 
the construction of a P'acific railroad. I say 
this with great disinterestedness, for I have 
heretofore reported several myself, and I be- 
lieve I have invariably been a member of the 
committees which have reported sttch bills. 

Douglas did not conceal his impatience with 
the "state rights" objection to the Pacific rail- 
way scheme. To evade this difficulty the 
measure was named a "bill to authorize the 
President of the United States to contract for 
the trans])ortation of the mails, troops, sea- 
men, munitions of war, and all other govern- 
ment service by railroad, from the Missouri 
river to San Francisco in the state of Cali- 
fornia" ; and on this point Douglas said : 

Some gentlemen think it is an unsovuid 
policy, leading to the doctrine of internal im- 
provements by the federal government within 
the different states of the union. We are told 
we must confine the road to the limits of the 
territories and not extend it into the states, 
because it is supposed that entering a state 
with this contract violates some great prin- 
ciple of state rights. The committee consid- 
ered that proposition, and they avoided that 
objection, in the estimation of the most strict, 
rigid, tight-laced, state-rights men that we 
have in the body. We struck out the provi- 
sion in the bill first drawn, that the president 
should contract for the construction of a rail- 
road from the Missouri river to the Pacific 
Ocean, and followed an example that we 
found on the statute books for carrying the 
mails from Alexandria to Richmond, Va. — 



THE PIONEER RAILWAY OF NEBRASKA 



469 



an act passed about the time when the resolu- 
tions of 1798 were passed, and the report of 
1799 was adopted — an act that we thought 
came exactly within the spirit of those reso- 
hitions. . . There is nothing in this bill 
that violates any one principle which has pre- 
vailed in every mail contract that has been 
made from the days of Dr. Franklin down to 
the elevation of James Buchanan to the presi- 
dency. 

The present day imperialist may find more 
than a crumb of comfort in the high estimate 
which the great promoter of organization and 
transportation for the trans-Missouri region 
put upon the value of Pacific commerce : 

Sir, if we intend to extend our commerce : 
if we intend to make the great ports of the 
world tributary to our wealth, we must prose- 
cute our trade eastward, or westward as you 
please ; we must penetrate the Pacific, its 
islands, and its continent, where the great 
mass of the human family reside, where the 
articles that have built up the powerful nations 
of the world have always come from. That 
is the direction in which we should look for 
the expansion of our commerce and of our 
trade. That is the direction our public policy 
should take — a direction that is facilitated by 
the great work now proposed to be made. 

The select committees of the two houses 
agreed upon the form of a bill presented by 
Douglas in January, 1855. 

This bill contemplated three lines, one from 
the western border of Texas to the Pacific 
coast in the state of California, to be called 
the Southern Pacific railroad ; another from 
a point on the western border of Missouri or 
Iowa to San Francisco, to be called the Cen- 
tral Pacific : and the third from the western 
border of Wisconsin, in the territory of 
Minnesota, to the Pacific coast in Oregon or 
Washington, to be known as the Northern 
Pacific railroad. It is a curious fact that 
railroads were subsequently built substantially 
as indicated in this bill, and were called by 
the same names which Douglas proposed, ex- 
cept that the eastern part of the central line 
was known as the Union Pacific. These roads 
were to be built by the aid of subsidies of 
lands and bonds granted by the United States, 
but the bidders who were to construct them 
were required to agree to turn them over to 
the United States after a certain number of 



years, and the roads were then to become the 
property of the several states through which 
they should pass. This remarkable bill passed 
the Senate in February, 1855, by a vote of 24 
to 21. In the House it had almost as stormy 
a time as the Kansas-Nebraska bill had met 
with the year before, but it was defeated 
chiefly through the now chronic and insur- 
mountable sectional difficulties. Salmon P. 
Chase was the author of the first Pacific rail- 
way bill which was passed by Congress in 
1853, but it provided only for money to de- 
fray the expense of exploring rotites for the 
proposed road. 

The solicitude of democrats of the old 
school to avoid trespassing upon the "rights" 
of a state is illustrated in the remarks of 
Lyman Trumbull, then a democratic senator 
from Illinois, in the final debate on the act of 
1862 : "The northern boundary of Kansas 
is on the 40th parallel of latitude, and in case 
the points selected should be below that on 
the Missouri river, it would be necessary, in 
my opinion, to have the consent of the state 
of Kansas to the construction of the road." 

Mr. Trumbull stoutly objected to the branch 
lines from the Missouri to connect with the 
main line, and he contended at the outset for 
having "one road from the Missouri river to 
the eastern boundary of California and to get 
rid of all the branches." Senator Harlan of 
Iowa, on the other hand, contended that it 
would be both discreet and just to give the 
four lines that were coming from the East 
to the Missouri river across the state of Iowa, 
as also roads "that are intended to form the 
connection at the mouth of the Kansas river," 
the benefit of a share in the proposed bounty, 
so as to make their connections in the most 
favorable way, and to secure or enhance their 
friendship for the main enterprise. Mr. Doo- 
little of Wisconsin seconded Harlan. He 
characterized the Union Pacific project as 
"the most gigantic work that was ever per- 
formed by man on the face of the earth, so 
far as any material work is concerned in the 
development of the world ; there is nothing 
like it. I undertake to say that to build a 
Pacific railroad, unless you can combine the 
railroad interests to push it on, is an impos- 



470 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



sibility." Mr. Trumbull was inclined to scoff 
at this solicitude, and reminded the senators 
from Wisconsin and California that he pre- 
sumed they, like himself, '"have ex[)erience 
enough to know that when $16,000 a mile is 
given by this government and the lands for 
miles on each side of the road, these branches 
will not be built over the shortest route. This 
amount of money and land will more than pay 
for the construction of these roads in those 
localities. It will be a speculation to build 
them." Mr. Truml)ull, in order to avoid the 
state rights difficulty, proposed that the road 
should begin at some point on the Missouri 
river, to be fixed by the President of the 
United States, between the 40th and the 43d 
degrees of latitude. In order to give the 
branch roads from the East a slice of the sub- 
sidv, this proposition was modified so as to fix 
the initial point of the line 250 miles west of 
the natural place for starting on the banks of 
the great natural river boundary between "the 
East" and "the great West" which was to be 
traversed. 

Senator Wade of Ohio dropped into proph- 
ecy by the confident assertion as to the sub- 
sidy that "the government will never have to 
pay a single dollar of it. It is only a pledge 
of its credit for that amount ; and yet some 
gentlemen would hazard an enterprise more 
grand, more magnificent, more beneficial, and 
more honorable to this nation than any other 
that ever entered into the conception of man." 

The secession of the southern states facili- 
tated the passage of the first bill, July 1, 1862, 
by ending sectional controversy of the same 
nature as that which had retarded the passage 
of the bill for the organization of the terri- 
tory. This act provided for the construction 
of a road from Omaha to San Francisco. A 
California company already organized — the 
Central Pacific railroad company — was to 
build the road to the eastern border of that 
state, and a new corporation, the Union Pa- 
cific railroad company, was to build all the 
rest of the road. Besides this main line, the 
Union Pacific company was required to con- 
struct a branch from Sioux City, joining the 
main line at a point no farther west than the 
100th meridian ; and the Leavenworth, Paw- 



nee & Western, afterwards the Kansas Pa- 
cific company, was required to build a line 
from Kansas City to a point on the Union 
Pacific no farther west than the 100th meri- 
dian. By the act of July 3, 1866, the Kansas 
Pacific company was permitted to join the 
Union Pacific at a point not more than fifty 
miles west of the extension of a line north 
from Denver; and under the act of 1869 the 
Denver Pacific line between Denver and Chey- 
enne was the result. While the land grant 
applied along the whole line from Kansas City 
by way of Denver, to Cheyenne, the bonds ap- 
plied only to the distance originally intended 
to connect with the main line, which was fixed 
at 319 15/16 miles. The St. Joseph or Atchi- 
son branch was to be an extension of the Han- 
nibal & St. Joseph line, and to be built by way 
of Atchison westward to some point on what 
is now known as the main line, but not farther 
west than the 100th meridian ; or it might con- 
nect with the Kansas line upon the same terms 
as were given to the Union F'acific. Its subsidy 
was to extend only to the distance of a hun- 
dred miles, and so the road was built direct 
from Atchison west lo Waterville, Kansas, 
and there ended where its subsidy gave out. 
The line to connect Leavenworth with the 
Kansas main line was built from the city 
named to Lawrence ; but it was not subsidized. 
By the act of 1862 a subsidy of alternate 
sections in a strip of land ten miles wide on 
each side of the track was granted to the 
Union Pacific road and its two principal 
branches — • from Sioux City and from Kan- 
sas City — 33,000,000 acres in all. In addi- 
tion to this subsidy the credit of the United 
States in the form of United States bonds was 
loaned in the following amounts : For the 
parts of the line passing over level country, 
east of the Rocky mountains and west of the 
Sierra Nevada mountains, $16,000 per mile; 
for the 150 miles west of the eastern base of 
the Rocky mountains and the like distance 
eastward from the western base of the Sierra 
Nevada mountains, $48,000 per mile ; and for 
that part of the line running over the plateau 
region between the two mountain chains 
named, $32,000 per mile. These bonds ran 
for thirty years and drew six per cent interest, 



THE PIONEER RAILWAY OF NEBRASKA 



471 



payable semi-annually. They were not a gift, 
but a loan of credit, and were to be paid by 
the company to the United States at their ma- 
turity. 

The capital stock of the company consisted 
of $100,000,000 divided into shares of $1,000. 
When 2,000 shares were" subscribed and $10 
per share paid in, the comj^any was to be or- 
ganized by the election of not less than thir- 
teen directors and other usual officers. Two 
additional directors were to be appointed by 
the President of the United States. It was 
also provided that the President should ap- 
point three commissioners to pass upon and 
certify to the construction of the road as a 
basis for the issue of the bonds and lands. The 
line of the road was to begin at a point on the 
100th meridian "between the south margin of 
the Republican river and the north margin of 
the Platte river, in the territory of Nebraska 
at a point to be fixed by the President of the 
United States after actual surveys." The 
company was also required to construct a line 
from a point on the western boundary of the 
state of Iowa, to be fixed by the President of 
the United States, to connect with the initial 
point of the main line on the 100th meridian. 
A race in construction was inspired by the pro- 
vision that either of the two companies, the 
Union Pacific or the Central Pacific, might 
build past the specified place of meeting — • 
the California boundary line — if it should 
reach the line before the arrival of the other. 
The act required also the construction of a 
telegraph line with each of these lines of rail- 
way. 

The Union Pacific project was an incon- 
gruous and most unfortunate partnership be- 
tween private and public interests, and from 
first to last political influences and considera- 
tions were vicious and demoralizing alike to 
the company and to the government. It is a 
great pity that neither private capital nor the 
federal government felt prepared to undertake 
the enterprise alone. There should have been 
distinct private ownership or distinct public 
ownership, and, in spite of our unprepared- 
ness, relatively, for public business of this 
kind, the latter would have been better than 
the unnatural partnership or over-lordship. 



.\t the end of two years Congress had been 
influenced to greatly change the terms under 
which the company had undertaken to build 
the road. By the act of July 2, 1864, the 
company was permitted to mortgage the road 
to an amount equal to the loan of the United 
States bonds, and the lien or security of the 
latter was subordinated to the mortgage ; the 
land grant was doubled, and the reservation, 
in the first act, of coal and iron lands from 
the grant was given up ; the number of di- 
rectors to be elected was increased to fifteen 
and of government directors to five. The 
Kansas Pacific company desired, and doubtless 
expected to build its line southwesterly from 
Denver when it sought and obtained, through 
the act of 1866, release from the requirement 
to unite with the Union Pacific line at or east- 
ward of the 100th meridian; but it was frus- 
trated in this design by a provision in the 
same act that its line must join the Union 
Pacific within fifty miles west of Denver. By 
this provision the Union Pacific was fixed as 
the main line ; and thus, finally, was settled a 
struggle for supremacy between partisans of 
the northern route and those of southern 
routes which had been openly begun by Doug- 
las in the introduction of his bill of 1844 for 
the organization of Nebraska territory, and 
which was meant, as he said, as notice that this 
line of travel should not be further obstructed 
by being used as the dumping ground for 
southern, or other tribes of Indians. 

While proposed southern routes from the 
Missouri river to the mountains were good, 
that of the Platte valley, in point of directness 
and uniform easy grade, was far the best ; and 
jjolitical influences and economic conditions 
just then peculiarly reinforced nature in favor 
of the northern route. On account of seces- 
sion, the southern interest had little or no in- 
fluence in Congress, and the country chiefly 
tributary to the southern route was demoral- 
ized where it was not devastated by war. On 
the other hand, the great natural Platte river 
route was in direct line westward with the 
imperial tier of states of which Chicago had 
already become the commercial entrepot, and 
at least four trunk lines of railway from that 
great central point would naturally reach the 



472 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Missouri river north of the hue between Iowa 
and Missouri and within reach of the in- 
fluence of the Platte route magnet. The act 
of 1864 provided that any company having a 
line reaching Sioux City from the east might 
build the Sioux City & Pacific branch. In 
order to avail themselves of lands then more 
valuable than those lying across the Missouri, 
the builders, John I. Blair and Oakes Ames, 
kept the road on the Iowa side to a point op- 
posite Blair, and then made the connection at 
Fremont. This branch was never a part of 
the Union Pacific system, and in 1884 it fell 
into the control of the Chicago & Northwes- 
tern railroad company. 




Thomas C. Duk.\nt 
Chief promoter, Union Pacific railroad 

There was a bitter controversy in Congress 
over the passage of the amendatory act of 
1864, and the opposition in the House was led 
by two eminent members, E. B. Washburne 
of Illinois, a republican, and William H. Hol- 
man of Indiana, a democrat. Mr. Holman 
demanded that provision should be made for 
carrying the property and troops of the United 
States free of charge, and he predicted that 
the government would get nothing more in 
return for its aid. Mr. Washburne was 
unsparing in denunciation of the bill, and 
especially of the famous section 10, which 
subordinated the government loan to the lien 
of the mortgage bonds. He denounced this 
change as "the most monstrous and flagrant 
attempt to overreach the government and the 
people that can l)e found in all the legislative 



annals of the country." Pie questioned that 
there had been compliance with the provision 
of the charter limiting the stock held by one 
person to two hundred shares, or that some 
of the directors were bona fide holders of the 
amount of stock required by law, or of any 
stock at all ; and he said that it was notorious 
that a single individual owned or controlled 
a majority of the stock. Then, warming to 
his subject, he continued: 

While the government is liable for $100,- 
000,000 and has donated millions upon mil- 
lions of acres of public land to this great work, 
yet this entire organization has gone into the 
hands of parties who have put in but a trifle 
over 1 per cent of the whole amount that the 
government is liable for. And the govern- 
ment is utterly without any controlling voice 
in the direction of this company, as it has but 
two directors out of the whole number. Does 
it not seem, therefore, that the government 
is "left out in the cold" in the arrangement as 
it now stands? But gentlemen point us to 
the long list of the present board of directors 
who are men of well-known integrity and of 
capital ; but I desire to ask what number of 
these men of integrity and capital who appear 
in the list as directors are active and manag- 
ing men, controlling and directing the action 
of the company? Such directors as General 
Dix, . . . have either resigned their po- 
sitions or refused to take any part in the man- 
agement of the aft'airs of the company, while 
the real management is in the hands of a set 
of Wall street stock-jobbers who are using 
this great engine for their own private ends 
regardless of what should be the great object 
of the companv or of the interests of the coun- 
try. Who are the men who are here to lobby 
this bill through? Have the men of high 
character and of a national reputation, whose 
names were, at an earlier period, connected 
with this enterprise, been here animated by a 
commendable public spirit and by motives of 
l)atriotism, to ask us to pass this bill ? I have 
not heard of such men being here for that 
purpose, but on the other hand the work of 
"putting the bill through," has gone into the 
hands of such men as Samuel Hallett and 
George Francis Train — par nobile fratrmn. 

The law of 1862 named 153 commissioners, 
distributed among twenty-four states and the 
territory of Nebraska, whose duty was merely 
to take the preliminary steps for organizing 
the company ; and as soon as 2,000 shares of 



THE PIONEER RAILWAY OF NEBRASKA 



473 



stock had been subscribed, and $10 per share 
paid in, the commissioners were to call a 
meeting of the subscribers, who should elect 
the directors of the company. The commis- 
sioners named for Nebraska were Augustus 
Kountze, Gilbert C. Monell, and ALvin Saun- 
ders of Omaha; W. H. Taylor of Nebraska 
City; and T. M. Marquett of Plattsmouth. 
It is worth noting, as an illustration of a phase 
of political conditions at that time, that these 
commissioners from Nebraska were all active 
poHticians of the republican party. The 
names of the commissioners were supplied 
largely by the members of Congress from the 
various states and Senator Harlan of the ad- 
joining .state of Iowa was active in promoting 
these preliminary arrangements. By the 29th 
of October, 1863, 2,177 shares of stock had 
been subscribed, and the company was or- 
ganized by the election of thirty directors and 
of John A. Dix, president ; Thos. C. Durant, 
vice president ; Henry V. Poor, secretary ; and 
John J. Cisco, treasurer. These officers were 
all residents of New York. Augustus Kountze 
was the Nebraska representative on the elected 
board of directors. 

Cautious capital merely played about the 
tempting subsidy bait, and "this most gigantic 
work that was ever performed by man on the 
face of the earth" was begun, and pushed for 
some months, on a paid-up capital of $218,- 
000. "The crowd" waits on the hither side of 
the Alpine barrier which crosses the way to 
most great discoveries and unusual achieve- 
ments ; and they have been accomplished when 
some unusual man steps out and declares, 
"There shall be no Alps." Thomas C. Durant 
of New York was the intrepid financial foun- 
der of the Union Pacific railroad. He sub- 
scribed his own means and induced his friends 
to subscribe by agreeing to assume their sub- 
scription if they should become dissatisfied 
with their investment ; then he proceeded to 
build the road, and ground was broken at 
Omaha, December 2, 1863. In its momentous 
promise this ceremonial stands as the great 
event of Omaha history. While the realiza- 
tion, too, has been great, it has yet been dis- 
appointing, because neither the keen vision 
of the projectors of that noble enterprise nor 



the sharp insight of the pioneer citizen fore- 
saw the vicissitudes through which it was des- 
tined to pass to completion and through sub- 
sequent operations, or, in particular, the com- 
paratively early invasion of Union Pacific ter- 
ritor\', in Nebraska and elsewhere, by those 
very lines from the east which were counted 
on as its feeders, and which have divided the 
expected imperial commercial prestige of the 
terminus by building up formidable rivals. The 
keenest business vision could not foresee, nor 
could the liveliest imagination picture the 
prodigies which the new-born agency of steam 
and electricity, in the hands of American dar- 
ing and skill were so soon to perform. It was 
indeed incomprehensible that before this mir- 
acle of the first transcontinental road should 
have developed into good working order the 
building of rivals would become a common- 
place occurrence. 

At the ceremony of breaking the first 
ground, A. J. Hanscom presided. Mayor B. 
E. B. Kennedy, Governor Saunders, and 
George Francis Train used the shovel, and 
these three, and also Dr. Gilbert C. Monell, 
Andrew J. Poppleton, Augustus Kountze, and 
Judge Adam V. Larimer of Council Bluffs 
made speeches. Congratulatory dispatches 
were read from President John A. Dix, Vice 
President Dr. Thomas C. Durant, Abraham 
Lincoln. President of the United States, by 
John Hay, his secretary ; William H. Seward, 
secretary of state ; George Opdyke, mayor of 
New York; J. M. Palmer, mayor of Council 
Bluffs ; and Richard Yates, governor of Illi- 
nois. Brigham Young, then beginning to be 
imperator of a great industrial people, sent 
this message: "Let the hands of the honest 
be united to aid the great national improve- 
ment." The shrewd Alormon foresaw the im- 
mense enhancement of property values which 
would follow the passage of the road through 
the city of which he was founder and virtual 
proprietor. He gave his full share of aid in 
construction, through the brawn of his follow- 
ers, until he saw that the company was bent 
on giving his city the go-by, and then, at the 
critical point in the great race, he withheld 
his aid till he saw that the Central Pacific, too, 



474 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



intended to reject his suit, and he must be 
content with a stub connection from Ogden. 

That there was no lack of appreciation of 
the momentous significance, to Omalia espe- 
cially, of the formal opening of this great 
highway is shown by the address of Mr. Pop- 
pletoii. 

A few days after the delivery of this ad- 
dress Mr. Poppleton was engaged, through 
Mr. Peter A. Dey, chief engineer, as attorney 
for the Union Pacific railroad company. This 
small beginning developed into the general 
solicitorship of the company, which office Mr. 
Poppleton held until the date of his resigna- 
tion, February 1, 1888. 

The Nebraskian tells us that Train closed 
the exercises with "the raciest, liveliest, best 
natured, and most tip-top speech ever deliv- 
ered west of the Missouri"; and then the 
editor speculates in this strain : "An ency- 
clopedia of all knowledge, a walking librarj-, 
a modern miracle is G. F. T. Is he played 
out ? Has he gone to seed ? What is to be 
the future application of his brilliant talents? 
These are questions which Mr. Train should 
seriously and solemnly ponder. . . He has 
visited all the countries of the world, and, 
having a prodigious memory, has probably a 
larger fund of available practical knowledge 
than any man in America ; and he is still a 
young man — but thirty-three years of age. 
The Train of ideas sometimes lacks the coup- 
ling chains." 

The Union Pacific company filed its assent 
to the conditions of the act of Congress on the 
27th of June, 1863, and the immediate pro- 
moters of the road plunged into the solicitude 
and struggle for the completion of the first 
100 miles within the two-years limit of the 
act. They were further troubled by the pro- 
vision of the amendatory act of 1864 which 
permitted the Kansas company to continue 
its line to meet the line of the Central Pacific, 
if, when it should reach the 100th meridian, 
"the Union Pacific shall not be proceeding in 
good faith to build the said railroad through 
the territory." The act provided that when 
the three commissioners appointed by the 
President should certify that forty miles of 
the road were built anfl equipped, the proper 



amount of bonds and the proportionate 
amount of the land grant should be issued to 
the company. In the spring of 1864 Durant 
began the great task of building this section. 
The small paid-up stock subscription and the 
proceeds .of a credit of over $200,000 were 
soon e.xhausted, and such parts of the stock 
of building material and rolling stock as could 
be temporarily spared were sold, so that con- 
struction might proceed. The lucid statement 
of Peter A. Dey, the widely known engineer, 
contains information and explanation, needed 
at this juncture. This first survey of Engi- 
neer Dey's was abandoned after a considerable 
sum — probably more than a third of the 
first jiaid up capital — had been expended on 
its somewhat difificult grade, and its substi- 
tute, the devious ox-bow route, was used for 
years, with all the disadvantages of a bad 
grade of about three miles, until the Lane 
cut-oli' was built. When the first forty 
miles of the road should be completed 
the federal government would lay and be- 
stow its first golden subsidy e.gg. On the 
plea of necessity, on the 4th of May, 1864, a 
committee was appointed on the part of the 
company to contract for finishing 100 miles 
of road. Though the act of July 2, 1864, 
doubling the land subsidy, followed in the 
meantime, Durant, on the 8th of August, re- 
ceived from H. M. Hoxie a proposition for 
the famous, or notorious, contract by the 
terms of which he was to build the 100 miles 
for $50,000 per mile; and on the 4th of the 
following October the contract was extended 
to cover the whole line to the 100th meridian 
— 247.45 miles. 

The "Defense of Oakes Ames" — • remark- 
able for its skillful presentment and impres- 
sive eloquence — which was read in the House 
of Representatives, February 25, 1873, opens 
with a clear statement of conditions which led 
up to this contract. Though this defense was 
ostensibly the Credit Mobilier sponsor's per- 
sonal plea, it was written by Andrew J. Pop- 
pleton ; and though, being the attorney of the 
Ames interests, he may not have been wholly 
impartial, yet on account of the local view- 
point of its author the statement is very use- 
ful for the present purpose. 



THE PIONEER RAILWAY OF NEBRASKA 



475 



While Durant was the practical beginner 
of the Union Paciffc road, and but for his 
determined spirit and financial resources its 
actual construction would have been long de- 
layed, .yet the weight of opinion is that he 
regarded the enterprise as the exploit of the 
builders, and had neither confidence nor in- 
terest in it as a practicable highway ; and so 
he sold his interest in the company immedi- 
ately after the two lines were joined at Prom- 
ontor)'. He is therefore persistently charged 
with treating its resources during the con- 
struction period as an orange which is made 
to be sticked. Hoxie, who was an irrespon- 
sible employee of the company which operated 
the ferry between Council Blufl's and Omaha, 
had agreed, before the extension of his con- 
tract to include 247.45 miles, to turn it over to 
Durant and his friends ; and in October, 1864, 
Durant subscribed $600,000, Cornelius S. 
Bushnell, $400,000, Charles A. Lambard, 
$100,000, Henry S. McComb, $100,000, and 
H. W. Gray, $200,000, toward carrying out 
the contract which they assumed. But just as 
responsible financiers lacked confidence and 
courage to subscribe to the enterprise at the 
outset, so these friends of Durant lost cour- 
age when they came to realize the tremendous 
liabilities they, as partners, had incurred, and 
some of them refused to pay more than the 
first installment of their subscriptions; and 
again the enterprise hung on the single thread 
of Durant's superb nerve. In the meantime 
construction lagged and hope long deferred 
made sick the hearts of the expectant bene- 
ficiaries of the road in Nebraska. 

The most important and exciting episode in 
the building of the Union Pacific railroad as 
affecting Nebraska interests, was the change 
from the nearly direct route from Omaha to 
the Elkhorn river in favor of the curve, or 
ox-bow line down the I\Iud creek valley nearly 
to Bellevue, and then northwest following 
West Papillion creek to a point of conver- 
gence with the original line, between four and 
five miles from the place of crossing the Elk- 
horn. The point of divergence from the 
original route is three miles west of the slait 
ing point in Omaha : from the diverging point 
to the point where the lines again converge is 



fourteen miles ; by the ox-bow line the 
distance between these two points is in- 
creased by nine miles. At the outset, Peter 
A. Dey, engineer in charge of construction, 
surveyed six lines out of Omaha, and in a 
letter to Colonel Simpson July 12, 1865, he 
described them as follows : 

1st. From the mouth of the Platte river, 
follow the valley ; 2nd, from Bellevue up the 
West Papillion ; 3rd, the south or located line 
from Omaha west ; 4th, the north line from 
Omaha, up the Military creek, down Saddle 
creek into the Papillion, up its valley to a 
point nearly east of Fremont, and down Plum 




Silas Seymour 
Consulting engineer Union Pacific railroad 

creek to the valley of the Platte ; 5th, from 
Florence westerly ; 6th, from a point on Fish 
creek, between De Soto and Cuming City, and 
across into the fourth line. 

On the 4th of November, 1864, President 
Lincoln approved of the location of the first 
100 miles of the line in accordance with the 
authority of the act- of Congress of 1862. On 
the 6th of April, 1865, the Union Pacific com- 
pany formally decided, without permission or 
approval of the President, to abandon the 
original line and adopt the ox-bow line. 
r)n the 12th of May President John A. 
Dix made formal application for approval of 
the change of route to the President of the 



476 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



United States. In this application "Sir. Dix 
stated that the company had expended about 
$100,000 toward building the original line west 
of the point of divergence and which had been 
abandoned, and about $250,000 on the new- 
line; and that the company was then expend- 
ing about $2,500 a day on the amended line. 
This was not the only important instance in 
which the company first appropriated what it 
wanted and afterwards asked permission of 
the federal government, its ostensible master, 
to do so. With this request was filed a re- 
port in its favor by Silas Seymour, consulting 
engineer of the company, and a favorable let- 
ter by Jesse L. Williams, a government direc- 
tor and member of the locating committee. 
Seymour found that the maximum grade wes- 
terly to the point of divergence was 66 feet 
per mile, and as this portion of the line — 
about three miles — "is now nearly graded, it 
is not proposed to change it at present, but it 
is assumed that it will be changed hereafter 
to conform with the maximum grade that may 
be adopted in ascending the valley of the 
Papillion." Mr. Seymour calculated that 
it would cost $144,490 more to construct 
the 14.2 miles on the original line between the 
points of divergence and convergence than to 
bttild the 23.2 miles of the new line between 
the same points. He contended also that the 
company would be justified in adding 100 per 
cent to the length of this portion of the road 
in order to secure a maximum of 40, instead 
of 66- and 80-foot grades per mile, assuming 
an equal cost of construction for the two lines. 
Mr. Dey in a statement made to Colonel Simp- 
son, July 12, 1865, pins Seymour to this plau- 
sible proposition: "It seems to me that this 
question should have been stated (as an ex- 
amination of the profile shows the grading 
to be done on the line Mr. Seymour advises) 
whether, with the maximum grades of 66 feet 
going west, and 79.2 going east on either side 
of this divergence, it would be expedient for 
the company to increase the length of their 
road 9 miles in going 14 to get rid of the light 
grades on portions of the intermediate 14 
miles?" And then he proceeds: 

On page 4 of Mr. Seymour's report he 



uses the following language : "The maximum 
grade ascending westerly between station no. 
and station no. 150, the proposed point of di- 
vergence, is also 66 feet per mile ; the portion 
of the line is nearly graded, and it is proposed 
not to change it at present, but it is assumed 
that it will be changed hereafter to correspond 
with the maximum grade that may be adopted 
in ascending the valley of the Papillion. This 
question is reserved for future consideration. 
With a view, however, to such future change 
it is recommended that for the present as little 
money as practicable be expended in grading 
the valley of Mud creek, between station 150 
and a point where a line with moderate grades 
in both directions would naturally leave this 
valley to enter the valley of the Missouri 
river." 

I can interpret this language, guarded as 
it is. in no other way than that Mr. Seymour 
advises the company to use his route for the 
present, and until the business of the road is 
increased sufficiently to require lighter grades, 
then to make the eastern outlet at or near 
Bellevue. 

If this be the legitimate meaning, it is clear 
that the eastern part of his line is merely a 
temporary accommodation to Omaha, and the 
whole line out of any fair comparison, except 
as a part of a line from Bellevue to the Elk- 
horn river, and the discussion must come back 
to the located route from Omaha and the line 
from Bellevue. 

On these lines, before the company had 
taken any action, I committed myself most un- 
equivocally, as an engineer, in favor of the 
latter, as you will see by reference to my 
report. 

If the company erred in their location, it 
was with the facts fully before them ; how far 
outside influences, importance of points inter- 
ested, political considerations, prospective 
eastern connections, or other causes weighed 
with them I can not tell. 

The location was filed, and the business 
interests of western Iowa and Nebraska Ijegan 
to accommodate themselves to it ; then the 
change was ordered. Its effect has been to 
unsettle everything, and leave a deep feeling 
of distrust as to what may follow. 

It makes comparatively little difference how 
questions of this kind are settled provided that 
when done they are settled permanently : and 
although a change of terminal point and route 
would work financial ruin to many men, and 
render property in these towns utterly value- 
less, vet the enterprise and energy that have 
l)uilt on the frontier Council Blutfs and 
Omaha, under so manv disadvantages, will in 



THE PIONEER RAILWAY OF NEBRASKA 



477 



a few years build up other points equally im- 
portant at the terminus of the road. 

On the 12th of December, 1864, Mr. Dey 
had written to Durant in this pointed fashion : 

I have a letter from Mr. Seymour criticising 
our location from Omaha to the Elkhorn river, 
and making suggestions at great length. His 
earnestness is further evinced by a telegram 
sent a few days after his letter was mailed, 
urging an immediate and full answer from 
me. This part of the road was located with 
great care by me. You even animadverted on 
my going into the field personally to examine 
the proposed lines ; you also promised to have 
the lines scrutinized by a committee of engi- 
neers nearly a year ago. 

The line as located by me has been ap- 
proved, and the location has been acted upon 
for a year. It is too late, after spending so 
much time and money on the construction, to 
go back and consider relative merits of this 
and other lines. The present location is right, 
unless it is desirable for the company and .gov- 
ernment to make a longer road, more bridges, 
heavier excavations, and spend on twenty 
miles the money which should be expended on 
one hundred miles of road. Your views fa- 
vored the economical policy, which was cer- 
tainly the true policy of the company. I acted 
upon it deliberately and, as I still think, wisely. 

In view of the decided advantages of this 
route and the expenditures already made, it 
is in my opinion altogether out of the question 
to modify the location to meet the undigested 
views of Mr. Seymour, who can not know the 
relative advantages of one route over another, 
because he has not been over the country, and, 
from the tenor of his letter, not even examined 
the profiles in the New York office. 

Accordingly Lieutenant-Colonel Simpson, 
of the corps of United States engineers, was 
promptly detailed to make an examination of 
the routes in question. Simpson's thorough 
and evidently honest report exposes a palpable 
trick of Seymour's: 

The ruling grade on the new or amended 
portion, ascending westward between the 
points A and B, is 40 feet to the mile, and 
can easily be reduced to 30 feet ; ascending 
eastward 40 feet to the mile, and can easily 
be reduced to 30 ; leaving on the portion com- 
mon to the two lines an ascending westward 
grade between Omaha and the point A of 66 
feet to the mile, and between the points B and 
C an ascending eastward grade of 79.2 feet to 
the mile. 



Now as Colonel Seymour, in his argument 
accompanying this report, marked appendix 
A 10, assumes a ruling grade of 40 feet on 
the whole extent of the new or amended line, 
extending from Omaha to the Elkhorn, and 
as at the time of my examining this line he 
had practically obtained this 40 feet grade 
only on the portion of the line between the 
points of divergence and convergence, A and 
B, and not on the portions common to both the 
old and the new line of location, I directed an 
instrumental survey to be made under Mr. D. 
H. Ainsworth, civil engineer, to ascertain the 
practicability of obviating the objectional 
grades in the manner suggested by Colonel 
Seymour; that is, by a line from Omaha down 
the Missouri valley for a distance of 2.75 
miles, and thence ascending the bluff by a 
ravine, and connecting with the ]\Iud creek 
route at or near station No. 421. 

The map and profiles of this route, which 
have been submitted to me, show that, with- 
out any unreasonable expense, a grade of 30 
feet ascending westward and the same grade 
ascending eastward can be obtained, with a 
shortening of the distance between Omaha and 
the point of intersection with the ]\Iud creek 
route 66/100 of a mile. 

On the 23d of September, 1865, Secretary 
Harlan made the following report to the 
President : 

I have the honor to submit, herewith, the 
report, map, and profiles of Lieut. -Colonel J. 
H. Simpson, corps engineers, appointed to ex- 
amine and report in relation to the application 
of the L^nion Pacific railroad company for an 
amended location of a portion of the route of 
their road between Omaha City, Nebraska, and 
the valley of the Elkhorn river. 

Colonel Simpson has given this matter a 
thorough investigation both on the ground and 
in the office, and has arrived at the conclusion 
that the line which the company have proposed 
and pledged themselves to build, extending 
from Omaha dozen the Missouri valley, and 
across the river bluff' to Mud creek and Papil- 
lion valley (route No. 3) at or near station 
421, and thence on said route to the valley of 
the Elkhorn, as shown on the accompanying 
map, with ruling grades of 30 feet, ascending 
westward and eastward, is 15 per cent better 
than any other route that can be obtained west- 
wardly from Omaha, and therefore the best 
for the countrv which the company could 
build. 

The President approved the report by the 
following endorsement : 

The abandonment asked for by the Union 



478 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Pacific Railroad Company of the original loca- 
tion of their road between Omaha and the val- 
lay of the Elkhorn, called No. 1 in Colonel 
Simpson's report, with the adoption of No. 3, 
or Mud creek route, is approved on the express 
condition that the company amend said No. 3 
line to make it conform to the Missouri valley 
or No. 4 route, with ruling grades ascending 
westward and eastward, of 30 feet to the mile, 
as they propose. 

Colonel Simpson's report declared that 
"route No. 3 [the ox-bow route] is 19 
per cent inferior to original route No. 1 ; 
route No. 4 is 15 per cent superior to original 
route No. 1 ; route No. 5 is 40 per cent su- 
perior to original route No. 1." No. 4, it will 
be observed, followed down the Missouri 
river, so as to avoid the 66-foot grade out of 
Omaha, and passed through a gap in the 
blufifs about four miles below Omaha. Sey- 
mour, in his letter to Simpson, August 29, 
1865, arguing for the change, said : 

On leaving Omaha for St. Joseph, by steam- 
boat, I took occasion to examine from the 
pilot house the bluffs between Omaha and the 
mouth of the Papillion, for the purpose of 
ascertaining whether there were any depres- 
sions between those points, through which a 
line could pass, with low grades, between the 
Missouri and Mud creek valleys, and I be- 
came satisfied that it could be done. The 
opinion was then formed that a very palpable 
engineering mistake had been made, either in 
fixing the terminus of the road at C>maha, or 
in the location of the line between C)maha and 
the Platte valley. 

In the same letter Seymour anticipates 
Simpson's exposure of the evasion of the real 
question of the heavy grades common to both 
routes — No. 1 and No. 3 — in his own re- 
port : 

It should be borne in mind, however, that 
the change in location and grades between 
stations 150 and 900 was not all that was 
specified, either in my report or the letter of 
Mr. Williams, as being necessary for the com- 
pany to do before realizing the advantages 
claimed for the new route by reason of the 
reduction of the maximum grades to 40 feet 
per mile in each direction. 

The grading, then nearly completed, be- 
tween Omaha and station 150 was to be used 
only temporarily ; and it was recommended 
"that for the present as little money as prac- 



ticable be expended in grading in the valley 
of Mud creek, between station 150 and the 
point where a line with moderate grades in 
both directions would naturally leave this val- 
ley to enter the valley of the Missouri river." 
The line referred to, "with moderate grades 
in both directions," was the route heretofore 
alluded to, as passing through the depression 
in the bluffs between Omaha and the mouth 
of the Papillion, and which I assumed would, 
as a matter of course, be adopted hereafter by 
the company. 

It was also stated in the report that the 
grade of 80 feet per mile, near the Elkhorn, 
must hereafter be reduced to 40 feet per mile, 
either by a slight change in the location, or by 
deepening the excavation and raising the em- 
bankment upon the present location. 

Simpson's concise and conscientious sum- 
ming up is an intensely interesting and sug- 
gestive contribution to the story of the Union 
Pacific road as it affected Nebraska. 

Government Director Jesse L. \\ illiams 
made rather more of a mess of the case than 
Seymour had done. He sought to reduce the 
west end eighty feet grade by arguing that it 
was not as important as it seemed, because 
two-thirds of the tonnage would go west, for 
which the heavy grade in question would be 
down hill. The east end grade is left to the 
fortune of the future: 

The cost of construction is considered 
equal — the expense of changing the first five 
or six miles from Omaha running down the 
river, to be done at a future day, to get a 40- 
foot grade throughout, oft-setting the esti- 
mated saving west of the point of divergence. 

It must also be stated that the full advan- 
tage of the lower grade on the new route will 
not l)e realized until the change alluded to in 
the last paragraph shall have been made. 
Without this change there is still near three 
miles of high grade, ascending westward from 
61 to 66 feet per mile, to be overcome, miti- 
gated somewhat in its inconvenience by being 
at the beginning of the road where assistant 
engines can at all times be in readiness. 

Mr. Seymour, in his ardor to serve Durant, 
gratuitously undertakes to put his strenuous 
superior in an attitude toward the proposed 
change which he refuses to assume. In his 
letter to Simpson Seymour says : 

It may also be proper to state in this con- 
nection that Mr. T. C. Durant, vice-president. 



THE PIONEER RAILWAY OF NEBRASKA 



479 



never to my knowledge, advocated the change 
in location, either in or out of the board of 
directors. On the contrary, he seemed to be 
reluctantly forced into a passive assent to the 
change by the weight of the argument in its 
favor, and the judgment of the government 
directors, together with, the advice of Mr. 
Usher, then Secretary of the Interior, who 
happened to be in the office of the company 
when the matter was under discussion, and 
represented to the board that the President, 
Mr. Eincoln, would undoubtedly favor the 
change. 

The matter, however, was never submitted 
to Mr. Lincoln for his approval before his 
death, nor was it officially laid before the In- 
terior Department until the day fixed for the 
retirement of Mr. Usher as secretary. 

In the early part of February, 1865, the peo- 
ple of Omaha and Council Bluffs became 
greatly alarmed over indications and rumors 
that the terminus of the road would be 
changed to Bellevue, and on the 3d of Febru- 
ary Augustus Kountze of Omaha telegraphed 
Durant as follows : "Citizens here will fill all 
agreements in relation to right of way and do- 
nations except a very few, particularly if as- 
sured by you that change of location to Sarpy 
county will not prejudice the interests of Oma- 
ha in regard to eastern counties. Can you 
give such assurance?" To this Mr. Durant 
replied: "The line has been changed to avoid 
heavy grades, not with intention of interfering 
with terminus." But Enos Lowe and Dr. 
Gilbert C. Monell, as a committee representing 
the citizens of Omaha, in their statement to 
Colonel Simpson say : 

These high grades on which he proposes 
to build the line as first located are not the 
grades determined by Mr. Dey, and contracted 
for at $50,000 per mile but a maximum grade 
of 116 feet to the mile. The latter alternative 
was stated by Colonel Seymour, the consult- 
ing engineer, to a committee of inquiry in 
Council Bluffs, and also to this committee. 
In other words, unless Congress would com- 
pensate for the 9 miles of curvature he would 
comply with the charter and build the straight 
line from Omaha, but on such a grade as to 
render it useless. Thi§ end was to be attained, 
as we are also informed, by extending his 
9-mile curvature to Bellevue. Buildings such 
as are usually erected at the terminus were to 
be erected twenty miles west of Omaha, near 
the Elkhorn river, at which place he proposed 



to divert the great national highway of the 
nation from its central connections to be a 
side feeder to his own schemes. Even yet 
wishing to reconcile this matter if possible 
Mr. Durant was again addressed as follows : 
"If the new route is made, will you go on with 
building at Omaha, and make this the only 
point of crossing the river? If so citizens of 
Omaha will aid you on the new line." He 
replied : "We will consult the interests of the 
road whether citizens of Omaha aid us or not. 
We have had enough interference. You will 
destroy your last chance for a connection. 
The line west will do you no good. I can 
connect the Mississippi and Missouri with the 
Cedar Rapids road and run to De Soto for a 
million dollars less than go to Omaha." 

Owing to some mismanagement, the 
freight agent of the Pacific road at Omaha 
had been informed that the boats loaded with 
iron had left St. Louis for Omaha, and to 
receive the freight. Llaving no notice of any 
change of intention, he could not receive at 
Bellevue or pay freight there. It was conse- 
quently landed at Omaha, and the construc- 
tion of the road is now apparently commenced 
here. In view of this whole procedure we can 
see nothing but a covert design to change the 
terminus for speculative purposes. 

Then the committee's statement proceeds : 

Shortly after this, however, works con- 
tracted for here were suspended, the prelim- 
inary steps taken to remove the same to 
Bellevue. Boats loaded with iron, on their 
departure from St. Louis, were ordered to land 
at Bellevue. Mr. Durant was again addressed 
and informed of our increased alarm, and 
assured that we would not oppose the new 
route if work. was resumed at once here, and 
we could have his promise of its performance. 

On the 6th of September, in a letter to Simp- 
son and Harbaugh, Durant replied to this 
aggressive attack with a bold, defensive broad- 
side. At the dictate of necessity, which knows 
no law, he undertook to wholly discredit Dey, 
his former engineer, and his work : "Let me 
ask you, who have examined the ground and 
have all the facts, how can a man with ordi- 
nary sense expect a corporation to place any 
reliance upon his statements, or the least con- 
fidence in his ability, who deliberately makes 
a report to his employers so utterly at variance 
with the facts as they actually exist, or look 
upon any of his opinions except with dis- 
trust?" He charges that Dey "was in the 



480 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



employ of interested parties in Omaha, labor- 
ing to thwart the honest endeavors of the 
company to do their duty" ; and then he pro- 
ceeds to tangle himself up in statements quite 
inconsistent with the facts and concessions of 
Simpson's and Seymour's reports : 

The object as really entertained, and pub- 
licly avowed by the company, was, by length- 
ening the line about 9 miles, to change the 
ruling grades from 80 to 40 feet per mile be- 
tween Omaha and the Platte valley. The sub- 
ject of a change of terminus has never been 
discussed or even suggested in the board of 
directors in connection with this subject; 
neither has it been alluded to in the report 
and recommendations made by the company's 
engineers. The surveys that have been made 
since the change was decided upon by the 
company have demonstrated that the new 
route is susceptible, at a very slight compara- 
tive expense, of being still further improved. 
Whereas it is deemed entirely impracticable, 
except at an expense which even the promo- 
tion of the private purposes and interests of 
the property-holders and citizens of Omaha 
that are represented by this committee would 
scarcely justify, to reduce the maximum grade 
upon the old location very much, if any below 
80 feet per mile. 

In this lengthy statement Durant includes 
copies of telegrams which he had sent from 
time to time during the controversy. On the 
1st of June, 186.S, he telegraphs the following 
order to Jacob E. House, who was in charge 
of construction at Omaha : "3,Iake arrange- 
ments for temporary track from Bellevue to 
Junction without regard to grade, which can 
be changed when permanent location is made, 
secure place for saw-mill and Burnetizing ma- 
chine at Bellevue. Do no work north of junc- 
tion. We have no time to lose, and must 
commence at Bellevue as our only alternative 
to save enterprise." 

On the same day he telegraphed to Edward 
Creighton of Omaha : "Omaha is all right. 
Mr. House has my reason for making the 
change, which I regret as much as you do. 
If Secretary Harlan insists upon old location 
we submit, but shall build from Bellevue first 
and finish line on old location thereafter, if 
Congress does not release us from it. We 
shall lose business on high grades, and must 
cross river elsewhere ; consequently need no 



buildings at Omaha." On the 9th of June h-; 
sent to Mr. Creighton a message still more 
threatening: "Shall make no promises as to 
crossing the river. We had made our arrange- 
ments to build at Omaha. We have had 
enough interference. We shall consult the 
interests of the road whether the citizens aid 
us or not. I should recommend, however, that 
you do not oppose new location ; for if old line 
is adopted. Cedar Rapids road will cross at 
De Soto and Missouri & Mississippi road will 
connect (with) that. The only chance to pre- 
vent this is a reduction of grades. It will cost 
one million dollars more to complete the road 
through Iowa, via Des Moines to Council 
Bluffs, than to build to Cedar Rapids. Your 
people and papers will destroy the last chance 
you have, for the terminus of our road at your 
place will not help you if there is no road to 
connect east. If any more obstacles are 
thrown in the way, we shall make application 
to the President to change the terminus." 

In reply (June 10th) Creighton stated the 
C^maha ultimatum : "The people here will be 
satisfied with Mud creek route, if Bellevue 
movement is abandoned and permanent build- 
ings be erected here at once. Omaha must be 
the only point of connection with the Missouri 
river ; without this there will be trouble." 

Durant then proceeded, in a fairly propiti- 
atory tone, to furnish from his point of 
view some very interesting history of the 
transaction. 

Mr. Durant also offered as a palliative a 
sort of non-committal approval of Colonel 
Simpson's recommendation, and which was 
adopted as an alternative in the President's 
consent to the change to the ]\Iud creek route : 

This company has never claimed nor rep- 
resented that the amended location asked for 
embodies at the present time all the advan- 
tages that may be attained over the original 
location, as about three miles of the old line 
west of r)maha was embraced in the amended 
location on account of the work on the same 
having been nearly completed when the change 
was made, on which there is a maximum 
grade greater than 40 feet. They do repre- 
sent, however, and claim that the amended 
route, which is far superior with its present 
grade, is easily and at a very slight compara- 



THE PIONEER RAILWAY OF NEBRASKA 



481 



tive expense susceptible of being still further 
improved so as to embody all the advantages 
claimed for it, while the original can never, 
within any reasonable limit of expenditure, 
be so far reduced in grade as to make it a 
desirable connection for the railroad east of 
the Missouri river. 

By adopting the line recently surveyed by 
Mr. Ainsworth down the Missouri bottom a 
short distance and across to the Mud creek 
route, which can be done at a reasonable cost, 
trains going west will have only a maximum 
grade of 30 feet to- overcome, while coming 
east can use the present descending grade on 
the first three miles west of Omaha, thus giv- 
ing all the advantages of a double track. 

The (Jmaha Republican, in the course of a 
column of excited comment on the report that 
the company had issued orders to remove all 
workmen and depot buildings from Omaha to 
Bellevue, said : 

The charter of the company provides that 
the initial point of the road shall be fixed by 
the president of the United States "from some 
point on the western boundary of the state of 
Iowa," and that the line of road "shall run 
thence west on the most direct and practicable 
route to be approved by the President of the 
United States to the 100th meridian of west 
longitude." The Pfesident fixed the initial 
point in Iowa "opposite section 10, township 
15 north of range 13, east of the 6th principal 
meridian, in the territory of Nebraska." This 
point is about one mile north of the foot of 
Farnham street. 

The Republican then relates that the com- 
pany proceeded to locate its line from this 
initial point west to the 100th meridian, and 
then, in accordance with the law, the secre- 
tary of the interior immediately withdrew the 
public lands fifteen miles on either side of this 
line from sale or preemption. Then the com- 
pany undertook to deflect the line so as to 
lengthen the distance ten miles to the Elkhorn 
river, but the President and secretary refused 
to allow this change. On the 16th of June, 
1865, the Republican reports thus : "Orders 
were received this morning from New York 
to resume work in every department of the 
Union Pacific at Omaha. We trust we have 
seen an end of the game of 'fast and loose.' " 
In its issue of August 4, 1865, the Republican 
avers that the ox-bow deflection, increasing 
the distance nine miles in fourteen, would put 



$300,000 into the cofl:'ers of the company. On 
the 6th of September the same journal relates 
that P. W. Hitchcock and Joel T. Grififen, 
through J. M. Woolworth, their attorney, had 
applied to Chief Justice Kellogg, of the terri- 
torial supreme court, for an injunction re- 
straining the Union Pacific company from 
entering on land owned by them for the pro- 
posed construction of the ox-bow line, on the 
ground that it had already exhausted its rights 
by the first location. The court denied the 
writ, giving several evasive reasons, one of 
them that the company had good reason to 
believe that the new route had been approved 
by the President. It was in fact approved, 
conditionally, about two months later. 

The continuing misapprehension, misunder- 
standing, and misconception of the newer 
\\'est by the older East is illustrated by a state- 
ment of the New York Evening Post that the 
change to the ox-bow route was recommended 
by the engineeer of the company, "who, after 
exploration of the surrounding country, dis- 
covered a mountain pass a few miles to the 
southward of the first route surveyed, through 
which the road can be run," meaning the road 
over the upland prairie to the historic Mud 
creek, pointed out in Colonel Simpson's recom- 
mendation of route No. 4. 

In addition to the domestic embroilment 
about the starting point and the route of the 
road immediately from the river, in the latter 
part of 1865, the press of the territory, with- 
out regard to party, expressed great alarm 
lest the road should be entirely diverted to the 
Smoky Plill route, and statehood was urged 
for the sake of commanding political influence 
in Congress to further aid in averting such a 
calamity. 

In the fall of 1865 the great project was 
again revivified by the intervention of the 
.-^-mes brothers and the invention of the Credit 
Mobilier scheme ; and while the new men and 
the nev/ expedient must be credited with suc- 
cessfully performing the great task, they also 
must be held responsible for making the work- 
known chiefly as a grievous public scandal. 
The Credit Mobilier was a construction com- 
pany organized by and of the stockholders 
of the railroad company. It met two indis- 



482 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



pensable conditions, namely, being a corpora- 
tion its members were liable only to the 
amount of their subscription, while before it 
^vas resorted to, the gigantic work had been 
undertaken by the dangerous partnerships 
then in vogue; and its stockholders had the 
double chance of profiting by the construc- 
tion of the road as well as by the value of 
the road itself. 

The detailed story of the participation of a 
large number of eminent members of Congress 
in this Credit Mobilier speculation, and of 
their inability to wash their hands of the 
stains of the illicit manipulation of its shares 
distributed by Ames, may not be repeated ap- 
propriately on these pages, though our com- 
monwealth was the main theater of the Union 
Pacific drama of which this Credit Mobilier 
incident was the most dramatic episode. 

On the highest ground traversed by the 
Union Pacific road commercial sentiment has 
reared a gigantic shaft in recognition of Oakes 
Ames's lofty achievement. He is thus judged 
by the business standard. In the report of 
the Poland committee of investigation, Ames 
is adjudged guilty of bribery^ of his fellow 
members of the House of Representatives, and 
his expulsion is recommended ; on the records 
of the House his censure still stands, and it is 
tolerably certain that the grave opened pre- 
maturely to cover his own sense of disgrace. 
He is thus judged by the standard of public 
ethical sentiment. Much has been said in 
complete exculpation of Ames, and much also 
in palliation of his ofifense, but, from a proper 
ethical point of view, without avail. The ad- 
mitted circumstances of Ames's parcelling of 
blocks of Credit Mobilier stock among mem- 
bers of Congress absolutely precludes apology, 
and cannot be explained away. But the 
splendid defense of Ames, forensically speak- 
ing, by an eminent citizen of Nebraska, — 
Andrew J. Poppleton — lends peculiar inter- 
est for Nebraskans to this tragical episode of 
the building of the great highway. The 
scholars and orators of those early days, who 
were chiefly confined to the members of the 
legal profession, thought, studied, and spoke 
upon erudite themes, and their style was pat- 
terned after the classic masters of legal and 



general oratory. Since that time the universal 
currency or flood of literature and drama has 
necessarily accommodated itself to the uni- 
versal taste or capacity, and so seems dispro- 
portionately light. Edmund Burke was the 
topic of one of JNIr. Poppleton's public lectures, 
and this defense shows the influence of that 
master of eloquence upon his style. The 
defense is also pervaded with the most skilful 
insinuation of the martyrdom of the accused 
— that the extraordinary end sought involved 
or justified extraordinary means for its ac- 
complishment — which is a reminder of the 
pleas in behalf of Warren Hastings and Lord 
Clive. 

George Francis Train, who had been every- 
where, and with quick but erratic vision had 
seen everything, had learned of the prodigies 
in "promotion" performed by the Credit Mo- 
bilier of France, which was chartered in 1853. 
In 1864 Train acquired the charter of the 
Pennsylvania agency, and, building better 
than he knew along the line of consistency, 
had the name changed to "The Credit AIo- 
bilier of America." The subsequent career 
of the original was utterly ruinous, and its 
ways were as devious and scandalous as those 
of its namesake. 

.Stockholders in Durant's construction com- 
pany exchanged their shares for Credit Mo- 
bilier stock according to the amount they had 
paid in; and the holders of the $2,180,000 
Union Pacific stock were allowed to take Cred- 
it Mobilier stock in exchange for it, according 
to the amounts paid in. The Hoxie contract, 
covering the 247 miles to the 100th meridian, 
was assigned to the Credit Mobilier, and Du- 
rant made a contract with one Boomer — an 
irresponsible though remarkably appropriate 
name — for the construction of .153 miles west 
of the 100th meridian, at $19,500 a mile to the 
crossing of the Platte and $20,000 a mile be- 
yond that point. When the Union Pacific di- 
rectors undertook to pay the Credit Mobilier 
for fifty-eight completed miles of this road, at 
the rate of $50,000 a mile, Durant protested 
against the swindle, and an injunction from a 
New York court finally prevented it. Then the 
directors made a contract with John S. M. 
Williams for the construction of 268 miles 



THE PIONEER RAILWAY OF NEBRASKA 



483 



westward from the 100th meridian, at the rate 
of $50,000 a mile, and again Durant enjoined 
its performance. The Hoxie contract was com- 
pleted to the 100th meridian by October 5, 
1866, and by August 16th of the next year 188 
miles more were completed, thus carrying the 
work within thirty-seven miles of the west 
boundary of Nebraska. 

About this time the New England faction, 
led by the Ames brothers, forced Durant out 
of the Credit Alobilier directory, and Sidney 
Dillon was elected its president in place of 



profits which the Credit Mobilier, the real 
builder of the Union Pacific road, realized on 
its work, but they were probably not less than 
$16,000,000 — more than twenty-five per cent ; 
nor, considering all the circumstances, should 
it be said that this profit was too large. It can 
only be said that if the federal government and 
the company had been capable, economically 
and morally, of properly performing their 
duties, there would have been a great saving 
of cost in money and in the good name of all 
concerned. 




En^ya-.-ing furtnshcd by /:. t. /-■ 

Driving the L.\st Spike .\t Promontory, M.\y 10, 1869 



Durant. In August, 1867, the differences be- 
tween the factions were compromised, and the 
famous contract with Oakes Ames was made 
for the construction of 667 miles west of the 
100th meridian, and which gave Ames the 
option of extending it to Salt Lake. Under 
this contract and a subcontract with James \\'. 
Davis for the remainder beyond the limit of 
667 miles, the great work was completed to the 
meeting at Promontory, May 10, 1869. 

It is impracticable to ascertain accurately the 



To him who studies the construction of 
the first Pacific railway in the light of present 
methods of railway building, the men who put 
through this great enterprise seem immeas- 
urably extravagant if not corrupt. Those who 
suffered from their manipulations of the lead- 
ing railway properties of the West are pretty 
sure to call them corrupt. But to him who 
looks at the railway history of the country as 
a whole, the building of the first railway to 
the Pacific appears as a mere episode, to be 
measured by finite different standards. Such 
an one will, of course, regret that extravagant 



484 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



and questionable methods were used, but he 
will not visit upon the managers of this work 
unqualified condemnation, as so many have 
done. 

The first rail of the Union Pacific, and so 
the first railway track in Nebraska, was laid 
at the Omaha end of the line July 10, 1865 ; 
and on the 22d of September the Republican 
reports that ten miles of track had been laid 
and that it was going down at the rate of a 
mile a day. There were on hand, also eighty 
miles of iron, four locomotives, thirty plat- 
form cars, four or five box freight cars, sev- 
eral passenger cars, spikes, switches, etc., "re- 
ceived from below." The construction of 
machine shops and other buildings at Omaha 
had been begun. This may be regarded as 




Ames Monument 

the modest first equipment of the then greatest 
railway enterprise of the whole world. Bridge 
timber already framed for the first 100 miles 
— l)etween Omaha and the Loup Fork — was 
on the ground. The grade was to be finished 
to Columbus in thirty days after the date last 
named. On the 6th of January, 1866, the 
three commissioners appointed by the Presi- 
dent of the United States, according to the 
act of Congress, examined and accepted the 
first forty miles of road. According to the 
contemporary newspaper account the passen- 
ger car used by the commissioners on their trip 
of investigation was constructed in Omaha and 
was named the "Major-General Sherman." 
The commissioners were Colonel J. H. Simp- 
son, president of the board. Major-General 
Samue! R. Curtis, and Major William \Miite. 



Notwithstanding that, on account of his er- 
ratic temperament, George Francis Train was 
kept in the background by the ])romoters and 
capitalists of the enterprise, yet his remarkable 
ingenuity, alertness, and activity commanded 
recognition ; and on this occasion General 
Curtis is reported as saying in reply to a 
compliment to himself that Train deserved 
more consideration than he did. The Herald 
notes that, in a recent speech in Boston, Train 
boasted that his friends had subscribed enough 
to control the company, and at an annual 
meeting, with his proxies, he had erased the 
names of fourteen of the biggest men in the 
country from the directory. 

According to a general and perhaps benefi- 
cent rule of comjjensation, men of unusualh 
strong qualities or characteristics are apt to be 
endowed with corresponding weaknesses, and 
common among them is vanity. Not infre- 
quently the cynically practical captain of in- 
dustry loves and is influenced by flattery and 
cajolery, and according to Dr. George L. Mil- 
ler's estimate and treatment of Thomas C. 
Durant he was not an exception to this rule. 
While the Republican and citizens of Omaha 
feared treachery on Durant's part, and openly 
protested and inveighed against his devious 
ways, the Herald did not falter in its expres- 
sions of faith that all things, including Du- 
rant, would work together for the good of 
(Jmaha ; but in season and out of season it 
fortified its faith by cajolery of the imperious 
arbiter of Omaha's fortunes. On the 20th of 
October, 1865, the Herald calls on everybody 
to assist "the first of living railroad men" and 
the "Great Manager" in getting ties for "the 
Great Road," and says that "fifteen mills are 
already at work in this section." 

On the 15th of June, 1866, the Herald 
stated that one and three-quarter miles of 
track were laid on the 9th inst., breaking the 
record, and it thereupon anoints Durant as 
"the Napoleon of railways." 

Oi: the 13th of July, 1866, the Herald notes 
that the "Railway King" has a freight boat, 
Flkhoni, built in Pittsburgh at a cost of $52,000 
for the use of the Union Pacific company, 
which had brought the first two barges — 
Hero and Heroine — that ever navigated the 



THE PIONEER RAILWAY OF NEBRASKA 



485 



Missouri, laden with 3,600 bushels of coal 
and 900 bars of railroad iron. The barges 
were 25 feet beam and 125 feet long, and each 
could carry 200 tons in two feet of water. 
"The friends of the Missouri river", the 
Herald says, "should be grateful to Durant 
for having vindicated t'hese mighty waters 
against the slanders of their traducers." 

The location of the Union Pacific bridge 
was fixed by the President ( 1 ) because there 
is a rock bottom at that point from the 
Nebraska to the Iowa side of the river; (2) 
the channel has not changed there since the 
time of the first settlement; (3) the company 
wanted the extensive river front for its busi- 
ness with steamboats. 

Early in the spring of 1867 the Omaha city 
council appointed ( )liver P. Hurford, Alger- 
non S. Paddock, Augustus Kountze, Ezra 
Millard, and Francis Smith to go to New York 
and pledge $100,000 to the company towards 
securing the bridge at Omaha. 

In 1863 citizens of Omaha sought to settle — 
or re-settle in their own favor — the terminus 
question by giving right of way through the 
city, 500 acres of land along the river front 
for the company's shops, depots, and other 
buildings, and a gift of about 700 acres of 
outlying land, in consideration of an agree- 
ment by the company to fix the terminus at 
Omaha. The consideration recited in the 
deeds to these lands made by many citizens was 
as follows. "In consideration of the location 
of the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific 
railroad at Omaha City, Nebraska, within 
1J4 miles of Farnam street in said city, thence 
running west from said point towards the 
Platte valley." 

From this time until the formal settlement 
of the terminus question by the Supreme 
Court of the United States, in 1876, there was 
constant perturbation and fear on the part of 
the people of Omaha, and a chronic state of 
intrigue and bickering among themselves as 
well as between themselves and the company. 
Bitter recollections of the animosities and re- 
criminations of that period still survive, and 
they will linger only to be buried in the graves 
of those who entertained them. It does not 
seem that there was ground for reasonable 



doubt of the intention of the act of 1862; for 
its very unreasonableness was consistent with 
that Iowa influence which, as we have seen, 
from the first had exploited Nebraska affairs 
in the interest of Council Blufifs, and less di- 
rectly of the whole state, and this act is per- 
fectly explicable in the light of preceding 
manipulation. Nebraska was still politically 
and commercially insignificant, and in this 
sense "without God and without hope in the 
world" ; while Iowa had a strong representa- 
tion in Congress, formidable material pro- 
gress to her credit, and was lined up surely 
and safely on the side of the dominant party. 
The only uncertainty lay in the Supreme 
Court's wide discretion of "construction" and 
its facility in exercising it — or as Mr. James 
Bryce, with at least a tincture of irony, puts 
it, the "breadth of view" which characterizes 
that body. It was not at all likely that the 
court would unsettle this vested interest of 




Courtesy of Alfred Darlow. a<h ertising 
agent Union Pacific railroad. 

E.\RI,Y RIVER SCENE, Om.\H.\ 

Iowa, though Justice Bradley, in a short, crisp 
dissent, did insist tiiat the whole Missouri 
river was "the western boundary of Iowa," 
and that therefore, in law as well as in fact, 
(.)maha was the eastern terminus. His con- 
clusion was as follows : 

The Missouri river is, by common accept- 
ance, the western boundary of Iowa ; and the 
fair construction of the charter of the Union 
Pacific railroad company, which adopts that 
boundary as its eastern terminus, is, that the 
road was to extend from the Missouri river 
westwardly. The subsequent express author- 
ity to construct a bridge across the river, in 
my judgment, confirms this view of the sub- 
ject; and as a mandamus is a severe remedy, 
I think it ought not to be granted in 
this case. 

This suit was begun in the name of Samuel 
E. Hall and John W. Morse, citizens of 
Council Bluff's, who asked for a mandamus 



486 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



to compel the Union Pacific company to oper- 
ate its bridge across the Missouri at Omaha 
as a part of its railroad, by continuous trains, 
and at a mileage tariff on freight and pas- 
sengers. Until the time of the decision of 
the suit the company had operated the bridge 
line as a distinct system and with separate 
trains. The case was decided on appeal to 
the Supreme Court of the United States, 
February 28, 1876. The opinion of the 
majority of the court is in part as follows : 

But we do not discover that the United 
States government or its officers ever acted 
upon the theory that the eastern terminus of 
the road was on the western shore of the 
river. The officers of the company asserted 
it for a time, it is true, but not in their prac- 
tical intercourse with the national government. 
Indeed, it never became a practical question 
until the bridge was erected ; and from that 
time to the present the government has as- 
serted that the true terminus of the road was 
fixed on the Iowa shore. . . . True, it 
(the bridge) is not opposite section 10; but 
the company has taken up its road from that 
section, and it now comes to the river where 
the bridge is actually constructed. Having 
abandoned their road so far as it extended 
above that point ; having commenced their 
bridge where it is ; having applied to Con- 
gress for power to mortgage it and for 
special power to levy tolls and charges for the 
use of it ; and having obtained those powers, 
they are not at liberty now to assert that they 
have located it in the wrong place. There is 
nothing either in the act of 1862 or 1864 or in 
that of February 24, 1871, which em])owers 
them to build more than one bridge over the 
^lissouri river for the Iowa branch ; and the 
latter act contains an implied recognition of 
the right under the former acts to build their 
bridge on its present location. There is no 
intimation in it of a distinct franchise. It 
grants no power to build a bridge. 

The Council Bluffs interests insisted on the 
strict, technical letter of the law. President 
Lincoln in his orders of November 17, 1863, 
and March 7, 1864, fixed the initial point of 
the road "on the western boundary of the state 
of Iowa, east of and opposite to the east line 
of section 10 in township 15 north, of range 13 
east of the 6th principal meridian, in the terri- 
tory of Nebraska." To meet this insistence on 
the apparently plain letter of the law Mr. Pop- 



pleton's brief on behalf of the company was 
necessarily specious, but it was a masterpiece 
of its kind. It presented a formidable array 
of illustrations of the truth of his contention 
that the officers and engineers of the company, 
as well as representatives of the government, 
had from the first treated Omaha as the initial 
point of the railroad. While the argument 
was so complete that it seemed to omit nothing 
that was relevant and useful to the company's 
cause, yet it was not burdened with an ir- 
relevant contention or a superfluous sentence. 
It is true that the act of 1862 "required" the 
company to construct its line as described, 
while the act of 1864 merely "authorized" it 
to construct a bridge. It is true, as Mr. Pop- 
pleton most forcibly and plausibly contended, 
that in adjusting the subsidies for the road, 
mileage was counted from Omaha as the initial 
point ; that President Lincoln in his annual 
message of December 7, 1864, announced that, 
"The route of the main line of the road has 
been definitely located for 100 miles west- 
ward from the initial point at Omaha city, 
Nebraska" ; and that the provision of the 
charter, that if the road should not be com- 
pleted so as to form a continuous line from 
the Missouri river to the California coast by 
the 1st of July, 1876, the whole property 
should be forfeited to the LTnited States, did 
not contemplate that the beginning of the 
road was at Council Bluffs, or that the for- 
feiture might have been enforced upon such 
an assumption. But while this argument fur- 
nished plausible ground for the court to decide 
against the strict letter of the original law, if 
it had deemed it expedient so to do, yet it did 
not prove that the system of ferry boats which 
was operated between the technical end of the 
railroad line and the Iowa shore was not con- 
structively a part of the Union Pacific railway, 
or that when the company chose to, and did 
build its bridge in contiiuiation of the first 
defacto end of its line, that the bridge would 
not legally and logically become a part of the 
line and be regarded as the delayed completion 
of it to the technical initial point. 

During these years of controversy there was 
intrigue in plenty on both sides. Assuming 
that the bridge was to be luiilt at Omaha and 



THE PIONEER RAILWAY OF NEBRASKA 



487 



was to be a part of the Union Pacific line, as 
the court subsequently decided, and inasmuch 
as the company had recognized ( Jmaha as the 
terminus and had accepted her bonus for the 
concession, as we have seen, the troubled city 
had plausible grounds for her contention, but 
nothing more. It was at most an open ques- 
tion, but the company had evidently pledged 
its faith to Omaha — if indeed it may be as- 
sumed that it had ever possessed anything of 
that sort to pledge. Two important documents 
show the attitude of Omaha towards the 
bridge question in 1868. The first is an ulti- 
matum of the committee of citizens who were 



upon in the settlement of 1868, the consider- 
ation of which is significant. 

After they had won the contest the Omaha 
victors expressed a belief that their cause had 
been in great danger and acknowledged the 
effectiveness of the opposing forces. "When 
we say that for a long time, the contest on 
[the] bridge swung between Bellevue and 
Childs' Mill, and that Omaha was counted 
out, his [Henry T. Clarke's] people and ours 
may better appreciate the not altogether hope- 
less struggle in which he at last confessed a 
surrender." 

The amendatory Union Pacific act of July 2, 




Engrazittg from a cof'yrightcil f'hi^lognij^Ji fnruisJtc^i hy Mr. .Ufyci !Uiii>';^\ ,1,1;', 

Private car of President Linco;,n 



'itf i'liifiii Pacific railroad. 



sent to New York to negotiate with the com- 
pany. Dr. George L. Miller declined to act 
as a member of this committee. He insisted 
that the citizens had not kept faith with the 
road and were attempting to impose upon it 
an unjust condition subsequent to the original 
agreement. But at the urgent request of mem- 
bers of the committee he went to New York 
and pleaded, no doubt effectually, with Durant 
and others to come to a settlement and save 
the bridge — which meant the' terminus of the 
road — to Omaha. 

The second document is the deed of land 
for depot grounds, right of way, etc., as agreed 



1864, granted to the Burlington & Missouri 
River railroad company, a corporation or- 
ganized under the laws of the state of Iowa, 
right of way 200 feet wide and ten alternate 
sections of land per mile on each side of a 
line of railroad "from the point where it 
strikes the Missouri river, south of the mouth 
of the Platte river, to some point not further 
west than the 100th meridian of west longi- 
tude, so as to connect, by the most practicable 
route, with the main trunk of the Union Pacific 
railroad, or that part of it which runs from 
(Jmaha to the said 100th meridian of west 
longitude." 



488 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




Gkk\vu.i.e M. Dodge 

Major-geiK-ral U. S. army, member of Congress, and construction 

engineer I'nion Pacific railroad 



THE PIONEER RAILWAY OF NEBRASKA 



489 



When the Union Pacific company adopted 
the Mud creek or ox-bow route a sharp con- 
troversy, in the form of appeals to the secre- 
tary of the interior, arose between President 
John A. Dix of the Union Pacific and Presi- 
dent J. W. Brooks of the Burhngton & Mis- 
souri company, the latter contending that 
"the proposed alteration in the route of that 
road (the Union Pacific) brings it almost 
down to the line adopted by the Burlington & 
Missouri River R. R. Co." President Dix in- 
sisted that the change referred to "is all 
within the first 17^2 miles of the old line west 
from Omaha. At that distance the old and 
new lines unite, and the maximum deflection 
of the new line from the old within that dis- 
tance is only S'/i miles. As the line of the 



of line, to which the other company is now 
entitled." 

On the other hand there was strong popular 
opposition, led by J. Sterling Morton and Dr. 
George L. Miller, editor of the Omaha Her- 
ald, to the manner in which the Burlington 
company proposed to locate its lands. This con- 
troversy is explained by the protest of 
the Nebraska City Nezvs, which contains 
notice of the reversal by O. H. Browning, 
secretary of the interior, of the decision of 
his predecessor, James Harlan, that the com- 
pany might select its lands from all odd sec- 
tions, thus withdrawing them from market. 
By the new ruling the company was required 
to confine the selections to a limit of twenty 
miles on either side of its line. The Netvs 




E.N'GINF. Xo. 1 ON THE UxiON P.\CIF1C R.\II,RO.\D 



Burlington & Missouri River railroad is un- 
derstood to run south of the mouth of the 
Platte, a distance of eighteen miles from 
Omaha, the apprehended invasion of the ter- 
ritory, for which that road proposes to furnish 
railroad facilities, is altogether imaginary." 
But on the 9th of September, 1865, to quiet 
the matter. President Dix announced that 
the Union Pacific company "will waive all 
claim to any land to which the Burlington ii: 
Missouri railroad company is now entitled un- 
der existing acts of Congress, so far as such 
claim may arise from the proposed change 
of line. That I may not be misunderstood, I 
put the proposition in another form of words : 
that the Union Pacific railroad company will 
not claim any lands, by reason of the change 



expresses the opinion that this new decision 
will probably involve the location of a new 
initial point on the Missouri river, and "be- 
cause the Union Pacific railroad reaches 
twelve miles south of Plattsmouth (the present 
initial point of the Burlington) and therefore 
leaves no land on the north side of the present 
line of location, westward, to be selected by 
the Burlington Co. and none within twelve 
miles south thereof." The Omaha Herald 
indulges in strong congratulations over the 
event, as follows : 

It will be rememliered that Harlan decided 
the clause under which that land-grabbing 
corporation has been for years engaged in 
absorbing millions of acres of the choicest 
land in Nebraska, restricting them to selec- 



490 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



tions within twenty miles of the hne, to mean 
that they could select without reg'ard to lim- 
its. Under this construction the company has 
been engaged for more than a year in a sys- 
tematic effort to absorb the choicest land in 
all sections of the territory. . . Mr. Brown- 
ing is entitled to the hearty thanks of the 
people of Nebraska for his action. To Hon. 
J. Sterling Morton, who first called the atten- 
tion of the Secretary of the Interior to this 
important subject, and subsequently pressed 
it before him for decision, and advocated the 
rights of the people in the Nczcs. and to Mr. 
O. F. Davis, acting register of the land office, 
who has sustained his views and denounced 
the land robbers, the public thanks are due. 
We understand Mr. Browning has caused or- 
ders to be sent to the land ofifices in Nebraska 
to stop these withdrawals of the land, and to 



nestly begun. Only about one and one-half 
miles of road had been graded previous to July, 
1865, but before January 1, 1866, the line was 
completed fifty miles westward. From this 
time the work of construction progressed 
rai)idly ; 250 miles of track were laid in 1866, 
and during the season of 1867, 240 miles were 
added. Fort Sanders was passed May 8, 
1868, and the following day the track was 
completed to Laramie. Promontory Point, 
Utah, was reached just one year later, and on 
May 10, 1869, a junction was made with the 
Central Pacific railroad at a point 1,085.8 miles 
west of Omaha, and 690 miles east of Sacra- 
mento. The greatest trouble with Indians was 
experienced in western Nebraska, but they con- 




Thk first Union Pacific R.^ilro.^d Bridge across the Missouri River at Omaha 



open them to the homestead and preemption 
benefits. We jjresume this will include orders 
to cancel the reservations heretofore made, 
and thus will be restored to our people mil- 
lions of acres of the best lands the sun ever 
shone upon. 

The secretary granted the company a re- 
hearing, but on the 25th of January, 1865, he 
afiirmed his former decision as follows : "The 
order then made for a restoration to market 
of the lands lying beyond the limit of twenty 
miles of the line of said road and withdrawn 
with reference to the claim of said company, 
will, if not executed, be carried at once into 
eft'ect." 

The route out of Omaha being now finally 
determined, the work of construction was ear- 



tinued to harass surveying parties and track- 
layers in Wyoming as well, although United 
States troops were constantly on guard. 

The first permanent bridge across the Mis- 
souri river, at Omaha was commenced in 
March 1868, and completed four years later, 
at a cost of $1,730,000. In 1877 this bridge 
was partially destroyed by a cyclone, and in 
1886-1887 was entirely rebuilt and enlarged. 

.\ regular train service was established 
early in 1866, and trains were running to 
Bridgers Pass by October, 1868. The first 
conductor on the Union Pacific was Grove 
Watson, deceased, and the second, Augustus 
.\ Kgbert. The first station at Omaha was 
built near the present site of the smelting 



THE PIONEER RAILWAY OF NEBRASKA 



491 



works, and B. T. C. Morgan was appointed 
agent, January 1, 1865. 

By September, 1867, the great highway had 
become progressive enough to announce that 
"on and after next Sunday" all trains, passen- 
ger and freight, would run on Sundays the 
same as week days. On the 20th of May, 
1868, it was announced through the Herald 
that passenger fare had been reduced from 
ten cents to seven and one-half cents a mile. 
By this change the fare to Cheyenne, which 
had been $51.50 became $38.50. 



.\mong the earHest local officials of the 
Union Pacific railroad after its formal inaugu- 
ration were : Webster Snyder, general super- 
intendent, soon followed by Samuel B. Reed, 
and later by C. G. Hammond; H. M. Hoxie, 
assistant superintendent ; J. H. Congdon, gen- 
eral manager; S. H. H. Clark, general freight 
agent ; Thomas L. Kimball, general passenger 
and ticket agent; T. E. Sickles, chief engi- 
neer ; and William Huff, master mechanic. 
The latter was succeeded by Robert McCon- 
nell, April 1, 1867. 



PASSENGER TARIFF OF UNION PACIFIC R R. 



July 16, 1866. 



DIST4SCE 
FROM 
DMIIA 


OMilA 
























12!^ 


$1 25 


PIPILUON 




28 K 


2 86 


S 1 65 


KLKHORN 


46 H 


4 65 


3 40 


S 1 75 


FREMOm 


6]X 


6 15 


4 90 


3 25 


S 1 50 


NORTH BENU 


91."* 


7 55 
9 15 


6 36 


4 65 


2 90 


Si 45 


SEEll CREK 






7 90 


6 25 


4 50 


3 00 


$1 55 


coinuBus 
SI 80 




109 


10 90 


9 70 


8 00 


6 25 


4 80 


3 35 


SILVER ORl 




1 


131 M 


13 10 


11 96 


10 25 


8 50 


7 00 


5 60 


4 00 


S2 25 
4 46 


LODE TREE 




1 


lb3% 


15 35 


14 16 


12 45 


10 7(1 


9 20 


7 80 


6 20 


S2 20 


GRAND ISl'I 






m'A 






















WOOli RIVR 














190 
























KEARNEY | 



Omaha, July 16, 1866. 



Sam'l B. Reed, 
General Superintendent. 



1 Joseph Nichols, History Union Pacific Railzvay. 



CHAPTER XXII 

Schools, Colleges, and Universities. 



CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY. The his- 
tory of this college may be briefly out- 
lined as follows: A4r. Edward Creighton, after 
whom the college is named, had proposed in 
life to form a free institution of learning, but 
died intestate on November 5, 1874, before 
making provisions for the fulfillment of his 
project. His wife, Mrs. Alary Lucretia 
Creighton, inheriting both his fortune and his 
noble purpose, determined to carry out her 
husband's wish, but did not live to behold its 
realization. Her death occurred on January 
23, 1876. In her last will and testament, dated 
September 23, 1875, she made, among others, 
the following bequest : 

Item: I will and bequeath unto my said 
executors the further sum of one hundred 
thousand dollars to be by them received, held, 
kept, invested and reinvested in like manner, 
but upon the trusts nevertheless and to and 
for the uses, intents and purposes hereinafter 
expressed and declared of and concerning the 
same, that is to say, to purchase the site for 
a school in the city of Omaha, . . . and 
erect proper buildings thereon for a school of 
the class and grade of a College, expending 
in the ])urchase of said site and the building 
of said buildings, and in and about the same, 
not to exceeed one-half of said sum, and to 
invest the remainder in securities, the interest 
of which shall be applied to the support and 
maintenance : and the principal shall be kept 
forever inviolate. . . 

Acting on this bequest, the executors, 
Messrs. John A. Creighton, James Creighton, 
and Herman Kountze, purchased the present 
site and proceeded to erect what is now called 
the main building. The entire property and 
securities were duly conveyed by the executors 
to the Rt. Rev. James (3'Connor, D.D., bishop 
of Omaha, July 1, 1878. 

Under and in pursuance of "An act of the 



legislature of the State of Nebraska (Febru- 
ary 27, 1879) to provide for the incorporation 
of universities under certain circumstances," 
Rt. Rev. James O'Connor, D.D., vested the 
entire property and securities of Creighton 
College in a corporation, designating the legal 
title of said corporation to be Creighton Uni- 
versity, and appointing five members of the 
Society of Jesus to constitute the board of 
trustees. Creighton University was thus in- 
corporated on August 14, 1879. 

By deed of trust executed on December 4, 
1879, the Rt. Rev. James O'Connor, D.D., 
conveyed all the property and' securities of 
Creighton College to the above-mentioned cor- 
]wration, Creighton University. By this con- 
veyance the entire trust passed from the Rt. 
Hew Bishop ami his successors to Creighton 
University and its successors, the trust to be 
held and administered upon the same terms 
and conditions and for the same purposes, for 
and under which it was originally bequeathed 
1)\- Mrs. Mary Lucretia Creighton. The posi- 
tion, therefore, of Creighton University rela- 
tive to Creighton College, its property, and 
securities, as derived from the bequest of Mrs. 
Creighton, is that of trustee for Creighton 
College. 

The funds invested for the support of the 
college had been increased from the division 
of the residue of the estate of Mrs. Mary 
Lucretia Creighton, so that when Creighton 
University accepted the trust, the endowment 
fluid amounted to about $147, .^00. 

The main building was begun in 1877 and 
completed in 1878. It is built of brick 
trimmed with limestone. There are three 
stories and a basement, with a frontage of 
56 and depth of 126 feet, 'i'he facade is 
surmounted by a tower 110 feet high. This 



C(JTNER UNIVERSITY 



493 



building is at present devoted entirely to col- 
lege purposes. 

The library, which had only 1.000 \olumes 
in 1899, now contains about 17,000 volumes, 
among which are many works of considerable 
antiquity and value. It is a free library. 

In 1883, the scientific department of 
Creighton College was established and richly 
furnished by John A. Creighton with a com- 
plete chemical, physical, and astronomical out- 
fit. 

The astronomical observatory received its 
full development in 1S86, when the present 
observatory was erected on the brow of the 
hill north of the. college. The cost of its 




Mrs. M.\ry Ll'creti.\ Creighton 

erection was largely borne by John A. Creigh- 
ton and John A. McShane. 

In 1892 John A. Creighton signified his 
willingness to found the medical department of 
Creighton University. To carry out his idea, 
the board of trustees held a meetinng May 3, 
1892. and unanimously resolved to establish 
the "John A. Creighton Medical College" as a 
department of the university. This action 
was taken in virtue of an act of the legislature, 
passed February 27, 1879, giving the univer- 
sity authorities power to "erect within and as 
departments of said institution, schools and 
colleges of the arts, sciences, and professions, 
as to them may seem proper." 



The Edward Creighton Institute, 66 by 126 
feet, four stories and basement, located on 
Eighteenth street, opposite the city hall, is the 
latest addition to the university buildings. It 
is intended to form a permanent home for the 
departments of law and dentistry, which were 
opened in 1905. It also gives temporary ac- 
commodation to a school of pharmacy, now in 
operation. The Omaha law library is located 
in this building. 

During the last few years of his life John 
A. Creighton added considerably to the en- 




Mrs. S.\r.\h Emii.y Creighton 

dowment fund of the university, and in his 
will made substantial provision for its per- 
manent endowment. 

CoTNER University. At the annual state 
convention of the Nebraska Christian Mis- 
sionary society in 1887 a resolution was passed 
authorizing a committee composed of J. Z. 
Briscoe, E. T. Gadd, Porter Hedge, W. P. 
Aylsworth. G. E. Bigelow, J. B. Johnson, and 
W. W. West to "receive and accept proposi- 
tions" looking toward the incorporation of a 
Christian university. This committee ac- 
cepted donations of land aggregating 321 
acres, lying northeast of Lincoln, and on Feb- 
ruary 14. 1888, articles of incorporation of 



494 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



the Nebraska Cliristian Educational Board 
were filed. The construction of a suitable 
building was begun which was finally com- 
pleted in April. 1S90, and fully paid for. This 
structure is a handsome and entirely modern 
building of Milwaukee pressed brick, and 
overlooks the city of Lincoln from a beautiful 
campus of twenty acres well set to trees, about 
four miles northeast of the postoffice. School 
was opened in the fall of 1889, in a private 
house with William I'. Aylsworth as its acting 
president. In 1890 D. R. Dungan was called 
to the presidency and served for six years 
During this time the financial distress that 




Wii.i.iAM Princk Aylsworth 

came upon the country, crushing banks and 
business interests of all kinds, met the young 
institution in its first years and well-nigh 
ended its career. Its assets, in common with 
those of the business world, shrank in value, 
and notes accepted for the deferred payment 
on lots sold, the proceeds of which were used 
to construct and fit out the building, were de- 
faulted in large amounts and came back for 
payment. The lots had so shrunk in value 
that in many instances not one-tenth of the 
purchase price could be realized on them. A 



mortgage on the building, campus, and dormi- 
tory was given for funds to meet these de- 
mands. Times grew worse. Men were fail- 
ing in business everywhere. Courage and 
confidence were at the lowest ebb. It came 
to be practically every man for himself. The 
mortgage was foreclosed and the property 
jjassed into the hands of a trustee for the 
creditors. But in spite of these adverse con- 
ditions the school never failed to hold full 
year's sessions. In 1896 Mr. Dungan resigned 
and W. P. Aylsworth was chosen as chancel- 
lor. John W. Hilton, a graduate of the 
school, was called to be its financial agent in 
1898 and sent into the field to raise a fund 
to redeem the property. After two years of 
labor and through the great generosity of the 
creditors in scaling down the original debt 
very largely, the university building, campus, 
and dormitory were deeded to the "Nebraska 
Christian University," an incorporation form- 
ed February 11, 1901, and representing the 
Disciples of Christ in Nebraska, thus secur- 
ing to the brotherhood of the state this 
handsome property, valued at over $137,000. 

The university has two colleges, liberal arts 
and medicine. It has also an academy, normal 
school, business school, school of eloquence, 
school of music, and school of art. The col- 
lege of liberal arts ofl:'ers four courses : Classi- 
cal, sacred literature, philosophical, and nor- 
mal philosophical. 

The medical college is situated in the city 
of Lincoln and is known as Lincoln Medical 
College. This school was opened September 
15, 1890, in the university building, with Dr. 
\V. S. Latta as dean. It has a four-years 
course and confers the degree of M.D., its 
diplomas being recognized by state boards of 
health. Dr. Frank L. Wilmeth is the presi- 
dent. 

William P. Aylsworth, LL.D., was the 
chancellor of the university for about fifteen 
years and has been at the head of the sacred 
literature department from the opening day, 
November 1, 1889. Dr. James A. Beattie was 
for many years connected with the institution. 
The work of the school is growing steadily and 
its influence is widespread. Its alumni may be 
found in jirominent fields of labor in business. 



DOANE COLLEGE 



495 



education, and religion. Some of its gradu- 
: -es are in foreign fields as missionaries. 

At the annual meeting of the trustees • in 
June, 1910, Dr. W. P. Aylsworth resigned the 
chancellorship but retained his place and work 
at the head of the department of sacred liter- 
ature. In July of the same year the trustees 
elected William Oschger, A.M., pastor of the 
Christian church of Vincennes, Indiana, to 
fill the office of chancellor. Mr. Oschger 
continued in office until June, 1916. The 
trustees elected Charles Watt Erickson, M.S., 
of Detroit, Michigan, a graduate of Washing- 
ton and Jeliferson College, to fill the place made 
vacant by the retirement of Mr. Oschger. At 
the close of the college year in June, 1917, ^Ir. 
Erickson resigned and returned to Detroit. 
The trustees appointed Andrew D. Harmon. 
A.M., acting chancellor. At the time of his 
appointment he was a member of the teaching 
staff of the university and dean of the faculty. 
Cotner University is one of the institutions 
of higher education for which the members of 
the Christian church are raising an endow- 
ment fund of $3,500,000 in connection with 
$2,800,000 for missionary purposes in America 
and foreign lands. The "Men and Millions 
Movement" as it is called, is to complete its 
work by June 1. 1918. Cotner University's 
share of the $3,500,000 is $225,000. This 
sum, with the endowment already possessed, 
will make a good beginning of the large svim 
which a growing institution of learning needs. 
A fund of $10,000 for each year for three 
years ($30,000), in addition to the regular 
fees and interest on the endowment and the 
sums which are contributed by the churches 
on educational Sunday, has been raised. The 
addition to the funds will help to carry on 
the work of the university while the $225,000 
becomes interest bearing. 

DoANK CoivLEGE. One of the distinctive 
characteristics of Congregationalists is to build 
colleges and academies. Our Pilgrim fathers 
landed at Plymouth in 1620, and in 1636 
founded Harvard college and in 1701 Yale 
college. Since then, with the development of 
the denomination, colleges and academies have 
been established east and west, north and 
south, until today the Congregational institu- 



tions of learning bear noble testimony to the 
educational genius of the Congregational 
churches and stand in the very forefront in 
the splendid educational system of the repub- 
lic. It is not surprising, then, that our pioneer 
fathers in Nebraska at the first annual meet- 
ing of the Congregational churches in the 
territor>', held in Omaha, October 30, 1857, 

Resolved. That we deem it expedient to 
take measures to lay the foundation of a 
literary institution of a high order in Nebraska. 

Resolved, That a committee of three be 
appointed to take into consideration the loca- 
tion of the literary institution. 

Voted, That this committee view locations, 
receive propositions, and, if thought expedient, 
call a special meeting of the association. 

In accordance with these instructions the 
Nebraska University, located at Fontenelle, 
February, 1855, and commonly referred to as 
the "Fontenelle school," was transferred to 
the Congregationalists, January, 1858. A tract 
of 112 acres was set apart for the school, al- 
most ideal in the lay of the land, and the 
early prospects of the school were bright, but 
subsequent disappointments many. Fontenelle 
had an ambition to secure the county seat 
and also the capital of the new state. 

The building of railroads and the push of 
settlements west and south of Fontenelle 
sealed its fate as a school center and as a 
town. Fremont secured the county seat and 
Fontenelle was set in another county, Lincoln 
was awarded its hoped-for capitol, Crete its 
college, and the open fields its once ambitious 
town. The Fontenelle school never reached 
a secure footing. When the state capital was 
located at Lincoln and the trend of immigra- 
tion went that way, it became evident that the 
Congregational college must have a more cen- 
tral location. The result was that the school 
at Fontenelle was abandoned, and a new col- 
lege was organized at Crete by vote of the 
general association, June, 1872, and was duly 
incorporated July 11, 1872. An academy had 
been located at Crete the preceding year — 
incorporated as Crete Academy, May 22, 1871, 
— and this doubtless had no little to do with 
the location of the new college. 

No name was attached to the college when 
it was located, but in virtue of the generous 



496 



HISTORY OF XEHRASKA 



aid, active cooperation, and splendid qualities 
of manhood of Thomas Doane, chief engi- 
neer and superintendent of the Burlington 
& Missouri River railroad in Nebraska, the 
college corporation wrote his name in the arti- 
cles of incorporation, and the institution was 
called Doane College. 

In classical and literary work it has for 
years stood among the best colleges in the 
land, and in scientific research and instruction 
Doane College has achieved splendid results 
considering its meager equipment. 

There are now in the college ten pro- 
fessors and twelve instructors. The chairs 




Presihen'T David B. Perry 

are mental philosophy and history, economics 
and ethics, ancient languages and principal of 
the academy, Greek and Latin, English litera- 
ture and history of art, German, French, and 
elocution, chemistry, physics and astronomy, 
biology, mathematics, and biblical literature. 

In addition to these there is a fine music 
school and a successful commercial depart- 
ment. Much attention also is given to peda- 
gogy, and excellent work is being done along 
this line, the course in pedagogy leading to a 
state teacher's certificate. The college has 



had a healthy growth from its beginning in 
1872. The first year there were fifteen stu- 
dents and one teacher, Mr. Perry himself; the 
second year forty students and two teachers ; 
the third year sixty students and three teach- 
ers. It now has an annnual attendance of 
about 250 students. 

The college is governed by a self -perpetu- 
ating board of trustees, twenty-seven in num- 
ber, who serve for three years but are eligible 
for reelection. College graduates are invited 
each year to nominate one or more of their 
number to fill vacancies on the board, and in 
like manner the Congregational churches of 
the state have the privilege to nominate one 
or more trustees, the object being to keep the 
college in close touch with its alumni and with 
the churches of the state. The board shall 
have not less than twelve nor more than 
twenty-seven members, its present number, 
and of these not less than three-fourths shall 
be members in good standing in Evangelical 
Congregational churches. 

The college is broad in its sympathies, non- 
sectarian in its methods, charitable in its deal- 
ings with others, and welcomes students of 
other denominations, and of no church lean- 
ings, and seeks to bring all under the influence 
of higher learning, based on eternal truth. 

The college presents three carefully pre- 
jjared courses of study leading to the bacca- 
laureate degrees in art. literature, and science. 

An account of the life, work, and progress 
of Doane College would lose much of its spirit 
and meaning if it did not contain more than 
a passing mention of David B. Perry, A.]\I., 
D.D., who opened the school and was its 
president for almost forty years. From the 
day of his appointment, July 20, 1(S72, to the 
time of his death. May 12, 1912, he was the 
guiding spirit and acknowledged leader. This 
statement does not take away anything from 
the foresight of the members of the board 
of trustees nor from the devotion of the men 
and women who have graced the class rooms 
and dignified the platform of the institution. 

.\t first President Perry was apjjointed to 
conduct the school as a tutor, then in 1873 he 
was made professor of Greek and Latin and 
next as president in fact but not in name 



WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY 



497 



until June 21, 1881. The record of the 
meeting of the trustees on that day says that 
"Professor D. B. Perry was duly elected as 
the unanimous choice of the trustees for 
President." Thus for almost forty years he 
served the college as its administrative officer 
under the titles of tutor, professor, and 
president. 

In some respects Doane College has re- 
flected the Puritan and New England spirit 
more than any other institution of higher 
education in Nebraska. This has been due in 
a large measure to the educational conceptions 
and character of President Perry, to the 
friends with means to aid the work of the 
college who lived in the east, and to the men 
and women who have made up the faculty. 
Not that Doane College has not possessed the 
western spirit for that would be a statement 
not true to fact, but western modified and di- 
rected by the classical and cultural conception 
of life, education, and religion of the eastern 
friends and helpers. President Perry when a 
lad attended the high school of Worcester, 
Massachusetts, was a student in Yale and 
later a graduate in Princeton and in Union 
Theological Seminary. During these years 
and in these surroundings the seeds of in- 
tellectual, moral, and spiritual life were plant- 
ed and the plants that came from these seeds 
were made to bear much fruit. The founda- 
tions of learning, the ideals of manhood, and 
the devotion to religious conviction did not 
suffer loss by being transplanted to the valley 
of the Blue. His ability, training, and faith- 
fulness were seconded by his energy, industry, 
and devotion during forty years and as a re- 
sult we see the hopes realized and the dreams 
come true. As is certain to be the case, where 
time is given for growth and development, the 
outstanding qualities of the presiding per- 
sonality become the characteristics of the in- 
stitution. This general principle is nowhere 
more acurately illustrated by a concrete ex- 
ample than by the college at Crete. Generous 
and far-seeing friends in the East made pos- 
sible the growth, the buildings, the equipment, 
and the endowment, and these things in turn 
determined what President Perry purposed 
and planned the college should be in tone and 



principle, and what it should stand for and 
accomplish as an institution of higher educa- 
tion. He believed in the future of Nebraska. 
He had an abiding faith in the ability of the 
college to help the state make substantial pro- 
gress. He had the fullest confidence in the 
people among whom he lived and to whom he 
never failed to present the need of truth, 
justice, and honesty, in all relations of life, and 
that, in the end, right and righteousness are 
certain to prevail. 

While Dr. Perry's time, thought, and ener- 
gies were devoted to the college he was in no 
sense restricted in his interests and sympathies. 
He was at all times in accord with the public 
school system of the state, with the high 
schools in their development, with the other 
colleges in their progress, with the normal 
schools both public and private, and with the 
state university. To very few men are given 
the opportunity to be what Dr. Perry was in 
the state and to do in Nebraska what he did 
for so long a period as that indicated by July 
21, 1872, to May 12, 1912. 

Wesleyan University. The Methodists of 
Nebraska have been in hearty sympathy with 
all moral reforms. They were opposed to 
slavery in the '50s, and loyal to the government 
in the '60s. They have occupied an advanced 
position on the temperance question, and 
whenever the issue has been distinctly drawn, 
as in the contest in 1890 for a constitutional 
amendment, have been unanimously arrayed 
against the saloon. 

It was not till this last period that the 
church found it possible to enter upon its 
long cherished work of Christian education. 
It is, however, characteristic of the church 
that the first enterprise of any kind pro- 
jected was Simpson University, as far back as 
1855, for which the Methodists of the ambi- 
tious city of Omaha secured from the legisla- 
ture an act of incorporation. To furnish a 
financial basis for the institution the Rev. 
Moses F. Shinn gave fifty acres of land and 
T. B. Cuming, acting governor, gave twenty- 
five. This tract of land, lying as it does just 
north of Cuming street, has since become very 
valuable, being in the heart of a fine residence 
portion of the city. But a disputed title, in- 



498 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




Jj:i^1^;j/^^^ 



WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY 



499 



voiving- long years of litigation, made it im- 
possible for the Methodists of Omaha to con- 
summate the project, and unwise for the 
church to 'make it its own by conference ac- 
tion. A year or two after this an effort was 
made to establish a center of learning, includ- 
ing a theological school, at Oreapolis, near 
the mouth of the Platte river. Along with 
other prominent business men, John Evans, 
M.D., was the projector. He had a few years 
before helped to found what is now the great 
Northwestern University, the city which grew 
up around it being named Evanston in his 
honor. Ke afterwards became governor of 
Colorado, and was one of the principal foun- 
ders of the Denver University. These facts are 
mentioned to show that this enterprise at 
Oreapolis was not wholly visionary, though, 
being premature and started in unpropitious 
times, it was doomed to failure. Though after 
this the conference frequently received offers 
from ambitious localities, of lands and sub- 
scriptions, it was usually to found a college 
"or a university," and the conference wisely 
refused to undertake to maintain an institu- 
tion of that grade. So it was not till the 
conference which met in Lincoln in October 
1879, that the Methodist church of Nebraska 
officially began its long deferred work of 
Christian education by accepting a proposi- 
tion from York, Neb., to establish York Semi- 
nary. This institution, located in a thrifty 
section of the state, and in a town in which 
there never has been a saloon, opened for 
work January 7, 1880, under the principal- 
ship of Dr. Edward Thompson. The school 
did splendid work under the management of 
Professor Thompson and also during the pres- 
idency of Dr. R. N. McCaig, who succeeded 
Professor Thompson in 1885, and in the 
meanwhile it was raised to the rank of a col- 
lege. The attendance at one time reached 
over two hundred. 

In 1884, two years after its organization, 
the North Nebraska Conference appointed a 
commission with authority to establish a con- 
ference seminary. The commission met in De- 
cember and selected Central City as the place. 
Dr. J. B. Maxfield was elected president, and 
a substantial brick building erected at a cost 



of $10,000. The following year the school 
was opened with good prospects. At the fol- 
lowing conference the grade was changed to 
that of colllege, and the name changed to Ne- 
braska Central College. At the end of the 
second year Dr. Maxfield resigned on account 
of failing health, and the Rev. David Mar- 
quette was elected to the place. He, too, af- 
ter a year spent principally in an effort to 
solve the financial problem, which had already 
become serious, found his health so impaired 
as to make it necessary to relinquish the 
work, and the Rev. J. W. Shenk was elected. 
He in turn was soon succeeded by the Rev. 
H. A. Crane, and he by F. W. Ware. The 
number of students continued to increase till 
at one time there were 150 in attendance, but 
the financial conditions constantly became 
worse. 

In 1886 the Rev. Allen Bartley and others 
started the town of Bartley in the southwes- 
tern part of the state, and within the bounds 
of the West Nebraska Conference, and estab- 
lished an institution of learning with the pre- 
tentious title of Mallalieu University. 

This was the situation of Methodist educa- 
tional- affairs in 1886 when Bishop Fowler 
came to preside over the Nebraska confer- 
ences. With the York and Central City 
school within forty miles of each other, and 
both financially embarrassed, and the ten- 
dency to increase the number of struggling 
schools, each conference wanting to have its 
own high grade institution, it seemed improb- 
able that either would ever be able to reach 
the standard of a first-class institution. The 
bishop suggested the appointment of a com- 
mission composed of five members from each 
conference, and three from each school, and 
that an effort be made to unify the educational 
work of the church in the state by centering 
its efforts on one institution of high grade for 
the entire state. The suggestion was adopted 
by all the conferences. The commission as 
thus constituted, together with Bishops Bow- 
man and Warren, who had been made mem- 
bers, met at St. Paul church in Lincoln, on 
December 15, 1886. Bishops Fowler and Foss 
had also been made members of the commis- 
sion, but were unable to attend. 



500 



HISTORY (IF NEBRASKA 



The commission addressed itself at once to 
the delicate and difficult task of unifying the 
educational system, and as a result of its de- 
liberation what is called the "Plan of Unifica- 
t'on" was adopted, involving these features: 
(l)That there should be but one institution 
of college grade in the state, the location of 
which should be determined by a majority 
vjte of the commission; (2) that all other 
schools should be parts of, but subordinate to 
the central university, and should have ])er- 
mission to carry their course of study as far 
ar. the sophomore year. By a vote of the com- 
mission the central university was located at 
Lincoln, and named the Nebraska Wes- 
leyan University. It was located some three 
miles from the main part of the city and a 
building costing $70,000 erected. A townsite 
was laid out and named University Place, 
which has grown into a thrifty village of 
nearly or quite 2,500 inhabitants. Being out- 
side of the city limits, it maintains a separate 
municipal government, excluding saloons and 
all other haunts of vice. It is connected with 
the city by two electric street car lines, with 
service every fifteen minutes. 

Dr. C. F. Creighton was the first chancel- 
lor, serving in that capacity for six years, 
when he resigned and was succeeded by Dr. 
Isaac Crooks. After three years he resigned, 
and the ]>lace was left vacant with only an 
acting chancellor. In March, 189S, Dr. D. 
W. C. Huntington was elected to the vacant 
chancellorship, and under his administration 
the school has thrown otif the burden of debt, 
increased its attendance of students, and starts 
out on a new era of prosperity, the unique 
"plan of unification" placing back of this one 
school the entire 60,000 Methodists of the 
state as a constituency. Though by reason of 
debts, adverse financial conditions, and other 
causes, all the other schools of Methodism in 
the state have suspended, the Nebraska Wes- 
leyan, because of its favorable location, will 
be able, for the present at least, to do the edu- 
cation work for the church l)etter than it 
would have been done had they continued to 
live and ^Vesleyan had not been. Besides the 
income from the sale of Nave's Topical Bilile, 
there is a productive endowment of nearly 



$250,000. The conservatory of music, named 
the C. C. White Memorial, cost over $50,000. 

In the summer of 1908 Chancellor Hunting- 
ton resigned and retired from active work in 
the educational field. William J. Davidson, 
A.B., B.S., T.B., D.D., of Garrett Biblical 
Institute, was elected chancellor and profess- 
or of the history and philosophy of religion. 
Dr. Davidson held the office and professorship 
for two years when he resigned and returned 
to Garrett Institute. Clark A. Fulnier, A.M., 
was appointed dean of the college of liberal 
arts and professor of zoology in the university 
in 1908. When Dr. Davidson resigned Dean 
Fulmer was made acting chancellor and one 
year from that time he was made chancellor. 
He was, during the years of his chancellor- 
ship, professor of physiology and hygiene. 
He continued in the office of chancellor until 
the summer of 1917. The trustees appointed 
as his successor Isaac B. Schreckengast, Ph.M.. 
S.T.B., D.D., acting chancellor and professor 
of religion. Dr. Schreckengast came to the 
Wesleyan as vice chancellor, treasurer for the 
iioard of trustees, and professor of religion in 
1913. The university maintains courses of 
study in the college of liberal arts, in the 
teachers college, conservatory of music, school 
of expression and oratory, school of art, and 
the summer school. Including the attendance 
(luring the session in the summer the institu- 
tion has had for several years an enrollment 
of eight or nine hundred students. The fac- 
ulty is made up of about forty able men and 
women. Dean Francis A. Alabaster of the 
college of liberal arts. Dean Bertram E. 
McProud of the teachers college. Professor 
Charles D. Rose, Elias H Wells, William G. 
Bishop, Abbie C. Burns. Henry H. Bagg, 
Clarence A. Morrow, and ( )rlin H. V'ennor 
have been connected with the university for 
years. For a shorter time other professors 
and teachers have worked with equal devo- 
tion and earnestness. There are many evi- 
dences of progress. Not the least of these 
is the Van Fleet teachers college building 
which was erected in 1917 at a cost of about 
$50,000. The debts which were contracted 
several years ago have been jirovided for and 



BELLEVUE AND HASTINGS COLLEGES 



501 



the university for some time has hved witliin 
the income. 

Bellevue and Hastings Colleges. The 
Presbyterian church has always and every- 
where been the friend and advocate of 
thorough and liberal Christian education. 
Many of the most useful institutions of 
learning in the United States have been 
founded and maintained by this church. Rec- 
ognizing the fact that leai-ning without moral 
character is only a larger equipment for evil, 
and that good education and true religion 
must join hands to secure the best citizen- 
ship, this church has ever been diligent ac- 
cording to her ability to provide Christian 
schools of all grades for her children and 
youth. 

This governing princi]jle was clearly rec- 
ognized by the meii who laid the foundations 
of the Presbyterian church in Nebraska. At 
the first meeting of the synod, (Jctober, 1874, 
the subject was introduced by the representa- 
tives of the church at Hastings, and was earn- 
estly discussed and heartily approved. But 
the synod was not able at that early date 
to take any direct action toward establishing 
a denominational school. But the purpose to 
do so was firmly cherished in the hearts of all, 
and only waited the opportune time for its 
practical dexelopment. At the end of six 
years of growth in churches and financial re- 
sources it was believed that a beginning might 
be made ; and at the meeting of synod, C)ctober 
16, 1880, it was determined to open such a 
school at Bellevue. 

The location was decided by the generous 
ofifer of Mr. Henry T. Clarke, then of Belle- 
vue, to give 264 acres of land adjoining Belle- 
vue, and to erect a building on the summit of 
Elk Hill, which he subsequently did at a cost 
of $16,000. The college was opened for 
students in the fall of 1883 with two professors 
and sixteen students. The Rev. William W. 
Harsha, D.D., LL.D., became the first presi- 
dent, taking charge in 1884, and continuing till 
June, 1888. The Rev.'Francis S. Blayney, Ph. 
D., succeeded Dr. Harsha and served one 
year. 

The Rev. David R. Kerr, Ph.D., D.D., was 
then chosen president, and continued in this 



capacity from January 2, 1890, to June, 1904, 
when he resigned. During all these years Dr. 
Kerr carried a load of an.xious responsibility 
which would have crushed a less courageous 
and determined spirit ; and to him chiefly are 
the college and its friends indebted for the 
steady enlargement of its plant and work in 
all directions, .\fter the resignation of Dr. 
Kerr, the vice ])resident, the Rev. Robert M. 
Stevenson, D.D., became acting jjresident tnitil 
the election of Guy W. W'adsworth. D.D., who 
entered upon his duties September 1, 1903. 




Rkv. Rorert Lucius Wheeler, D.D. 
.\ leading Preslnterian minister of Nebraska 

The location of the college is "beautiful for 
situation," commanding an extended view of 
river and blufifs, hills and plateau, such as can 
rarely be seen in any part of our country. To 
the one building wdiich crowned the hill when 
Dr. Kerr began his work there have been added 
five others, used for president's house and 
dormitories, and all well adapted to tho pur- 
poses of their erection. The library contains 
4,500 books and 3,000 pamphlets; and 110 pa- 
pers, magazines, and other periodicals are regu- 
larly received. The laboratories are well 
ec|uii)ped for the work of that department. 



502 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



.\tliletic fields and gjynmasium provide ample 
accommodations for healthful recreation. Thf: 
Kible is taught regularly and systematically, 
and ii fundamental in the whole course of in- 
struction. Young men's and young women's 
Christian associations and literary societies are 
maintained. It is the constant aim of the 
faculty to attain a high standard of instruc- 
tion and scholarship and at the same time to 
cultivate and develop the moral and spiritual 
side of the student life. The attendance has 
steadily increased till the present year, which 
shows an enrolment of ISO. The material 
resources, including lands, buildings, library, 
and apparatus, aggregate about $120,000. 



1916, a period of two and one half years. 
In August, 1916, Dr. David R. Kerr returned 
to the presidency of the college under the 
urgency of the trustees and friends of the 
institution. 

The buildings of the college at this period 
in the history — March, 1918 — are seven; 
Administration and class rooms, gymnasium, 
president's house, and four dormitories. The 
library contains a little over 7000 volumes. 

The people of Hastings, who had taken 
the initiative in the matter of Christian educa- 
tion at the first meeting of the synod, felt 
that they must have an institution of their 
own, being so far distant from Bellevue, and 




'iKLLEvTE College 



The successor of Dr. Kerr as president of 
. Bellevue College was Dr. Wadsworth, who 
continued in office until the summer of 1908. 
The college authorities elected Stephen S. 
Stookey, A.M., LL.D. He came to the posi- 
tion in the college well acquainted with the 
work, as he had been dean of Coe College, 
Iowa. He served until January 1, 1914. 
During his administration the Synod of Ne- 
braska decided that Bellevue College should be 
an independent institution approved by the 
Presbyterian church. During the same period 
Bellevue College gave up the charter as the 
University of Omaha under the expectation 
of being included in the new charter for the 
University of Omaha. Dr. Stooky retired 
from the presidency in the middle of the col- 
lege year, 1913-1914. Professor William E. 
Nicholl, an alumnus of the college, dean of the 
faculty and head of the department of educa- 
tion, was made acting president. Dean 
Nicholl served most acceptably imtil July, 



having so .large a territory that would natu- 
rally be tributary to them. Hence the Presby- 
tery of Kearney, covering at that time all 
the western portion of the state, on September 
2, 1881, took steps toward organizing a 
presbyterial academy at Hastings. At the 
next meeting of the synod this action was 
approved, and the coming institution com- 
mended to the confidence and support of the 
churches. 

The first board of trustees incorporated the 
institution as Hastings College, May 10, 1882. 
and secured an initial subscription of $10,000. 
The educational work began September 13, 
1882, and has contiiuied without interruption 
to the present lime. 

President Ringland resigned in 1895 and 
Professor W. N. Filson was acting president 
until 1896. He was succeeded by S. G. 
Patterson who served as president until 1902. 
Again Professor Filson was called on and 
continued in office until Tune, 1903, when E. 



THE OMAHA SEMINARY 



503 



Van Dyke Wight, D.D., became president. 
Dr. Wight was president for five years. When 
he resigned the trustees elected President A. 
E. Turner, LL.D., who resigned in February, 
1912, to take up work in Philadelphia. In 
June of the same year the trustees elected 
R. B. Crone, Ph.B., of Iowa. President 
Crone came to the college and Nebraska with 
a reputation for good school work and with 
well defined educational ideas. This reputa- 
tion he had earned by fifteen years of earnest 
and successful work as superintendent of 
schools in the state from which he came. 

McCormick hall, which was completed in 
1884, and Ringland hall in 1885, have been 
followed by Alexander hall in 1907 — a dor- 
mitor}' for young women — by Carnegie 
library and science building in 1909, and by 
Johnson gymnasium and domestic science hall. 
Hastings College has gained and holds a high 
place among the colleges of the country. The 
college has graduated 198 students with the 
regular bachelor's degree. There has been 
an increased enrollment especially during the 
last four years. The interest-bearing endow- 
ment is now more than $200,000. The plans 
of President Crone, the purpose of the 
trustees, and the efiforts of friends are to in- 
crease greatly the funds and equipment of the 
college to the end that the institution may 
minister to larger and larger numbers of 
young men and women who seek and who 
need college education. 

The Omah.\ Seminary. The plan to estab- 
lish a theological seminary in Omaha was in- 
dorsed by the General Assembly of the Pres- 
byterian church at a meeting held in Detroit 
in 1891. The seminary was incorporated in 
February. 1891, by representatives of the 
synod of Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, 
Iowa, and Missouri. The directors secured 
the use of the Second Presbyterian Church 
building in Omaha, and the work of the sem- 
inary was begun in September, 1891. Later, 
the board of directors decided that the school 
was too far from the city and the business and 
educational interests of Omaha, and a new 
site was sought and secured. The Cozzens 
House, at the corner of Ninth and Harney 
streets, was jnirchased by Mrs. William Thaw 



of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Thomas 
McDougall of Cincinnati, Ohio, and presented 
to the seminary. In 1903 the seminary erected 
a $50,000 brick building on two blocks of 
ground lying adjacent to the Florence boule- 
vard and Spencer street in Omaha. This is 
an attractive and valuable site in North Oma- 
ha and is a property of which the church and' 
all the city can well be proud. The building 
is well equipped for use as a modern theo- 
logical seminary and annually sends forth a 
class of young men fitly qualified to make 
the world better for their part in it. 
Charles Vanderburgh of Minneapolis, Min- 
nesota, left a legacy to the seminary. The 
money was expended in the erection of what 
is known as the "Vanderburgh House." It is 
used as the residence of the teaching staft'. 

The institution stands for "The faith once 
delivered to the saints." The purpose of the 
seminary is to ground the students in the 
teachings of Christ and to cause them to do 
faithful and skilful work in the fields to 
which they are called. Fitness for the sacred 
work of the ministry and qualifications for the 
life and service of today are constantly kept 
before the students. The object of the in- 
stitution is set forth thus in the constitution of 
the Presbyterian church in the United States 
of America : "The object of the Seminary 
shall be to instruct candidates for the Gospel 
ministry in the knowledge of the Word of 
God contained in the Scriptures of the Old 
and New Testament, the only supreme and 
infallible rule of faith and life, and of the 
doctrine, orders and institutes of worship 
taught in the Scripture and summarily ex- 
hibited in the Constitution of the Presbyterian 
Church in the United States of America ; to 
cherish in them by all the means of divine ap- 
pointment, the life of true godliness; to cul- 
tivate in them the true gifts which Christ the 
Head of the Church, by His Spirit, confers 
upon those whom He calls to the ministry ; 
and to impart to them, so far as may be, the 
various learnings by which they may be fur- 
nished for the work ; to the end that there 
may he trained up a succession of able, faith- 
ful and godly ministers of the Divine Word." 

The first facultv consisted of the Rev. 



504 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



William A. llarsha, D.D., LL.D., professor 
of diction and polemic theology ; the Rev. 
Stephen Philps, D.D., professor of ecclesiasti- 
cal, homiletical and pastoral theology ; the 
Rev. John Gordon, D.D., professor of ecclesi- 
astical history ; the Rev. Matthew B. Lowrie, 
D.D., professor of New Testament literature 
and exegesis, and the Rev. Charles G. Ster- 
ling, Ph.D., professor of Hebrew, with the 
Rev. Thomas L. Sextion, D.D., as lecturer 
on home missions. 

The Rev. Matthew B. Lowrie, D.D., was 
elected president of the seminary in 1899, 
and was succeeded by the Rev. A. B. Mar- 
shall, D.D., in 1910. 

The faculty for the college year 1917-1918 
is as follows : the Rev. Albert B. Marshall, 
D.D., president and professor of homiletics 
and pastoral theology ; the Rev. Joseph L. 
Lamp, Ph.D., D.D., professor emeritus of 
Hebrew, Old Testament literature and exe- 
gesis; the Rev. Frank H. Riggley, Ph.D., pro- 
fessor of Hebrew, Old Testament literature 
and exegesis ; the Rev. Daniel E. Jenkins. 
Ph.D., D.D., dean and professor of diction and 
polemic theology; the Rev. Charles .\. Mit- 
chell, Ph.D., D.D., professor of New Testa- 
ment literature and exegesis ; the Rev. Charles 
Herron, D.D., ])rofessor of ecclesiastical 
history and missions. 

Special lectures are given this year by Pro- 
fessor J. M. Coleman of Bloomington, Indi- 
ana, on studies in Christian socialism ; the 
Rev. Henry C. Mabie, D.D., of Boston, on 
the significance of the cross and foreign mis- 
sions : and the Rev. W. S. Marquis, D.D.. of 
Chicago, on the Presbyterian United Move- 
ment. 

Gr.\nd Isl.\nd College. Grand Island Col- 
lege is under the auspices of the Baptists of 
Nebraska. At their first state convention in 
1867, with not more than half a dozen feeble 
churches of their faith in existence, the Ne- 
braska Baptists passed a resolution looking 
toward the establishment of an institution of 
learning. They wanted a school that would 
train recruits for the evangelization of the 
world ; where their young people, while pre- 
paring themselves for all forms of honorable 
service, would be educated in intelligent sym- 



|)athy with their denominational life and work. 

In 1884, an education society was formed to 
Dring about the establishment of a college 
under conditions that would augur success. 
This society became the delegated body of the 
whole denomination in the state. When the 
juirpose of the society to found a college be- 
came known, six cities competed for the lo- 
cation of the new school. The offer of Grand 
Island was considered the most substantial and 
desirable. The gift of this city was a campus 
of ten acres, two buildings, and several acres 
of city property, the whole gift being ap- 
praised at $60,000. This college property 
passed from the hands of the local building 
committee to the Nebraska Baptist Education 
Society, then to the American Baptist Edu- 
cation Society ; thence to the trustees of Grand 
Island College. 

The articles of incorporation provide that 
the trustees shall be twenty-one in number ; 
that the board of trustees shall be a self per- 
petuating body ; that two-thirds of the trustees 
must be members of regular Baptist churches; 
that the president of the college, also, must be 
a Baptist. Aside from the provisions made 
with reference to the denominational relations 
of trustees and president, there are no re- 
strictions made nor questions asked in regard 
to the denominational affiliations of teachers 
or students. 

In ( )ctober, 1892, Grand Island College 
opened as an academy under the presidency of 
Professor A. M. Wilson. Four instructors 
assisted the president. The first year was a 
disap])ointing one. It was generally expected 
by the denomination in the state, that the col- 
lege buildings would be thronged with stu- 
dents the opening day. The school opened 
with thirty-two students in attendance. The 
enrollment increased to fifty during the year. 

The American Baptist Education Society, 
which represented in part the generosity of 
John D. Rockefeller, offered $5,000 to the 
new college on condition that $15,000 more 
should be raised in Nebraska by January 1, 
1894. It was stipulated that $10,000 of the 
total sum might be used for current expenses. 
^\t the close of the school year about $6,000 
of the $15,000 had been subscribed. Then the 



GRAND ISLAND COLLEGE 



505 



financial secretary resigned in discourage- 
ment. Otliers connected witli the college 
tried to complete the canvass for funds, but 
without success. The teachers were not paid ; 
they found other places for service for the 
year ensuing ; the president resigned ; the stu- 
dents scattered, not expecting to return. 

In 1893 Professor George Sutherland, of 
Ottawa University, was .called to the presi- 
dency and continued in this office for eighteen 
years. At the time of his coming the panic of 
1893 was in full blast. The college owed 
$6,000, with some of the creditors clamoring 
for their money. The new president secured 
a new faculty ; the school was changed from 
an academy to a college. The college opened 
with forty students in attendance ; twenty-five 
additional students enrolled during the year. 
The most important thing attempted was the 
completion of the endowment effort. Of the 
$9,000 needed to complete the $15,000, $6,000 
was pledged in one evening at a Baptist state 
convention in Lincoln. With the enthusiasm 
generated by this success, it was not difficult to 
raise the remaining $3,000. Little of the 
amount raised at this time could, by the terms 
of Mr. Rockefeller's offer, be used for cur- 
rent expenses. The most of it was set aside 
to become the nucleus of an adequate endow- 
ment. In scoring this success the college made 
the record of being the only college in the 
United States and Canada, working at that 
time under an offer of the American Baptist 
Education Society, that raised what it set out 
to raise within the stipulated time. Every 
other college thus working asked for an ex- 
tension of time. 

In 1896 another effort was made to increase 
the endowment. During the summer of 1895 
the president visited many cities, in many 
states, and concluded that the east would 
again help the institution if its needs were 
strongly presented. At the close of his in- 
vestigations he called on the secretary of the 
Education Society and the private secretary of 
Mr. Rockefeller, and received from them as- 
surance of assistance. The college thereupon 
received a grant of $7,500, conditioned on its 
raising the supplementary sum of $17,875. 
To assist in securing this amount the Rev. Dr. 



A. S. Merrifield was employed as financial sec- 
retary. Dr. Merrifield was indeed an apostle 
of Christian education. He solicited for the 
college for eleven years and raised altogether, 
for all purposes, generally in small amounts, 
over $100,000. He and the president working 
together succeeded in raising the amount 
necessary to secure Mr. Rockefeller's benefac- 
tion together with other important gifts for 
current expenses and equipment. 

.\nother campaign for endowment was made 
in 1900. The amount sought was $35,000. 
The American Baptist Education Society, 
among its last gifts before going into com- 
mission, pledged $10,000 on condition that the 
supplementary sum of $25,000 should be rais- 
ed in Nebraska. The campaign for this sum 
was largely in the hands of Dr. Merrifield. 
Excepting the city of Grand Island he can- 
vassed the whole state and secured $15,000. 
Grand Island alone contributed $11,000. If 
there had been no shrinkage in the pledges 
made during the four campaigns, the endow- 
ment in 1901 would have reached $70,000. 

During these trying years several gentle- 
men of means became interested in the in- 
stitution, chiefly on account of its successful 
struggles to maintain an existence. Mr. J. 
\''. Hinchman of Iowa bequeathed $10,000 
for endowment and instructed his executor to 
pay this sum to the college at his death or as 
soon thereafter as all the college debts were 
paid. To assist in paying these debts, which 
now amounted to $15,000, Mr. L. B. Merri- 
field, of Illinois, pledged $10,000. On receipt 
of this gift the bequest of Mr. Hinchman was 
secured. Struck with admiration for the in- 
stitution that could live and thrieve during 
the strenuous years between 1892 and 1901, 
Mr. John A. T. Hibbs, of Omaha, gave the 
college cash, bonds. United States certificates, 
and well located Lincoln lots to the amount of 
$15,000. The generosity of Mr. Hibbs made 
possible the construction of Hibbs Hall. Other 
men of means in Nebraska and elsewhere have 
made Grand Island College a beneficiary in 
their wills. If these wills, which are not 
probated, shall yield a percentage equal to 
those that have already been probated, the 



506 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



future of the college will be very bright indeed. 

Up to June 6, 1911, 2,234 different students 
were enrolled in the institution and are 
credited to the following departments : col- 
lege, 233 ; academy, 697 ; normal, 247 ; com- 
mercial, 269; music, 750; art, 49. How long 
each of these students remained in school 
would be difficult to compute. Un the aver- 
age 117 new students enrolled each year. Ex- 
cluding music students, the yearly enrollment 
of college students has been about 175. In- 
cluding music students about 225 have at- 
tended the various departments of the col- 
lege. The conservatory of music attracts 
large numbers, but it does not seem to be 
vitally connected with the rest of the school 
and its increase does not greatlv increase the 
prosperity of the college. 

After the resignation of Dr. Sutherland on 
June 10, 1911, Dr. L. A. Garrison, A.M., 
D.D., became president. For the five years 
j)re\ious to his coming to Grand Island Col- 
lege he had been president of Central Uni- 
versity at Fella, Iowa. He continued with 
the college two years. During his ])residency 
the foundations of a gymnasium were laid. 
Dr. Garrison's successor was the Rev. G. W. 
Taft, D.D. He came from the pastorate of 
the Baptist church at Hastings to the educa- 
tional work of the college. He employed 
many of the methods of a successful pastor 
in his administration of the affairs of the col- 
lege and succeeded in making many personal 
friends. After three years he retired, Nov- 
ember 1, 1917, from the office and college. 
The trustees elected as his successor E. F. 
Jorden, D.D., Ph.D. Dr. Jorden came 
to the college with an enviable re]uitation as 
an educator and college builder. He had Ijeen 
president of Sioux Falls College, South Da- 
kota, for ten years and had done great work. 
His plans and leadership resulted in addition- 
al buildings for the institution, in a faculty 
of capable men and women, and in a large 
body of students. He is energetically devot- 
ing himself to Grand Island College. The 
friends of Dr. Jorden and the friends of the 
college believe a great educational work is to 
be accomplished. 



Union College. Educational work among 
the Seventh-day Adventists in the Mississippi 
valley began with the "Minnesota Conference 
School," at Minnneapolis, in the fall of 1888. 
This school was held three years in the base- 
ment of the Seventh-day Adventist church 
at the corner of Fourth avenue and Lake 
street. It enrolled each year over one hun- 
dred young men and women as students. From 
the first, the accommodations were too small 
and were otherwise unsuitable, hence a coun- 
cil was held at Owatonna, Minnesota, May 
20, 1889, to plan for better facilities. This 
meeting was attended by Professor W. W. 
Prescott, president of Battle Creek College 
and educational secretary of the denomina- 
tion ; Pastor A. J. Breed, president of the 
Wisconsin conference; Pastors W. B. White 
and N. P. Nelson, from Dakota ; Pastors 
H. Grant, Allen Moon, and F. L. Mead, 
representing thc' Minnesota conference ; and 
C. C. Lewis, principal of the Minneapolis 
school. At this council it was recommended 
that the several conferences of the northwest 
unite in establishing and maintaining a well 
equijjped and centrally located school, and 
that a committee be appointed, consisting of 
two members from each conference, with 
power to act in the matter of building and 
opening such a school. The committee was 
called to meet again at Owatonna in July, 
1889. 

The meeting thus appointed was not held. 
Before the time arrived, the idea had entirely 
outgrown its original form. At a meeting 
held at Lincoln, Nebraska, a few weeks later, 
a large council recommended the establishment 
of an educational institution of college grade 
which would serve all the conferences of the 
Mississippi valley. 

At the annual session of the general confer- 
ence held at Battle Creek, Michigan, in Octo- 
ber, 1889, it was decided to establish a col- 
lege, under the auspices of the denomination, 
at some point between the Mississippi river 
and the Rocky mountains. A committee 
was appointed to select a suitable location. 
Invitations, accompanied by promises of a 
substantial bonus, were received from various 



UNION COLLEGE 



507 



cities in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Ne- 
braska. The committee spent some time in 
investigating these places, and considering the 
advantages offered. While the question ot a 
central location with reference to the territory 
from which the patronage was expected was 
regarded as an important one, there were 
other considerations also that were deemed to 
be weighty. The general atmosphere of the 
community and its attitude toward education 
in general are important features in deciding 
a question of this character. It was found 
that while Lincoln was comparatively a new 
city, it was at the front in its efiforts to ad- 



citizens of Lincoln and vicinity donated three 
hundred acres of land, three and three-fourths 
miles southeast of the state capitol, and the 
general conference association of Seventh- 
day Adventists gave a bond of one thousand 
dollars to erect, by July 1, 1911, buildings to 
cost not less than seventy thousand dollars. 
The raising of funds and the erection of the 
buildings were under the direction of A. R. 
Henry, agent and attorney-in-fact for the 
general conference. W. C. Sisley was the 
architect and superintendent of the work. 
Pastor J. P. Gardiner, president of the Ne- 
braska conference, and J. M. Morrison, one 



r 




. .<-«*■"■ 


_' 


l~ 


ri. 




1 


n^ 






^ 


w 


^ 1 


ft 

m 


^.-.^^ 


,'J 



0.^^' 






^'Mum 



^-^ 



UxioN College 



vance the well being of its citizens. Its 
substantial school buildings, its many and 
well built churches, and the fact that it was 
the seat of three universities already, with a 
prospect that this number would soon be in- 
creased, testified to the interest of its citizens 
in education and religion. These consider- 
ations, together with the hearty interest shown 
in the project by leading citizens and the 
offer of very substantial aid, led the commit- 
tee, at a meeting held at Knoxville, Iowa, June 
28, 1890, to determine upon the city of Lincoln 
as the location of the new institution, which 
was afterwards named Union College. The 



of the first builders at College View, with 
others too numerous to mention, labored 
strenuously for the success of the enterprise. 

On April 10, 1890, ground was broken for 
the main college building, and on May 3d the 
first stone was laid. There were many diffi- 
culties in the way, but all were overcome, and 
the buildings were ready for dedication Sep- 
tember 24, 1891. On that occasion the chapel, 
with a seating capacity of five hundred, was 
filled to overflowing with citizens from Lin- 
coln, College View, and the surrounding coun- 
try. Pastor O. A. Olsen, president of the 
Seventh-Day Adventist general conference, 



508 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



presided, and opened the exercises with prayer. 
Professor Wm. P. Aylsworth, of Cotner Uni- 
versity, conducted the scripture reading. 
W. S. Siley presented to the trustees the keys 
of the college buildings, accompanying the 
presentation with a history of the work of 
building. A. R. Henry, on the part of the 
trustees, received the keys and responded in an 
appropriate address. The chief address of the 
occasion was delivered by Professor W. W. 
Prescott, the first president of Union College. 
In this address he emphasized the three lead- 
ing features of Christian education as consist- 
ing of the study of God's word in the revela- 
tion of the Bible, the study of His works in 
nature, and the study of His dealings with 
men and nations as revealed in history. Chan- 
cellor James H. Canfield, of the University of 
Nebraska, followed with an appropriate speech 
of welcome, delivered in his happiest manner. 
The dedicatory prayer was offered by Pastor 
Uriah Smith, editor of the Rez'icxv and Herald. 
Battle Creek. Michigan, and the benediction 
was pronounced by Pastor W. B. White, pres- 
ident of the Nebraska conference. 

The first iioard of managers and the first 
faculty of Union College were as follows : 

Board of managers : A. R. Henry, presi- 
dent : W. C. Sisley, secretary ; W. B. White. 
1. P. Gardiner, J. H. Morrison, A. J. Breed, 
W. W. Prescott. Faculty : William W. Pres- 
cott, president ; James W. Loughhead, prin- 
cipal ; Charles C. Uewis, higher English and 
Hebrew; E. L. Stewart, mathematics; John A. 
Bobbs, biblical history and literature (died 
the day before school opened) ; C. Walter Ir- 
win, Greek and Latin languages; George \. 
Droll, natural sciences ; Joel C. Rogers, gen- 
eral history ; O. A. Johnson, Scandinavian 
department ; Professor Severin, German de- 
partment ; Ida R. Rankin, preceptress ; Mrs. 
Cora M. Loughhead, assistant in English lan- 
guage; Mrs. Lydia M. Droll, assistant in 
Latin ; Angelia Washburn, assistant in math- 
ematics ; Effie M. Rankin, superintendent of 
domestic department; Alma J. Warren, phys- 
ical culture ; Lars Nelson, steward. 

When LTnion College was founded there 
were only two or three farm houses in the 
vicinitv, and no trees but a few locusts and 



cottonwoods on the campus. Now College 
View is a pleasant village of about seventeen 
hundred inhabitants, well shaded with fruit 
and ornamental trees. It is far enough from 
the city to avoid its noise and smoke and ex- 
citement, yet near enough to obtain its benefits. 
By its charter no saloon can ever be erected, 
nor intoxicating drinks be sold, within its 
limits. Electric cars run between the campus 
and Lincoln, thus connecting sufficiently the 
village with the city. 

The college campus consists of twenty-two 
acres upon elevated ground, commanding an 
extensive view in every direction, and over- 
looking the city of Lincoln. The grounds 
have a natural slope, thus affording perfect 
drainage, and are carpeted with jjlue grass and 
clover sod, dotted with trees, thus producing 
a restful and pleasing eli'ect. The main build- 
ing stands well forward in the midst of the 
campus, and is flanked by North and South 
halls, retiring modestly a little to the east. 

The main college building is NO x 140 feet, 
four stories in height. It is surmounted by a 
tower, which was furnished by the students 
with a two thousand pound bell. North hall 
is 130x68 feet, four stories in height. South 
hall consists of the main part, 38 feet square, 
with two wings, each 36x60 feet. All of 
these buildings are veneered with pressed brick_ 
and have stone ])asement and trimmings, and 
no pains have Ijeen sjiared to render them 
well ada])ted to the purpose for which they 
were designed. S[)ecial attention has been 
])aid to the matter of heating and proper ven- 
tilation and to other sanitary conditions. The 
buildings are heated by one centrally located 
boiler house, a building covering about one 
hundred feet square, with laundry and electric 
light ])lant all under one roof. The class 
rooms of the main building are large, well 
lighted, and steam heated. The chapel is a 
beautiful room, seated with opera chairs, with 
accommodations for about five hundred stu- 
dents. In the main building, liesides chapel 
and class rooms, are the business office, pres- 
ident's office, the faculty room, laboratories, 
library- anfl reading room, music rooms, gvm- 
nasium, museum, and book store. The dor- 
mitory, or South ball, as it is usually called, 



EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN TEACHERS' SEMINARY 



509 



is a comfortable substantial structure, located 
a few rods south of the college building. The 
buildings are all heated with steam and lighted 
with electricity, and are provided with bath 
rooms and a perfect sewerage system, so that 
everythmg possible is done for the comfort 
and convenience of the students. Fire escapes 
are providing for each building, and a well- 
organized system of fire' protection is main- 
tained. 

The Nebraska Sanitarium stands a few rods 
north of the main college building. Originally, 
it was built as a dormitory for young men, and 
was called North hall ; but as academies and 
intermediate schools were established in the 
different conferences tributary to Union Col- 
lege, thus accommodating many of the pre- 
paratory students, this building was not so 
much needed for its original purpose, and was 
leased to the Nebraska Sanitarium Associa- 
tion in 1896, and finally sold to the same as- 
sociation in 1905. 

The entire property, as estimated by ap- 
praisers appointed by the state, was originally 
valued at $30.^,000. The college property now. 
since the sale of the building for sanitarium 
purj)oses. is valued at about $200,000. 

When William W. Prescott resigned the 
presidency Charles C. Lewis, who was pro- 
fessor of Hebrew and higher English, was 
appointed. He continued in office until the 
summer of 1910. WTien he resigned the 
trustees elected as his successor Frederick 
Griggs who was at the time general secretary 
of education for the church with headquarters 
in Washington, D. C. Mr. Griggs in 1914 re- 
tired from the college to take up again the 
work of secretary of the general educational 
board. The trustees elected Henry A. Morri- 
son, A.M., president. Professor Morrison 
was, at the time of his election to the presi- 
dency, a member of the faculty and head of 
the department of mathematics. In connec- 
tion with the administrative work of the col- 
lege I\Ir. Morrison retains the direction of 
the mathematical work. There has been an 
encouraging and substantial growth in the coL 
lege from year to year from the beginning of 
its history. The gains have been especially 
marked during the past four or five years. A 



building for the bakery business has been 
erected at a cost including the equipment, of 
$10,000. A modern dairy barn has been put 
up at a cost of $6,400 and a herd of especially 
fine cattle has been developed. For the pur- 
pose for which the barn was constructed it is 
regarded by good judges as one of the best 
to be found anywhere. In addition to those 
already mentioned, about $15,000 has been 
spent in repairing and improving the buildings. 
During the last four years there has been a 
gain in the number of students of about thirty- 
five per cent. During the lifetime of the in- 
stitution, which began in September, 1891, 
there has gone out about two hundred teachers 
and students as missionaries. Twenty-five of 
this number have gone to foreign fields with- 
in the last four years. The college during the 
last three years raised the money and paid off 
debts of $72,000. This effort took off a heavy 
burden as it placed the institution free of any 
debt. The president, faculty, and teachers 
greatly rejoice in the fact that there are no 
debts. And more particularly do they rejoice 
that this condition gives them the time and 
freedom to devote their thought and energy to 
the development of the institution. It enables 
them to look forward to the time when Union 
College shall occupy the place and possess the 
strength for which they have been hoping and 
striving from the day it was determined at 
Knoxville, Iowa, June 28, 1890, to establish 
and maintain at Lincoln, Nebraska, an insti- 
tution of higher education. 

Ev.\NGELiCAL Lutheran Teachers' Sem- 
inary (Normal), Seward, Nebraska. This 
institution was founded, 1893, by the German 
Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, 
Ohio, and other states. The organization was 
the outcome of a demand for such a school in 
the west other than the one at Addison, Illi- 
nois. Four members of St. John's Evangelical 
Lutheran church of Seward. Nebraska, oft'ered 
twenty acres of ground and $8,000, and the 
college was located at this point. The donors 
to this fund were Herman Diers, J. F. 
Goehner. O. E. Bernecker, and P. Goehner. 
The present board of trustees is as follows : 
The Rev. C. H. Becker, president ; the Rev. H. 
Miessler, secretarv, Columbus, Nebraska ; O. 



510 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



E. Bernecker, J. F. Goehner, Herman Diers, 
and Paul Herpolsheimer, treasurer, all of 
Seward, Nebraska. The members of the fac- 
ulty are the Rev. Prof. Weller, director ; Prof. 
J. A. F. Strieter ; Prof. Karl Haase, professor 
of music; Prof. H. B. Fehner;^the Rev. Prof. 
Aug. Schuelke; Prof. J. T. Link; the Rev. 
Prof. Paul Reuter. The growth of the school 
has been steady and satisfactory. From an en- 
rollment of fourteen the first year, the number 
has increased each year, until last year the 
number was 120. Most of these students 
come from Nebraska, some from Missouri, 
Kansas, Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, South Dako- 
ta, Minnesota, and Germany. The principal 
business of the college is the fitting of teachers 
for parochial schools, the course of training 
being about the same as in the Nebraska state 
normals, with the addition of religion and 
music. A teachers' training school is main- 
tained in connection with the college. The 
main building, lecture hall, containing six class 
rooms, a large (36x80 feet) assembly hall, 
library rooms, office, etc., is built of brick. 
The second building, the oldest, has a number 
of small and one large music room, living 
rooms, dormitory, lavatories, etc. A boarding 
hall and hospital are maintained, well equipped 
to care for 150 scholars. The demand for 
teachers is greater than the supply. 

Prof. George Weller, who was the first 
teacher of the college in 1894, is the president 
of the faculty. He was born January 8, 1860, 
in New Orleans, Louisiana. Shortly after the 
war was closed his parents moved to New 
York City and after a short time to Fort 
Wayne, Indiana, where the son received his 
training in the jjarochial school of St. Paul's 
Evangelical Lutheran church. At the age of 
fourteen years he entered Concordia college of 
the Missouri synod at Fort Wayne. After 
graduating he took a theological course at St. 
Louis, Missouri, in Concordia Seminary, from 
which he graduated in 1882 and took charge of 
the Lutheran church and school at Marysville, 
near Staplehurst, Nebraska. Here he re- 
mained until he was elected as first teacher of 
the new institution at Seward, the Lutheran 
Seminary. He was married in 1882 to Aliss 
Clara Eirich, of Nashville, Illinois. The chil- 



dren Ijorn to them are John, Hulda, George, 
Elsie, Helen, Anna, Paula, Raymond, and Al- 
fred. John, a graduate of the University of 
Nebraska, department of civil engineering, is 
engaged on the Panama canal. He achieved 
considerable fame as captain of the football 
team of the university in 1907. George is 
one 'of the teachers of St. Paul's Evangelical 
Lutheran parochial school at Fort Wayne, In- 
diana. 

The Rev. Carl H. Becker became president 
of the college board of trustees and supervisors 
in 1901, when he was elected president of the 
Nebraska district of the Missouri synod, which 
position he still holds. He had been vice presi- 
dent of the district synod since 1891 up to 
his election as president. The Nebraska dis- 
trict, one of the twenty districts of the Mis- 
souri synod, was organized in 1882, and 
elected as its first president the Rev. John 
Hilgendorf. Arlington Nebraska, and as sec- 
retary the Rev. John Meyer, Davenport, Ne- 
Ijraska, who is still serving in that capacity. 
The district synod is composed of 147 min- 
isters, 208 organized congregations, and 75 
missions. The communicants number 23,877, 
and the total adherents, 42,028. There are 
168 parochial schools in the district. Of these 
55 are taught by parochial school teachers, 
the others by the ministers of the respective 
congregations, instructing 4,953 children. The 
Missouri synod has from its very beginning, in 
1847, recognized the necessity of the Christian 
day school. As the state cannot provide it for 
obvious reasons, the congregations and the 
])astors of this synod considered it their duty 
to supply what the state cannot and shall not 
supply accortling to Scriptures and the consti- 
tution. of our country. Parochial schools were 
taught and are taught by the clergv' of the Mis- 
souri synod so long as the congregation is not 
in position to engage a teacher for that pur- 
pose. Synod maintains large institutions for 
the exclusive purpose of furnishing well 
trained teachers for the parochial schools. 
These institutions and schools are provided for 
by free oft'erings and collections of the congre- 
gations. They are maintained not from opposi- 
tion to the state school. The Lutherans will- 
ingly pay their public school taxes as citizens 



YORK COLLEGE 



511 



who love their country and "seek the peace 
of the city." But they consider as most im- 
portant for the welfare of their children 
Christian education, not merely instruction in 
religion, but Christian training and nurture. 
Scripture teaches, experience verifies, and 
schoolmen who have grown up with and be- 
come renowned by their success in the state 
school work, testify to the fact that the edu- 
cation of children, not brought up in the nur- 



Lutheran seminary. It is the only one of its 
kind in Nebraska. The denomination main- 
tains an orphans' home at Fremont. 

York College. York College, York, Ne- 
braska, is owned and operated by the church 
of the United Brethren in Christ. 

An eduational institution was talked of 
as early as the conference at Grand Island, 
which was in 1876, but nothing was really ac- 
complished till 1886, when an academy was 




York College 



ture and admonition of the Lord, is morally 
defective. Therefore these Lutherans main- 
tain the Christian day school, and 93,890 
children are educated in the 2,100 parochial 
schools of the I\Iissouri synod, which is one 
of the Lutheran Synods of our country laying 
great stress on the Christian education of chil- 
dren. For this reason it maintains at an an- 
nual expense of thousands of dollars, among 
others, its institution at Seward, Nebraska, the 



founded at Gibbon. This school was in oper- 
ation for four years, C. M. Brooke, J. F. Lef- 
ler, and F. W. Jones following each other as 
principal. In 1890 the institution was located 
at York, a full collegiate department being 
added. York College has grown at a rapid 
rate. J. George, D.D., served as president for 
the first four years ; W. S. Reese, D.D., for the 
next three years, and he was succeeded by Wm. 
E. Schell, A.M., D.D. M. O. McLaughlin is at 



512 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



the head of the institution at the present time. 
Under his administration the college has rap- 
idly come into the front rank among the col- 
leges of the state. Collegiate, academy, nor- 
mal, pharmacy, business, music, oratory, and 
art departments are maintained. The college 
has three good buildings. The equipments are 
first class in every respect. It has state rec- 
ognition and issues all grades of state certif- 
icates. Its assets will reach about $135,000. 
The surroundings are ideal, the advantages are 
second to none, and the rates are exceedingly 
low. Many graduates have already gone forth 
from its halls, and are doing a good and hon- 
orable part in the btisiness and professional 
work of the great world. The enrollment of 
adult students for the last year was over five 
hundred. When Dr. Schell resigned the 
presidency of the college to accept the office 
of educational secretary for the denomination 
the board of trustees elected as his successor 
M. O. McLaughlin of Omaha. President 
McLaughlin was at the time of his election the 
minister of the United Brethren church in 
that city. The work in all departments of the 
college has continued to grow, and the repu- . 
tation of the institution for earnest and de- 
voted work has constantly increased. Presi- 
dent McLaughlin and those associated with 
him understand the demands upon the college 
as an institution of higher education, and they 
are measuring up to the demand in a masterful 
way. The years, as they come and go, are 
seeing the endowment increasing, the student 
body enlarging and the influence of the college 
extending. 

Nebr.\sk.\ Central Cf)LLEGE. Nebraska 
Central College, Central City, Nebraska, is 
owned, maintained, and conducted by an or- 
ganization of the Friends in Nebraska. The 
organization was made early in the year 1896. 
The articles of incorporation were signed Oc- 
tober 4, 1898. The corporate name of the or- 
ganization which controls the college is "The 
Nebraska Church and Educational Association 
of Friends." The purpose and scope of the or- 
ganization are presented in these words : 
"To establish and maintain at Central City, 
Nebraska, an educational institution for in- 
struction in the higher branches of learning, of 



such grade and character as the situation may 
demand and the patronage justify." The prop- 
erty was deeded to the Association of Friends 
free from obligations of all kinds. Thus the 
people of the church secured the property at 
Central City free of charges of every kind. 
This freedom from debt in the beginning has 
had much to do in determininng the financial 
policy of the church towards the college and, 
also, the policy of the institution itself. The 
officers and trustees of the Association of 
Friends were made an executive board and to 
this body was committed the management of 
the college. The doors of the institution were 
opened for the reception of students in Sep- 
tember, 1899. The college was continued un- 
der the management of the executive board 
until 1908. At this time the Nebraska Yearly 
Meeting of the Society of Friends was organ- 
ized. When this was accomplished the col- 
lege was placed under its care. From that 
date the college has represented the educational 
work of the Yearly Meeting. Besides the 
main building the college owns a boys' dor- 
mitory and a dormitory for girls. Besides the 
college courses the institution maintains an 
academy. Both the college and the academy 
are accredited to the University of Nebraska. 

From May, 1904, until June 1, 1917, Elie 
H. Parisho, Ph.B., A.M., was president. Pro- 
fessor Parisho resigned and the board of 
trustees on January 8, 1917, elected Momer J. 
Coppock, A.B., A.M., to the position. The 
institution prospered under the administration 
of President Parisho and the earnest, devoted 
work is being continued under the leadership 
of President Coppock. The first class was 
graduated in 1903, and year by year since 
that date the alumni have been increased. A 
campaign conducted by the Nebraska Yearly 
Meeting for funds for the college and for the 
church extension work was closed August 15, 
1917. The net result for the college was $50,- 
886.75. This is considered a good founda- 
tion on which to build the endowment fund. 

Luther College. The founding of Luther 
Academy at Wahoo, Nebraska, was inspired 
by the ideas and ideals expressed in the fol- 
lowing sentences : "No people that neglects the 
training- of the ideal side of man's nature can 



LUTHER COLLEGE 



513 



prosper. The Pilgrim Fathers of our church 
in the state recognized this fact, and acted ac- 
cordingly. As soon as a rude shanty or sod 
house on the plains was built they planned 
for a congregation and a church. In less 
than twenty years they were ready for the 
second step, an institution of higher educa- 
tion." 

So far as history makes any record, the 
first person to give expression to the idea that 
an institution of learning ought to be estab- 
lished was made by the Rev. J. E. Nordling. 
Mr. Nordling and the Rev. S. G. Larson were 
strolling about the part of the country where 
the college buildings now stand when he said 
to Mr. Larson ; "What a beautiful site for a 
school?" In the summer of 1882, the Rev. J. 
P. Nyquist came to the Swedish Lutheran 
church at Malmo. He aided in establishing 
Gustavus College in St. Peters, Minnesota, and 
was very much interested in having an in- 
stitution of learning of like character in Ne- 
braska. The need of an institution of higher 
learning was discussed publicly first at a 
mission meeting held near York, Nebraska, in 
November, 1882. 

A committee to take up the question was 
appointed. It consisted of the Rev. J. P. Ny- 
quist, C. J. E. Harterus, and E. A. Fogelstrom. 
After investigation and consideration of the 
advantages of different places the committee 
agreed in March, 1883, to locate the college at 
Wahoo. It was stipulated that $6,000 should 
be raised in Wahoo and $4,000 by the friends 
of the enterprise in the churches in Mead, 
Swedeburg, and Malmo. This $10,000 with 
the campus of ten acres where the buildings 
now stand, were the material beginnings of 
Luther College. The articles of incorpora- 
tion were filled March 29, 1883. Plans for the 
main building were accepted the first of May 
of that year. The corner-stone for the south 
wing of the building was laid July 23, 1883. 
The school was opened for students October 
18, 1883. The roll for the first year contained 
the names of thirt}'-seven students. The be- 
ginning years were in some respects especially 
difficult. The Swedish churches were not many 
in number at that day in Nebraska and the 
number of persons who could contribute money 



to build and maintain an institution was com- 
paratively small. But those who had entered 
into this college enterprise faced the many 
difficulties with faith and hope, with courage 
and intelligence, with zeal and determination. 
Debts were paid, money was raised, students 
were found, buildings were erected, equipped, 
and supplied, a library was started, a reading 
room was arranged, and courses of study were 
constructed. 

The academy sent out the first class of 
graduates, nine in number, at the commence- 
ment. May 20, 1886. The Rev. Martin Noyd 
was the first president, who, with Prof. S. M. 
Hill, did the academic work for the first few 
years. As the years have come and gone new 
and additional courses of study and depart- 
ments of work have been added, the number 
of students has increased, the interests of the 
college have taken hold of the people in whose 
behalf the institution was established, and the 
circle of influence has continued to enlarge. 
The completion of the new building in 1903 
marked an era in the history of the college and 
most naturally that event linked the past with 
the future of the institution. The dedication 
of the building after twenty years of life and 
work gave an opportunity to recount the steps 
that had been taken during that period. Ad- 
dresses were made calling up memories of the 
past and looking to the successes of the future. 
Among those who took part in the exercises 
were Dr. C. A. Swanson of Lindsborg, Kan- 
sas ; Dr. Nord, the first president of the insti- 
tution, and the Rev. O. J. Johnson, who was 
president of the college at the time of dedica- 
tion. The years which have followed this 
planting of a milestone which marks a stage 
in the progress in the institution have been 
full of hope and accomplishments. The roll 
of students from year to year shows a slow 
and at the same time a healthy and appreciable 
growth. The policy of the institution from 
the beginning has been to maintain a faculty 
of men and women of religious faith and 
character, of intellectual sight and insight, of 
mental ability and intelligence, of educational 
vision and ideals, and of moral earnestness 
and appreciation. These fundamental and 
outstanding characteristics of the college have 



514 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



at no time in the history been more marked 
and distinctly recognized than at the present 
time under the presidency and leadership of 
the Rev. A. T. Seashore. President Seashore 
cultivates freedom of thought and action, 
guided and tempered by aspirations for the 
best and the highest things in life and con- 
duct, and inspired by the sanctions of things 
divine and eternal. 

Among the teachers who have been con- 
nected with the college we find Dr. S. M. Hill, 
who was faithful to his duties for thirty-two 
years. He is professor emeritus and in con- 
sideration of his long and devoted services re- 
ceives a pension. Mrs. J. H. Foldman served 
faithfully and endeared herself to the students 
by twenty-three years' continuous work. 
President O. J. Johnson, D.D., now president 
of Gustavus Adolphus College, was the admin- 
istrative head of Luther College for twelve 
years. 

During the last seven years the Park 
Association has greatly beautified the campus, 
giving it a very inviting appearance. The 
park-like appearance and conditions would be 
a credit to any community. At the present 
time the college is represented on the foreign 
mission fields in the continents by twenty-one 
persons who have been students. One who is 
familiar with the life and work of the college 
says that no one can estimate the influences 
for good which have l>een exerted during the 
thirty-four years of the history of the college. 
He adds that there is scarcely a corner on the 
earth that is not a little better because of the 
training men and women have received in her 
chapel and class-rooms. The long file of the 
farmers, merchants, bankers, salesmen, doc- 
tors, engineers, professors, teachers, artists, 
ministers, and missionaries is a record ot 
which any institution may well be proud. 
Luther College has been an honor to the peo- 
ple who have supported it, to the devoted men 
and women who have made up her faculty, to 
the city of Wahoo, and to the state of Ne- 
braska. 

University of Omaha. The college cata- 
logue for 1915-1916 gives the following state- 
ment concerning the beginning and progress 
of this institution of learning: "The L^ni- 



versity of Omaha owes its existence to a felt 
need for an institution of learning in Omaha. 
Such an institution could not well have its 
origin elsewhere than in the spirit of philan- 
throphy and devotion to civic welfare. Actu- 
ated by this spirit and by a conviction that 
the time was ripe for action, a group of rep- 
resentative citizens, in the early summer of 
1908, organized a board of trustees and began 
the active promotion of the movement for the 
founding of a university under Christian 
ideals and influences but, at the same time 
free from ecclesiastical control. The board 
of trustees was incorporated on October 8th, 
1908. The articles of incorporation defined 
the object for which the university was 
founded in the following terms : The object 
of this incorporation shall be to establish, en- 
dow, conduct and maintain a University for 
the promotion of sound learning and educa- 
tion, such as is usually contemplated in col- 
leges and universities, under such influences 
as will lead to the highest type of Christian 
character and citizenship, with the Bible as 
supreme authority." 

The university was opened for the enroll- 
ment of students November 14, 1909. The 
ground and buildings are in the city of Omaha 
at 3612 North Twenty-fourth street. Early 
in 1916 the trustees secured an option on 
forty acres of land as a site for the institu- 
tion and for new buildings. 

As soon as the option was secured the trus- 
tees began a campaign for funds with which 
to erect buildings. It was the purpose of the 
trustees to erect at first two buildings on the 
new site. It was planned that each building 
would cost about $50,000. George A. Joslin 
started the subscription with $25,000, and 
other enterprising citizens were ready to aid 
with equal liJierality. Before all the plans 
had been matured and before many steps had 
been taken to carry this work to a successful 
end the war in Europe came on and condi- 
tions changed. Instead of occupying the new 
site it was determined to contiinie the work 
on the campus where it was started. The 
groimds contain the John Jacobs gymnasium, 
and Joslyn hall. The gymnasium is modern 
and well equipped. When it is used as an 



BROWXELL HALL 



515 



auditorium aliout 1000 people can be seated. 
Joslyn hall houses the chapel, college offices, 
class rooms, laboratories, library, and art 
rooms. Mr. Joslyn's $25,000 was the first 
subscription to the building. With the fur- 
nishing the building cost $175,000. As soon 
as the war conditions will permit a campaign 
will be made for productive endowment. Small 
sums have already been- contributed for en- 
dowment. Also provision has already been 
made in the wills of some citizens to this 
worthy end. The Stoddard scholarship and 
the Spalding scholarship have become perma- 
nent endowments. W bile the Omaha Theo- 
logical Seminary has no legal or organic con- 
nection with the University of Omaha the two 
institutions work together by interchange of 
instruction and academic credits. The uni- 
versity sustains a course of study for students 
who expect to take the regular medical course 
of study and to practice the profession. There 
is maintained likewise a school of law. For 
the college years 1916-1917 the enrolment, in- 
cluding the students in the summer school, 
was 386. 

Among the institutions of higher education 
in Nebraska the University of Omaha occupies 
a unique position in some respects. Nearly 
all of its students are from the homes of 
Omaha people. Because of this condition 
some of the problems of the college are local 
and are to be solved by the people of the city. 

The university has the following depart- 
ments : Liberal arts and sciences, art, home 
economics, law, and medical preparatory. It 
is authorized to confer the bachelor of arts 
and the bachelor of science degrees, and also, 
the master of arts and master of science de- 
grees. The policy of the university has been 
to maintain a faculty of earnest, devoted cap- 
able men and women, whose lives, teachings, 
and influence have been pronounced for cul- 
ture, for scholarship, and for character. Presi- 
dent Daniel E. Jenkins, Ph.D., Dean Walter 
N. Halsey, \l.A., and Miss Selma Anderson 
have been with the institution from the open- 
ing day. Other members of the faculty for 
a shorter time have been equally loyal and de- 
voted. The growth in equipment and en- 



largement in every department insures a fu- 
ture of great usefulness. 

Brownell Hall. Brownell Hall, an Epis- 
copal boarding school for girls, was founded 
September 17, 1863, and is in point of con- 
tinuous existence the oldest school in the 
state. When, in 1860, the Rev. Joseph C. 
Talbot was consecrated bishop of the North- 
west, he found three parishes in Nebraska 
territory. One of these was at Nebraska 
City. On the site of old Fort Kearney, now 
embraced within the limits of Nebraska City, 
still stands the old church which awaited his 
ministrations. He decided to found a girls' 
boarding school in or near the city of Omaha. 
Between Omaha and Florence, about three and 
a half miles north of Omaha, lay Saratoga, 
then fraught with as many civic possibilities 
as its northern or southern neighbor. Numer- 
ous springs abounded. Why should not 
Saratoga become a second Saratoga Springs? 
In 1859 an enterprising group of men formed 
a company and erected (on paper) a town 
called Saratoga Springs. On the main street 
they built a hotel located at what is now 
Twenty- fourth street and Grand avenue. As it 
proved more a resort for summer than a sum- 
mer resort, the hotel was closed after the first 
season. In 1861 Bishop Talbot bought the 
property for $3500 for his school. As a 
large part of the purchase money came from 
Connecticut the school was named in honor 
of its bishop, "Brownell" Hall. The young 
ladies were not permitted, for fear of Indians, 
to visit the various springs, except in groups. 

The weekly Nebraskian, of Omaha, of Sep- 
tember 18, 1863, gives the following account 
of the opening of Brownell Hall : 

"We witnessed yesterday the opening exer- 
cises of Brownell Hall, the new Episcopal 
vSeminary, about three miles north of the city 
of Omaha. 

"The institution, we are happy to state, com- 
mences imder the most favorable auspices. It 
has an able faculty, consisting of Rev. O. C. 
Dake, A.M., Principal ; Miss Helen M. Lid- 
diard, Miss M. Louise Gillmore, assistants ; 
Miss Sarah J. ^liser. Music Teacher, and is 
we believe, upon a sound financial basis. The 
present buildings have thirty- four rooms and 



516 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



can accommodate thirty boarders. There is 
every prospect that this number will be ob- 
tained in a few weeks." 

The school opened with pupils from Ne- 
braska City and vicinity, Bellevue, Florence, 
Omaha, Fontanelle, and Decatur, forty in all. 
Sometimes pupils came from Nebraska City by 
boat, and from other towns, either in private 
conveyances, lumber wagons, or stage coaches. 
Day pupils from Omaha went back and forth 
in an omnibus, or the "Black Maria." 

The Rev. O. C. Dake, rector of Trinity par- 
ish, in Omaha, was its first principal and rec- 
tor. The head teacher was Miss M. Louise 
Gillmore. Her young sister, Mrs. Hattie Gill- 
more Hough, still living in Chicago, was the 
first boarder. Miss Miser was the first music 
teacher. Miss Root the second ; Miss Helen 
Liddiard was matron. The first class pre- 
sented for confirmation consisted of Miss 
Ophelia Taylor, Miss Elizabeth May Davis, 
and Miss Elizabeth Stillman Arnold. In 1867 
the Rev. Samuel Hermann, of Hartford, Con- 
necticut, the rector, organized a branch school 
for day pupils, first in the old state house, and 
later at "250 Dodge Street," being between 
Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets. 

The first class, consisting of Mrs. Helen In- 
galls Drake and Mrs. Helen Iloyt Burr, was 
graduated in 1868. 

The Omaha Herald, of July 10, 1868, says 
of the first commencement: 

A large concourse of our citizens attended 
the closing exercises of this popular educa- 
tional institute on last Friday. The proceed- 
ings opened with prayer, after which the 
opening chorus was rendered with a very har- 
monious and pleasing efl:'ect by the young 
ladies of the seminary. Next was a duet 
polka by the Misses Nellie Clarkson [now 
Mrs. Fred Davis] and Morton. 

Music. Mazurka, by Miss Libbie Poppleton 
[now Mrs. Shannon]. 

Song, "Something Sweet to Tell You," by 
little Jennie Morrison. 

Music, "Andes," Miss Helen Ingalls [later 
Mrs. Drake]. 

Reading of the Chimes by Miss Penfield, 
editress. 

Music, "Fra Diavola," quartet. Misses In- 
galls, Jordan, Poppleton and White. 

Reading reports and awarding of prizes. 



Song and duet, "In the Star Light," by the 
young Misses Poppleton and Sears. 

Music, quartet, by Misses Jordan, Ingalls 
and Clarkson. 

Bishop Talbot, having been transferred to 
the diocese of Indiana in 1865, the Rev. Rob- 
ert H. Clarkson of St. James Church, Chicago, 
was consecrated missionary bishop of Ne- 
braska and became the head of the school. 
Being of the opinion that the establishment of 
a day school in connection with the hall was 
advisable, and that its interests would be bet- 
ter subserved by removal of the institution to 
Omaha, it was decided to relocate. Accord- 
ingly, in November, 1868, Brownell Hall was 
incorporated. Its articles were signed by the 
following persons, names written large in the 
history of our state, and many of whose chil- 
dren and grand-children have been pupils of 
the school : Bishop Clarkson, Rev. Samuel 
Herman, Rev. Geo. C. Betts, R. C. Jordan, 
Geo. W. Doane, G. C. Monell, C. S. Chase, J. 
M. Woolworth, John I. Redick, Benj. Alvord, 
Henry W. Yates. 

On Monday, October 5, 1868, the school was 
opened in its new home on the corner of Six- 
teenth and Jones streets, a three-story wooden 
building, heated by coal stoves, lighted with 
coal-oil lamps, and supplied with water from 
a well. Here it remained until January 4, 
1887. 

The rector resigning in February, 1869, 
Bishop and Mrs. Clarkson left their own com- 
fortable home and took under their own per- 
sonal supervision the conduct of the school, 
the bishop himself teaching and Mrs. Clark- 
son acting as matron and housekeeper. In 
1869 Miss Elizabeth Butterfield. of Racine, 
Wisconsin, was retained as principal. Im- 
buing all about her with something of her own 
efficiency, nobility of character, and Christian 
grace, the school grew in numbers and in 
spiritual and educational attainment. In 
August, 1887, Miss Butterfield resigned and 
was married to the Hon. James M. Wool- 
worth. 

In 1871, Mrs. P. C. Hall, a sister of Bishop 
Clarkson, was principal, the Rev. George Pat- 
erson, secretary, and Mrs. Paterson, matron, 
the bishop himself being chaplain and visitor. 



BROWNELL HALL 



517 



Mrs. Hall possessed the very rare gift of in- 
spiring in her students a permanent interest 
in the subjects taught. Miss Lucinda B. 
Loomis, a pupil of the school, well known in 
Omaha and Lincoln, especially in university 
circles, taught for nine years. 

The hard times of the early seventies, the 
almost complete destruction of crops by grass- 
hoppers, the consequent inability of many stu- 
dents to pay their bills, would have discour- 
aged hearts less firm than the bishop's or 
Mrs. Hall's. Theirs was strength born of 
love and sympathy with all human kind. And 
if, as it is said, the voice responds most readily 
to the emotions, no wonder that those whom 
the bishop confirmed and upon whose heads 
he laid apostolic hands, said they could almost 
feel a special blessing come straight from our 
Heavenly Father, as they heard the bishop's 
wonderful voice saying, "Defend, O Lord, this 
Thy child with Thy Heavenly Grace ; that she 
may continue Thine forever; and daily in- 
crease in Thy Holy Spirit, more and more, 
until she come unto Thy everlasting kingdom. 
Amen." 

With the advent of the Rev. Robert H. 
Doherty. Mrs. S. H. Windsor, in 1875, and of 
Miss Emma Windsor, whom Dr. Doherty 
married, commenced a period of unprece- 
dented growth. Side by side they labored for 
twenty-two years, until 1897. Although the 
old building at Sixteenth and Jones streets 
had been added to, it became entirely inade- 
quate. A new building and new location were 
proposed. Bishop Clarkson had died in 1884, 
and the Rt. Rev. George Worthington suc- 
ceeded him. Bishop Worthington bequeathed 
to the Hall eighty thousand dollars for schol- 
arship endowment. 

On June 12, 1886, the corner stone of the 
third building was laid at Tenth and Worth- 
ington streets. A hymn for the occasion was 
written by the Rev. H. B. Burgess of Platts- 
mouth, a pioneer clergyman well known 
throughout the state. 

The new building, valued with its furnish- 
ings at $125,000, was occupied January 4, 
1887. It is entirely modern, four stories in 
height, built of brick, with ample grounds. 



and very handsome. Connected with it is a 
gymnasium and infirmary. 

In 1891, under Dr. Doherty's rectorship, 
there were reported seventy-three boarders 
and fifty-nine day scholars — the high water 
mark in attendance up to that time. 

Some of Dr. Doherty's teachers remained 
in the school a long time. Among these were 
Miss W^allace, teacher of music. Miss Ethel 
Davenport, mathematics, Miss Kate Lyman, 
a Vassar graduate. In 1889, at the sugges- 
tion of Mrs. Windsor, an alumnae association 
was formed, having for its objects the promo- 
tion of a higher life in woman, the further- 
ance of the prosperity of the school, the en- 
couragement of girls to take advantage of the 
opportunities for Christian education which 
Brownell Hall afforded. The association has 
founded a scholarship fund of $3,000, the in- 
terest of which is used for the expenses at the 
Hall of a clergyman's daughter. It has pre- 
sented valuable additions to the library, and 
through its endeavors Brownell Hall has been 
made an accredited school to our State L'ni- 
versity and to women's colleges. 

In 1897 Dr. Doherty resigned, having in 
conjunction with Mrs. Doherty and Mrs. 
Windsor brought the school to the greatest 
prosperity and influence. Dr. Doherty's 
genial personalit)', his self-sacrificing devotion 
to the school, and ministrations in the remote 
parishes and missions of the state, will be ever 
held in grateful remembrance. 

In 1899 the Rev. Arthur L. Williams was 
made bishop coadjutor of Nebraska, and 
served until the death of Bishop Worthington 
in 1908. Mrs. Louise Upton of Detroit was 
named as principal in 1898 and after three 
years of efficient service was succeeded by 
Miss Euphan Macrae. In her regime the 
school prospered in point of numbers and in 
scholarship and, especially, a greater inter- 
est was awakened in college education for 
women. 

Upon Miss Macrae's resignation in 1909, 
Miss Edith Marsden, a college graduate, as- 
sumed the principalship, maintaining with an 
efiicient corps of teachers the honor and stand- 
ing of the school, whose present head is Miss 
Euphemia Johnson, and under whose admin- 



518 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



istration the ideals, aims, and aspirations of 
the founders and teachers of the institution 
have heen constantly fostered and developed, 
to keep pace with the ever increasing trend of ■ 
education and the moral and spiritual progress 
of the age. 

The school has lived its life under four bish- 
ops : Talbot, Clarkson, W'orthington, and 
Williams, and except for their labors and those 
of Dr. Doherty, is almost whollv the product 
of women's work. 

State Normal School at Peru. The leg- 
islature which met a few weeks after Ne- 
braska became a state, March 1, 1867, passed 
the bill which authorized the State Normal 
School at Peru. The act was approved by the 
governor and became a law June 20, 1867. 
Like many of the schools of that day it began 
as a community enterprise. While the early 
settlers were cutting the timber fotmd on the 
rich lands in the valley of the Missouri, and 
were breaking the uplands back from the river, 
they were thinking and planning for the future 
of the community and especially for the educa- 
tion of their children and youth. So far as is 
known the earliest movement was by the ter- 
ritorial legislature in granting a charter in 
1860 for an institution of college grade. The 
matter was not carried any farther at that 
time. 

The first plans after that are said to have 
been laid when seventeen citizens of Peru and 
vicinity met in a store btiilding in September, 
1865, and determined to establish a school. 
While a building was being erected the school 
was conducted in the basement of a dwelling 
house. Dr. J. M. McKenzie, afterwards so 
well and so favorably known as the president 
of the Normal School and as state school su- 
perintendent, was persuaded to leave a private 
school at Pawnee City and take charge of the 
school. Among the first acts of real impor- 
tance which helped to determine the course of 
events was the purchase of the sixty acres for 
school purposes which are now the property 
of the Normal School. The grounds were 
bought by John Neal, Mrs. J. M. McKenzie, 
the Rev. ITiram Busch, and Major William 
Daily. The building Dr. McKenzie found and 
in which he and Mrs. McKenzie lived and 



taught, was far from ready. This did not pre- 
vent them from taking up the work with faith 
and courage, with hope and determination. It 
was the expectation of those who were most 
interested and entliusastic in the enterprise to 
secure aid in building the school and to gain 
a greater constituency in maintaining it, that 
it would liecome a seminary of learning under 
the direction of the Methodist church. The 
conference of the church was consulted with 
this in view. It was the judgment of those 
making up that body that the means could not 
be secured for such an undertaking. 

Colonel T. J. Majors and Alajor ^\'illiam 
Daily were members of the legislature. 
Through their leadership and the assistance of 
others it was agreed to take over the property 
and establish a State Normal School. Tlie 
first thought of these men was to establish at 
Peru the State University. The majority of 
the members in the legislature were controlled 
by the idea that the university ought to be at 
the capital city. When this became apparent 
the next thing was to take advantage of the 
situation and secure for the community and 
for the state a normal school. The effort was 
successful, and as already stated the act was 
approved June 20, 1867. The bill was both 
general and specific in its requirements. It 
provided that the Normal School should de- 
vote its instructions to persons who are pre- 
paring to teach in the ptiblic schools ; that all 
branches should be taught which pertain to 
good common school education ; that instruc- 
tion should be given in mechanic arts, in hus- 
bandry and in agricultural chemistry, in the 
fundamental laws of the United States, and 
with regard to the rights and duties of citi- 
zens. 

The bill required also that the grounds, 
buildings, and equipment of the Peru Semi- 
nary be secured by deed from the trustees to 
the state of Nebraska and that the grounds be 
devoted to the interests of the State Normal 
vScliool. 

The provision was made that the school 
should be under the direction of a body called 
the state board of education, consisting of 
seven members — five to be appointed by the 
governor, each, after the first appointments, 



STATE NORAIAL SCHOOLS 



519 



for five years, and two ex officio members — 
the state school superintendent and the state 
treasurer. 

The law gives the board of education full 
power to buy and sell and to do all other things 
which relate to the progress and management 
of the school. Some things in the act tell us 
how well the members of. the legislature un- 
derstood the enriching power of the higher 
studies. It says, "Lectures on chemistry, com- 
]iarative anatomy, the mechanic arts, agricul- 
tural chemistry, and any other science or 
branch of literature that the board of education 
may direct." The bill directs that the gov- 
ernor shall select and set apart for the endow- 
ment of the Normal School twenty sections 
of land belonging to the state and not other- 
wise disposed of. 

The voices of history unite in saying that 
the Normal School has always had a capable 
and devoted faculty. The men and women 
who have presided in the class-rooms have 
been worthy of all praise for their scholarly 
attainments, for their sincere devotion, and 
for their worthy character. 

Also it is agreed that it has been peculiarly 
fortunate in the twelve men who in the fifty- 
one years have been called to the presidency. 
The names and periods are as follows : J. M. 
McKenzie, A.AL, LL.D., 1867 to 1871 ; Henry 
H. Straight, January, 1871, to September, 
1871 : A. D. Williams, A.M., LL.D., Septem- 
ber, 1871. to June. 1872; General T. J. Mor- 
gan, A.M., Tune, 1872, to June, 1875; L. S. 
l"hompson, A.M., June, 1875, to June, 1877; 
Robert Curry, A.M., LL.D., June, 1877, to 
June, 1883 ; George L. Farnam, A.M.., June, 
1883, to June, 1893; A. W. Norton, A.M., 
June, 1893, to 1896; J. A. Beattie, A.M., 
LL.D., June, 1896, to August, 1900; W. A. 
Clark, A.M., Ph.B., August, 1900, to June, 
1904; J. W. Crabtree, A.M., June, 1904, to 
June, 1910: D. W. Hayes, A.B., A.M., June, 
1910. 

The student body has always been made up 
of a superior class of young men and young 
women ; as a whole they have been animated 
with right aims and directed by true purposes. 

The schools and firesides of Nebraska and 
elsewhere as well owe much to the teachers 



who have gone out from the halls and asso- 
ciations of the Normal School at Peru. The 
grounds are beautiful, the buildings are good 
and commodious, the library and other equip- 
ment among the best, and the natural and ac- 
quired surroundings such as inspire true de- 
votion and honest effort. 

The fifty-one years of history are but a 
pledge and a prophecy of the good and ac- 
complishments of the years to come. 

Stati-: Normal Schooi, at Kearney. The 
legislature of 1903 authorized the establish- 
ment of the second State Normal School in 
Nebraska. Among the first provisions of the 
bill was the one which related to the location 
and that it should be selected by the state board 
of education. The act restricted the selection 
to a city or a town that shall be at a point west 
of a point not exceeding five miles east of the 
98th meridian. By looking at the map of Ne- 
braska it will be seen that this gave the board 
of education the opportunity to consider places 
along the line across the state which is marked 
by Superior, Clay Center, Aurora, Fullerton, 
Central City, Albion, Neligh, and all other 
places in the state which are west of these 
cities. Out of the ten or more places which 
asked for the school and were willing to com- 
ply with the provisions of the act and any re- 
quirements the board of education might see 
fit to impose, Kearney was selected. 

The act required that the place to which the 
school would go must provide free of cost to 
the state for "the perpetual use of said school 
a suitable tract of land not less than twenty 
acres in extent," said land to be worth at least 
$75 per acre. The legislature appropriated 
$50,000 for the purpose of putting the act into 
eff'ect. 

The first building erected was the center 
wing of the main building. It was completed 
December 20, 1905. To this additions have 
been made. One of these is a very beautiful 
auditorium which was completed in May, 1917. 
The legislature of 1905 appropriated $15,000 
for equipment and for current expenses. Su- 
perintendent A. O. Thomas of the schools of 
Kearney was elected president. Dr. Thomas 
and the board of education selected an able 
body of men and women for a faculty. The 



520 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



school was opened in June, 1905. As the 
building was not ready for use at the time of 
the opening and during this summer session, 
use was made of the building belonging to the 
Kearney high school. The first regular school 
year began in September, 1905. The school 
occupied the completed parts of the building 
for the first part of the year. It has been said 
that the enrollment for the first summer ses- 
sion (863 different students) was the largest 
for the opening session of any normal school 
in the United States. 

The school has had a large field from which 
to draw students, and it has done everything 
that could be done by the president and mem- 
bers of the faculty to make it a worthy place 
in which to be in training for the profession 
of teaching. The library and other eqtiipment 
are not only adequate for the present needs, 
but also they are increased as rapidly as they 
can be used to advantage. In common with 
the State Normal School at Peru, Wayne, and 
Chadron, there is given at the close of a full 
four years' course above the high school the 
bachelor of arts degree. 

When Dr. Thomas left the school in the 
autumn of 1914, George S. Dick of the State 
College for Teachers in Iowa was elected 
president as his successor. The efficient work 
of the first years has been maintained by Presi- 
dent Dick and those associated with him. They 
are building worthy structure upon the foun- 
dation which had its beginning in June, 1905. 

Satte Normai, SchooIv at Wayne. The 
State Normal School at Wayne was organized 
as a private normal school in 1891 by President 
J. M. Pile. It was continued under his man- 
agement until the close of the school year, 
1909-1910. It is not too much to say that 
the school pro.spered during the nineteen years 
of its history. Many young men and women 
look to their school days in the institution of 
that period and are glad they were taught and 
their characters formed by President and Mrs. 
Pile and the teachers they gathered about them. 

During the session of the legislatiu'e of 
1909 a bill was passed appropriating $90,000, 
or so much thereof as might be necessary, with 
which to purchase the Wayne Normal College 
property for a State Normal School. The 



power to buy was vested in the state board of 
education. The board of education made an 
inspection of the buildings, grounds, and equip- 
ment and fixed the value and the price to be 
paid at $70,000. The sum of $20,000 which 
remained after the purchase price was paid 
was set aside to conduct the school from Sep- 
tember 1, 1910, to April 1, 191 1. The board of 
education elected as president U. S. Conn, who 
at the time was superintendent of the city 
schools of Columbus, Nebraska. President 
Conn organized a faculty of capable and de- 
voted men and women and the school was 
opened as a State Normal School in Septem- 
ber, 1910. From the beginning day the insti- 
tution has made constant and commendable 
progress. The property has been improved 
from year to year. A complete sewer and 
water system has been installed. The campus 
has been enlarged from ten to forty acres. 
Three modern fireproof buildings have been 
erected. One of these buildings is used by the 
library and the department of science : another 
contains the office of administration : and the 
third is used by the physical and industrial 
training departments. The building which 
contains the office of administration contains 
also a large assembly hall and many of the 
class rooms. The total amount expended by 
the state, not including the purchase money, 
is about $350,000. The country naturally trib- 
utary to the State Normal School at Wayne 
is one of the best portions of Nebraska. The 
school has shown appreciation of its situation 
and the people have taken advantage of the 
opportunity it has furnished. If the life and 
accomplishment of the years since September 
1, 1910, are to be taken as a measure of that 
which shall be, the future is full of hope and 
promise. 

State Normai, School at Chadrox. The 
first work in education in addition to that fur- 
nished by the good school system of the city of 
Chadron was done by the academy which was 
agreed upon by an association of Congrega- 
tional churches in 1888. Other towns and 
cities in that part of the state wanted the 
school, as was the case when the board of edu- 
cation came to select a location for the State 
Normal School which the legislature had 



THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 



521 



authorized. But the natural advantages and 
the enterprise of the people were such that it 
went to Chadron. The academy was opened 
lor students in a building which the city pro- 
vided, in September, 1890. The first building 
belonging to the academy was dedicated De- 
cember 3, 1890, and occupied by the school the 
same day. This building was destroyed by 
fire in November, 1892, but the school went 
on. A dormitory for women, in which there 
was a dining hall for all students, was built in 
1894. The principal of the academy was L. 
M. Oberkotter. 

The legislature of 1909 authorized another 
State Normal School, appropriating $35,000, 
and fixed the location within certain limits — 
that is, "west of the east line of the Sixth Con- 
gressional District and north of the 42d paral- 
lel of latitude in the State of Nebraska." 
Among the provisions enumerated by the legis- 
lature was that the people in the community 
where it is located must furnish eighty acres of 
land for a campus, and for such other uses as 
the school in its work and progress might need. 
The board of education began at once a build- 
ing and other matters relating to the school. 
The building erected was planned and situated 
so that parts could be added as they might be 
needed and independent buildings so placed as 
to give a good appearance. Mr. Joseph 
Sparks was elected president. At the time of 
his appointment he was connected with the 
state department of public instruction and had 
been the superintendent of the city schools of 
Aurora. He gathered about him a faculty of 
able men and women. The first session of the 
new school under the direction of the state 
was in the summer of 1911. President Sparks 
continued in office until the summer of 1916. 
He and those associated with him laid the 
foundations. They were successful in the 
numbers of students, in the quality of the 
work, and in making the school worthy of an 
honorable place among the institutions of like 
grade in the state and in that part of the 
countn- where it is situated. When he re- 
signed, the board of education elected Robert 
I. Elliott of Kearney. At the time of his elec- 
tion Mr. Elliott was a member of the faculty 
of the State Normal School at Kearney. Presi- 



dent Elliott's ability had been tested while do- 
ing the work of a superintendent of city 
schools at Wayne and Broken Bow and while 
holding the office of deputy state school su- 
perintendent. During the years which lie in 
between June, 1911, and the time of this writ- 
ing — -near the beginning of the second se- 
mester of the school year 1917-1918 — the 
school has made gratifying progress. Each 
year has seen the sphere of its influence en- 
larged. Each year has seen its equipment, its 
library, and its laboratories increased. The 
jieriod of less than seven years from the open- 
ing day has seen three fine buildings take their 
jjlace on the campus. The people in the north- 
west part of the state cannot fail to appreciate 
the fact that the board of education has been 
generous in appropriations and the members 
of the faculty have been earnest and devoted, 
intelligent and faithful in doing the work 
committed to their hands. 

The University of Nebraska. It is often 
said and it is generally accepted as true that 
the one controlling passion of the American 
people is money, money getting and money 
spending. 

The same thing is put in another form when 
we are told that the one outstanding fact which 
at once and everywhere marks the American 
at home and abroad is the "almighty dollar." 
However true these statements may be, or 
however distant they may be from the real 
life and true heart of the genuine American 
there is one thing even stronger in the thought 
and in the purpose of every intelligent, far see- 
ing American, and that is the desire to see the 
members of his household and the children of 
his neighbors and friends have an open door 
to the advantages of the primary and second- 
ary schools. When these two are completed 
he desires an unobstructed path to the best 
and most varied courses of study in the uni- 
versity. That this was the case in Nebraska 
to as great an extent as in any other state and 
to a marked degree as anywhere else is indi- 
cated by the action of the second state legisla- 
ture in establishing the University. This pas- 
sion for schools and education is seen to be 
more remarkable when we remember how 
young the state was in 1869, the compara- 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



lively small number of people within her bor- 
ders, the very meager physical development of 
the country, the financial condition of her citi- 
zens, and the privations of pioneer life and 
conditions. 

The act of the legislature which established 
the University was approved by the governor 
on the 15th of February, 1869, and went into 
effect the same day. From that date for all 
these years this day, the 15th of February, has 
been known and observed in Universitv circles 
as "Charter Day." The bill contained many 
specifications and nearly all of them testify to 
the intelligent purpose and far-sightedness of 
the members of the legislature. 

Among other things the act prescribed the 
legal name and style by which the institution 
is to be known," The University of Nebraska" ; 
the purpose for which the University is 
created : the authority by which it is to be 
governed — "The Regents of the University 
of Nebraska" ; the name and number of de- 
partments of which the University shall con- 
sist ; the chairs of instruction to be estab- 
lished as the needs of the state increase; the 
campus and buildings to be located within a 
radius of four miles of the state house ; the 
governor is authorized to set apart two sec- 
tions of land belonging to the state as a part 
of the college of agriculture; the authoritv 
of the board of regents; the steps to be taken 
by those who desire to receive a diploma from 
the University ; the general course to be fol- 
lowed in organizing the institution ; that no 
discrimination should lie against anv person 
on account of "age, sex, color, or nationality" ; 
the way in which the funds are to be divided 
and used ; and the general provision for the 
work of the institution the legislature was call- 
ing into life and being. For corporate pur- 
poses the name of the University in law is 
"The Regents of the University of Nebraska." 
The six departments of the University in 
the enabling act are designated thus : A col- 
lege of ancient and modern literature; mathe- 
matics and the natural sciences; a college of 
agriculture; a college of law; a college of 
medicine ; and a college of fine arts. 

The act which created the university made 
the governor, the state school superintendent. 



and the chancellor ex officio members of the 
Ijoard of regents, and the governor the presi- 
dent of the board. Besides these three the 
board was to consist of nine members. The 
law of 1869 was amended from time to time, 
making the board to consist of six elected 
members. The members are chosen at the 
time of the general election. They are elected 
two at a time for a term of six years. As is 
often the case in vuidertakings of this kind 
many things are criticised and much fault is 
found. The passing years, however, have in 
a large measure justified the work of the leg- 
islature and the board of regents. 

It is to the lasting credit of the city of Lin- 
coln that the citizens did evervthing in their 
power to aid in the erection of the first build- 
ing and in making repairs in the foundation. 
The greater part of the funds which erected 
the first building came from the sale of lots. 
This sale began on June 5, 1869. It is said 
that 105 lots were sold the first day for about 
$30,000. The corner-stone of the first build- 
ing was laid on September, 23, 1869. After 
much trouble the final repairs and changes in 
the foundation of the building were made upon 
the recommendation of four architects who 
were called in by the board of regents. The 
people of Lincoln were vitally interested in 
all that was done. The architects made their 
report on June 23, 1871. To quiet the whole 
matter and to make the building safe beyond 
any question a new foundation was put under 
the building at a cost of $6,012. This bill was 
paid by the citizens of Lincoln. This was in 
the summer of 1877. 

The difficulty with the foundation was not 
because any one was trying to get the advan- 
tage of the regents, or any thing of that kind. 
The foundation was built out of untried ma- 
terial. It was in a new country where not 
many things had been tested. It was supposed 
that the sandstone when taken out and ex- 
]iosed to the action of the atmosphere would 
harden. This in fact was true of a jiart of it 
but not of all. Some of it crumbled instead 
of hardening. The result was a wall which 
could not be depended upon to carry the build- 
ing. The fault in the foundation was not in 
the men who put it up. nor in the contractor,, 



THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA 



523 



but because untried, untested stone was used. 
This is not at all strange when we remember 
the delay which would have been caused by an 
attempt to bring stone from a long distance 
without the railway. 

The University was opened for the enrol- 
ment of students September 6, 1871. The 
number enrolled at the close of the first week 
was about ninety. The law at that time vested 
in the governor the power to appoint the mem- 
liers of the board of regents, except the three 
ex officio members for which the act provided. 
The law provided that three should be ap- 
])ointed from each judicial district. The first 
board of regents consisted of twelve members 

— nine a]:>pointed by Governor Butler ana 
three ex officio members. They are as follows : 
From the first judicial district, Robert W. Fur- 
nas, David R. Dungan, and John E. Elliott : 
from the second judicial district, Abel B. Ful- 
ler, the Rev. John B. Maxwell, and Champion 
S. Chase; from the third judicial district, Wil- 
liam B. Dale, F, H. Longley, and William G. 
< )linger. The three ex officio members were 
Governor David Butler, State Superintendent 
Samuel D. Beals, and Chancellor Allen R. 
Burton. 

At the time of the opening of the University 
and the inauguration of the first chancellor, 
the Hon. William H. James was acting govern- 
or and president of the board of regents. In 
presenting the keys to the chancellor Governor 
James closed a short address with these words : 
"You have been chosen to a high and respon- 
sible office, one that will be surrounded with 
difficulties which may require time to over- 
come ; and )'et I take pleasure in assuring you 
that the confidence which prompted your se- 
lection has been strengthened by our acquain- 
tance and association. To you belongs the duty 
of inaugurating our system of education; to 
you we entrust the enlightment of our youth 

— the beautifying and adorning of those most 
enduring monuments." 

In accepting the keys from the governor 
Chancellor Benton responded in these words : 
"\Vith a profound sense of the duties and re- 
sponsibilities to be assumed I receive from 
your hands those symbols of that authority 
which the regents have seen fit to bestow upon 



me. The cordial greetings of your honorable 
body and that of the people of the state, I re- 
turn with hearty thankfulness on my own be- 
half, and of the University faculty. It shall 
be our earnest endeavor to justify the confi- 
dence you have reposed in us while we shall 
continue to rely on you for your sympathy 
and unfailing support. Assisted then, by these 
skillful and experienced educators, armed with 
your authority and sustained by your confi- 
dence, and relying on the aid of Divine provi- 
dence, without which all our labors will be in 
vain, we enter hopefully on the work to which 
you have called us." 

This part of the inaugural program was fol- 
lowed by the more formal address in which 
Chancellor Benton outlined the work and 
policy of the institution. He concluded with 
these three sentences : "On this Autumn day, 
long to be held in memory, as the Autumn sun 
declines to the west, the crescent glory of a 
new fountain of intellectual light takes its 
place in the firmament of literature and 
science. As a ship, it begins to glide over the 
water, well manned, rejoicing in its bounding 
life, its canvas full spread, and every heart 
beating with joy and hope of a prosperous 
voyage. Speaking for the Regents, the Uni- 
versity, Students, and all represented in this 
work, I say, God bless the ship ; God bless the 
luiilders ; God bless the picked crew ; and not 
to be forgotten, God bless all the passengers." 

The first faculty consisted of Allen R. Ben- 
ton, A.M., LL.D., chancellor and professor 
of intellectual and moral philosophy; S. H. 
Manley, A.M., professor of ancient languages 
and literature; Henry E. Hitchcock, A.M., 
professor of mathematics ; O. C. Dake, profes- 
sor of rhetoric and English literature : Samuel 
Augney, A.M., professor of chemistry and 
natural sciences ; George E. Church, A.M.. 
principal of the Latin school ; and S. R. 
Thompson, professor of agriculture. 

In the beginning years only one of the six 
departments was opened, the college of ancient 
and modern literature, mathematics, and nat- 
ural sciences. It provided, the first year, 
for four courses of study — Latin, Greek, 
classical, and science. J. Stuart Dales from 
East Rochester. Ohio, who has been so long 



524 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



and honorably connected as secretary of the 
board of regents and with the admistration 
of the financial affairs of the University, was 
graduated in 1873. He was the first person 
to receive a diploma and the bachelor's degree. 
Along with him was William H. Snell of Lin- 
coln, Nebraska. Mr. Snell is now in Tacoma, 
Washington, and is judge of the circuit court. 
Mr. Dales came first only because the diploma 
and degrees were presented in the alphabetical 
order of the names of the students. 

Independent of the money which comes to 
the University from appropriations by the leg- 
islature every two years, there are several 
sources from which large sums are received. 
By what is known as the land grant act of the 
United States Congress in 1862, the college 
of agriculture when organized in 1872 secured 
90,000 acres of land. This land has been sold 
or leased. The college of agriculture receives 
the rent and the interest on certain specified 
work. The University came under the pro- 
visions of the act of Congress of 1864, and re- 
ceived seventy-two sections (46,080 acres) of 
land. The University receives the rent of 
the unsold part of these lands and the interest 
on the part sold. The rent and interest can 
be used for any purpose for which there may 
be need. The Hatch-Adams fund, as it is 
called, of about $30,000; the Morrell-Nelson 
fund of about $50,000 ; and the Smith-Lever 
fund of about $43,000 are sums received from 
the national government. 

The enlargement of the University began at 
the close of the first year, when the regents on 
June 25, 1872. authorized the college of agri- 
culture and appropriated $1,000 for equipment 
and improvements. From that time, as the 
needs of the state have appeared, there has 
been enlargement in all the departments of 
the University. 

The appropriations of the legislature, both 
for maintenance and for additional buildings, 
have seemed small, and yet when we remember 
that Nebraska in the first quarter of 1918 is 
only fifty-one years old, that we have com- 
paratively a small number of people, and that 
until within a few years we have not had many 
citizens of wealth, we can realize that on the 
whole the Universitv has received fair treat- 



ment at the hands of the representatives of 
the people. 

In 1885 the legislature appropriated $25,000 
for a chemical building. In 1889 provision 
was made for Grant Memorial Hall, and in 
1891 $37,000 was appropriated for a library 
building. Thus year by year buildings have 
been added until now there are nineteen on 
the city campus and at the state farm twenty- 
three buildings. The greater part of these are 
new and substantial buildings, well fitted for 
the purposes for which they were erected. Ten 
or more of these buildings have been erected 
by funds which arise from a special levy made 
by the legislature in 1913 for buildings and 
expansion. 

The University has been most fortunate in 
the men who have held the of^ce of chancellor. 
They have been men of ability and scholar- 
ship, of faith and courage, of honor and judg- 
ment, of hope and earnestness, of vision and 
insight, of devotion to the University and to 
the state, and of sympathy with the people 
and with the democratic spirit of Nebraska. 

The list is as follows : Allen R. Benton, A. 
M., LL.D., January 6, 1870, to June 22, 1876 ; 
Edmond B. Fairfield, A.M., LL.D., June 23. 
1876, to 1883; Dean E. B. Hitchcock, A.M., 
Ph.D., acting chancellor 1883 to January 1, 
1884; Irving J. Alanett, A.M., LL.D., Janu- 
ary 1, 1884, to June 1, 1889; Charles E. Bes- 
sey, A.M., Ph.D., acting chancellor January 
1, 1889, to August 1, 1891 ; James H. Canfield, 
A.M.. LL.D., August 1, 1891, to September 
1, 1895; George E. MacLean, A.M.. LL.D., 
September 1. 1895, to September 1. 1899; 
Charles E. Bessey, A.M., Ph.D., September 
1, 1899, to August 1, 1900; E. Benjamin An- 
drews, A.M., LL.D., August 1, 1900. to Jan- 
uary 1, 1909; Samuel Aver>', Ph.D., LL.D., 
acting chancellor January 1, 1909, to ^lay 20, 
1909, when he was made chancellor. 

The great scope and diversity of work which 
the University carries on are indicated by the 
colleges and schools which are maintained in 
this forty-eighth year of its activity. They 
are as follows : The graduate college, the col- 
lege of fine arts and sciences ; the teachers col- 
lege ; the college of engineering: the college of 



THE UNIVERSITY OF XEBRASK-\ 



525 



agriculture; the college of law; the college of 
medicine ; and the college of pharmacy. 

The graduate college includes the graduate 
school of education ; the college of arts and 
sciences includes the school of fine arts and 
the school of commerce; the teachers college 
includes a training school for those who are 
preparing to teach in the high schools ; the 
college of agriculture includes a high school 
of agriculture at the state farm and another 
at Curtis. The regents of the University have 
in their charge the Nebraska agricultural ex- 
periment station and experimental substa- 
tions at North Platte, \alentine, and Scotts 
Bluff. The regents are vested also with the 
disbursement of the funds which the state 
provides for the legislative reference bureau, 
the geological suney, the conservation survey, 
and the bureau of agricultural botany and 
entomology. 



Every year of the life and history of the 
University has brought to the regents and all 
connected with it problems peculiar to the 
time and the conditions. How well these prob- 
lems have been understood and what progress 
has been made in solving them are indicated 
in part by that which was in the first year, and 
that which is in the forty-eighth year of the 
University's life. The first year there was 
but one building; now, including those at the 
experiment stations, seven t\--eight. During 
the first year there were only nine members 
and helpers in the faculty; now, including 
those at the stations, nearly seven hundred. 
Appropriations for the first year were only a 
few thousand dollars ; now, they are for all 
purposes nearly 52.000,000. The number of 
students at the close of the first year was 130; 
now, including those at the stations and at the 
agricultural school, more than 5,000. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

Organizing the State Government — Removal of the Capital — Establishing Lincoln 



THE SESSION of the general assembly 
from July 4 to July 11, 1866, was the 
first overt act of Nebraska statehood, and 
from that occurrence until the first governor 
of the state, David Butler, formally super- 
seded y\lvin Saimders, the last governor ot 
the territory, March 27, 1867, the common- 
wealth Avore a mixed territorial and statehood 
garb. The enabling act passed by the fed- 
eral Congress, April 19, 1864, authorized the 
governor of the territor)- to proclaim an elec- 
tion of delegates to a constitutional convention, 
with such rules and regulations as he might 
prescribe. The election was held on the 6th 
of June, 1864, but since a majority of the vo- 
ters declared themselves against the proposi- 
tion for statehood, which was submitted to 
them at this time, the convention to form a 
constitution met at the designated time, July 
4th, and adjourned without action. But in 1866 
the territorial legislature submitted a constitu- 
tion which was adopted at a popular election 
held in accordance with a provision of the in- 
strument itself, on the 2d of June, 1866. By 
authority of the constitution, also, members of 
the first state legislature were elected on the 
same day and met on the 4th of July fol- 
lowing. In accordance with the supplemental 
enabling act, passed by Congress February 9, 
1867, which imposed the condition that the 
legislature should formally declare that there 
should be no denial of the right of sufTrage 
on account of race or color, by the proposed 
state, Alvin Saunders, governor of the terri- 
tory, called the legislattire which had been 
chosen in October, 1866, to meet in special ses- 
sion, February 20, 1867, for the purpose of ac- 
cepting this condition ; but David Butler, who 
had been elected governor of the proposed 
state in Time, 1866, delivered a message to the 



assembly at this meeting, as if there was a real 
state and he was actual governor. This ses- 
sion began two days after the final adjourn- 
ment of the last session of the territorial leg- 
islature, and it lasted two days. Though the 
admission of the territory as a state was for- 
mally proclaimed on March 1, 1867, the terri- 
t(5rial governor performed the executive func- 
tions until he was relieved by Governor Butler, 
March 27th. 

The first official act under statehood was 
Turner M. Marquett's assumption of the of- 
fice of representative in Congress to which he 
had been elected, June 2, 1866, according to 
the terms of the constitution which was 
adopted by popular vote on the same day. The 
territorial law provided that a delegate to 
Congress should be chosen at the regular elec- 
tion held on the second Tuesday of October, 
1866. On account of the hostility between 
President Johnson and the republican majority 
in Congress, it was uncertain in 1866 when 
the territory might become a state ; and so at 
the republican convention for that year it was 
decided that Marquett should be the candi- 
date at the regular fall election for delegate to 
Congress, and John Tafl:'e for representative in 
case the territory should be admitted as a 
state during the time in which he would be en- 
titled to his seat. 

Furthermore, the new constitution provided 
that returns for the election of a representa- 
tive in Congress should be canvassed in the 
same manner as those for a delegate, and the 
territorial law in force in 1866 required thatthe 
votes for delegates should be canvassed in the 
same manner as those for territorial officers. 
It seems therefore that the law pointed out 
that a second provisional election for repre- 
sentative in Congress should be held at the 



ORGANIZING THE STATE GOVERNMENT 



527 



time of the regular territorial election in Oc- 
tober. These explanations are pertinent, be- 
cause friends of Mr. Marquett have indiscreet- 
ly contended that he deserved great praise for 
not insisting, when the state was admitted so 
early in 1867, that he was entitled to a seat as 
representative for the full term of the 40th 
Congress by virtue of his election in June, 
1866, notwithstanding his intervening accept- 
ance of a candidacy for the office of delegate 
and which at the time seemed more certain to 
give him a seat than to be a candidate for rep- 
resentative under statehood. Moreover, the 
enabling act provided that a representative in 
Congress ''may be elected on the same day a 
vote is taken for or against the proposed con- 
stitution and state government," which day 
was the second Tuesday in October, 1864. 
Therefore the election of a representative in 
June, 1866, was not authorized at all. In the 
meantime the regular election came, which 
the convention evidently decided was the 
proper time for electing a prospective repre- 
sentative to the 40th Congress whose term 
would begin March 4, 1867, whether or not 
such election would supersede the as yet un- 
recognized election of June 2, 1866. Congress 
might have cured the first irregularity, but by 
so doing' it could not have cured Marquett's 
bad faith if he had sought to displace Taflfe. 

Mr. Marquett was admitted to the house of 
representatives March 2, 1867, the day after 
Nebraska became a state. James M. Ashley, 
of Ohio (who moved the impeachment of An- 
drew Johnson), said, in making the motion for 
Marquett's admission, that the proclamation 
admitting Nebraska had been published that 
morning in the official organ. Ashley moved 
also that Marquett be paid from June 2, 1866, 
the day of his election. Spalding opposed on 
the ground that Nebraska was not a state, to 
which Ashley replied that having been admit- 
ted in the last session by the vote of Congress 
which was vetoed and since then having been 
admitted over the veto the act became effective 
on the 2d of June. Spalding, impatient at 
this logic which did not connect, said : "Make 
it a donation, then, and not call it the pay of 
a member of Congress." Ashley said also that 
Marquett had been elected a delegate to the 



incoming 40th Congress, which would give him 
more pay and mileage than his motion pro- 
posed, but the intervening admission of the 
state had kept him out of that. Ashley's mo- 
tion was defeated by a vote of 43 to 105. 
Dawes, of Massachusetts, moved a reconsid- 
eration with the view of making Marquett's 
term take effect December 1, 1866, the begin- 
ning of the session, but the motion was laid on 
the table, 67 to 56. 

On the second day of the session, and before 
the governor's message had been received. 
Senator Leach offered the following partisan, 
or, rather, factional resolution : 

Resolved, That the Senate of the Legisla- 
ture of the State of Nebraska heartily en- 
dorses the policy and acts of Andrew Johnson, 
President of the United States, in all his legit- 
imate and conser\'ative efforts to restore the 
Southern States recently in rebellion, to their 
legal status in the American Union, and that 
we pledge him our hearty and cordial support 
in all such efforts and against the heresies of 
radicalism, as advocated by Stevens and Sum- 
ner, whom the President himself patriotically, 
on the 22d day of February, A. D., 1866, de- 
nounced as disunionists. 

This endorsement of "my policy" was laid 
on the table by a party vote of 7 to 6. In the 
house, Mr. Robertson, democrat, offered a 
similar resolution, which was defeated by a 
vote of 5 to 20. Mr. Frazier then sugar- 
coated a friendly Johnson resolution, similar 
to that offered in the house, with a resolution 
invoking the favorable action of Congress for 
statehood, and it passed by a party vote of 22 
to 15. 

Mr. Robertson, of Sarpy county, submitted 
a memorial to the President of the United 
States asking for an investigation of the al- 
leged official maladministration of Edward B. 
Taylor, superintendent of Indian affairs for 
the northwest, and Orsamus H. Irish, superin- 
tendent of Indian affairs for southern Nebras- 
ka ; but the house refused to adopt it by a 
party vote. Mr. Durant, vice president of 
the Union Pacaific railway company, invited 
the members of the legislature to go on an 
excursion to the end of the track — 133 miles 
— on Saturday July 7th. The house accepted 
the invitation and went : the senate declined 



528 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



on the plea of pressing business, but a large 
part of it went too ; and, after a vain call of 
the house Saturday morning, there was an ad- 
journment until Monday. 

The burden of the governor's message was 
an argument that the territory had a right to 
immediate admission as a state. In 1864, 
when the enabling act was passed, the popula- 
tion was 30,000; now it was 70,000. In a 
few weeks the track of the Union Pacific 
railway would be laid 2Q0 miles west of Kear- 
ney. Territorial bonds were now worth 
ninety-seven cents on the dollar. The gov- 
ernor recommended the adoption of the four- 
teenth amendment to the constitution of the 
United States, and Maxwell introduced the 
measure in the house ; but no action was 
taken upon it. 

The second legislature, at its first and spe- 
cial session, February 20 and 21, 1867, per- 
formed no other function than to organize 
and formally accept the condition imposed 
by the federal Congress for the admission of 
the territory as a state. Governor Saunders 
(territorial governor) stated the object of 
the session in a message in which he said that 
it would have been more satisfactory to him- 
self, and he thought to the members, if Con- 
gress had referred the question to the peo- 
ple instead of to the legislature. 

On the first day of the session Mr. Doom 
■of Cass county introduced a bill declaring 
the assent of the legislature to the condition 
prescribed by Congress, which was referred 
to a special committee composed of Doom, 
Hascall, and Reeves. At the afternoon ses- 
sion. Doom and Hascall reported in favor of 
the bill, and it was at once passed, before 
Reeves could prepare his minority report, by 
a vote of 7 to 3, Freeman, Reeves, and War- 
dell voting nay. On the next day Reeves 
offered his report, which the senate declined 
to receive. Doom moved to strike out certain 
passages of this report which he declared 
were offensive, and the motion was carried ; 
whereupon Reeves withdrew the report en- 
tirely, and Freeman, Reeves, and Wardell 
left the chamber in a fit of disgust, but they 
were afterward permitted, at the request of 
]\lr. Reeves, to record their votes against the 



liill. J. N. H. Patrick, who had not been 
sworn in when the bill was passed, was ex- 
cluded from this arrangement. 

The senate bill was promptly passed in the 
house, under suspension of the rules, by a 
vote of 20 to 8, Anderson, Bates, Crawford, 
Dunham, Graves, Harvey, Rolfe, and Trumble 
voting nay. All the democratic members of 
the legislature but Hascall adhered to the 
party policy of opposing the measure. If ad- 
mission to statehood had been the one ques- 
tion at issue, their course would have been 
unwise ; but since the proposition involved 
also the question of consenting that Congress 
and the legislature had the power to annul by 
resolution a provision of the state constitu- 
tion, the democrats followed their plain duty, 
and Hascall's recreancy deserved the re- 
proaches it won, though it seemed to surprise 
no one. 

The third session of the general assembly, 
being the second session of the second legis- 
lature, was convened by the call of the now 
full-fledged governor, dated April 4, 1867, on 
the 16th of May of that year, for the purpose 
of passing such laws as the governor thTbught 
necessary for the new state. The most im- 
portant work of this session was the removal 
of the capital from Omaha to Lincoln, ac- 
complished by the passage of an act. approved 
June 14, 1867, which constituted the govern- 
or, secretary of state, and auditor a commis- 
sion to select a new location before July 15, 
1867, within certain specified limits, as fol- 
lows ; the county of Seward, the south half 
of Butler and Saunders counties and that part 
of Lancaster county north of the south line 
of township nine, the new capital citv to be 
called Lincoln. A bill (S. No. 44) entitled 
"An act to provide for the location of the 
seat of government of the state of Nebraska 
and for the erection of public buildings there- 
at," was introduced in the senate, June 4th, 
by Mr. Presson, and its counterpart was in- 
troduced in the house (H. R. No. 50) by Mr. 
Crowe. The senate bill passed that bodv on 
the 10th of June; it passed the house on the 
13th, and was approved by the governor on 
the 14th. 

The bill (S. No. 44) which was passed 



REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL 



529 



originally provided that a commission consist- 
ing of the governor, the secretary of state, 
and the auditor should select, before July 15, 
1867, from lands belonging to the state, with- 
in the counties of Lancaster, Seward, and the 
south half of Butler and Saunders, not less 
than 640 acres for a town to be named and 
known as "Capitol City." The commission- 
ers should cause the site to be surveyed and 
fix a minimum price on the lots of each alter- 
nate block, these lots to be sold at public ven- 
due to the highest bidder and the proceeds 
deposited with the state treasurer as a state 
building fund, out of which a capitol, "to be 
designed as part of a larger edifice," should 
be constructed at a cost not to exceed $50,000, 
the building to be completed before Novem- 
ber 1, 1868. The state university and the 
agricultural college, united in one institution, 
should be situated within the city, and a state 
penitentiary within or adjacent to the city. 
The removalists had their project firmly in 
hand, and the bill was pushed through with 
remarkably little halting or change. It v/as 
read the second time on the 5th of June, and 
on motion of Majors referred to the commit- 
tee of finance, ways and means, composed of 
Presson, Reeves, and Holden — all of the 
South Platte section. Hascall of Douglas 
county attempted to have it referred to the 
committee on public buildings where it really 
belonged, but without success, as two of the 
three members of this committee — Patrick 
and Baird — were of the North Platte. The 
next day Presson reported the bill back from 
the committee with amendments not of great 
importance ; June 7th the committee of the 
whole reported the bill for the third reading, 
and on the 8th it was made a special order 
for the 10th ; on that day Rogers's motion to 
extend the limits of choice to all, instead of 
half of the counties of Butler and Saunders 
was lost by a vote of 5 to 8 ; and his motion 
to strike out the word permanent, applying 
to the relocation of the capital, was defeated 
by a like vote. Sheldon's motion, to amend 
so that the location might be made anywhere 
within Seward county or the south half of 
Saunders and Butler and that portion of Lan- 
caster county lying north of the south line of 



township 9, was carried by a vote of 9 to 4, 
Freeman, Hascall, Patrick, and Rogers voting 
nay. Patrick's motion to amend section 11, 
so as to locate the state university and agri- 
cultural college at Nebraska City, was lost by 
a vote of 5 to 8; and the motion to locate 
the same institution at such place in Wash- 
ington county as the county commissioners 
might select, was defeated by a like vote. 

It was left to Senator Patrick, an uncom- 
promising democrat — called in the drastic 
political phrase of the day a copperhead — 
to move the substitution of Lincoln instead of 
the inexpressibly clumsy and ugly original 
name, Capitol City ; and the motion was car- 
ried without division. It was read the first 
time in the house on the 1 1th, the second time 
on the 12th. Mr. Woolworth's motion to 
place the state university and agricultural 
college at Nebraska City instead of Lincoln 
was defeated, 11 to 26. Griffin's motion to 
change the location to some place in Cass 
county, not particularly designated, but no 
more than three miles from the Missouri 
river, was lost by a vote of 10 to 25. 

The charge that there was corrupt collu- 
sion between the removalist members of the 
legislature and promoters and beneficiaries 
inside and outside of that body of various 
railway land grant schemes, was pressed with 
tremendous force but with little effect against 
removal. But the attacks along this line were 
effective in defeating all the land grant bills 
excepting that for the Air Line. Even while 
his home city and county were the backbone 
of the removal cause, Morton now began his 
opposition to land grants of this kind, which 
he persistently kept up through his life. 

On the day on which the successful re- 
moval bill was introduced in the senate, 
another, identical with it (H. R. No. 50), was 
introduced in the house ; but it was dropped 
after having been favorably reported from 
the committee on ways and means. On the 
11th of June Mr. Frost of Douglas county, of 
the committee of ways and means, presented 
a minority report on this bill, in which were 
compressed all the objections of the anti-re- 
movalists. The number of commissioners 
was not large enough for so important a 



530 



HISK^RV OF NEBRASKA 



task, and there was danger, in particular, that 
the choice of a location would be too far from 
a railroad. "Railroads in this country are 
too expensive to be run in every direction, 
and a capital with public buildings located at 
any inconvenient distance from one would 
soon be removed." The time was too short 
for the selection of grounds; and, most im- 
portant of all the objections to the bill, it 
failed to submit the location to the people for 
approval or rejection. "The question has not 
been fully discussed whether the university 
and agricultural college should be united or 
should be different institutions, wholly sepa- 
rated in their organization. Some of the best 
minds prefer the one course and some the 
other, but no expression could be obtained 
during the few days of the session to elapse." 
There was doubtful propriety in locating all 
the public buildings in one place. The time 
was not ripe for removal of the capital. "We 
have the best building ever occupied by any 
territorial government, and consequently the 
best ever belonging to a new state. With a 
trifle spent for repairs, it will be all that would 
be required for years. It is located centrally 
so far as our thoroughfares are concerned, 
and much more so than the proposed site 
could be for many years." 

The same day on which these two bills 
were introduced, INIr. Hascall of Douglas 
county, introduced another ( S. No. 45) en- 
titled "An act to locate the Capitol, State Uni- 
versity, and Agricultural College." The bill 
provided that a commission composed of Gov- 
ernor Alvin Saunders and Turner M. Mar- 
quett should procure for the state of Nebraska 
an entire section of land in the valley of Salt 
creek within ten miles of its junction with 
the Platte river and at a cost of not more 
than $5 per acre. This land should be the 
site of the capitol, the state university, and 
the agricultural college, and reservations 
should also be made for buildings for an in- 
sane asylum, deaf and dumb institute, and for 
other purposes, "as the state may hereafter 
see fit to erect." The name of. the proposed 
capital was left blank in the bill. It provided 
that the capitol at Omaha should revert to 
the city of Omaha for school purposes, on 



payment of the cost of the site of the new city. 
On the 7th of June Mr. Patrick, of the com- 
mittee on public buildings, recommended the 
passage of the bill, and on the 8th yir. Pres- 
son, of the same committee, reported against 
it, holding that the location proposed in the 

other bill — No. 44 "will better subserve 

the interests of the state, in that it contem- 
plates a more central location for the seat of 
government, and fixing the same where it 
will enhance the value of our state lands at 
least three hundred per cent." On the 12th 
the senate, in committee of the whole, re- 
ported in favor of tabling the bill, and that 
was the end of it. The movement for the 
removal of the capital was almost, if not al- 
together, a conspiracy, and the speculative 
gain of the conspirators was its chief motive 
and impulse. 

If the capital commissioners were ac- 
quainted with the proceedings of the early 
territorial legislatures — and probably they 
were by hearsay, at least — ■ their attention 
had been already directed to Lancaster county 
and the vicinity of the salt springs as a favor- 
ite site of a new capital city. In the removal 
bill of the second legislature — 1856 — the 
proposed capital was to be in the immediate 
vicinity of the salt springs and called Chester, 
the name by which the principal salt basin 
was known. It is important to revert here 
to the fact that J. Sterling [Morton signed 
the report of the committee which favored 
the passage of this bill. In 1857 the capital 
narrowly escaped removal to a place to be 
called Douglas City, also in Lancaster county, 
but not near to the salt springs. According 
to a map drawn in 1856 there were two 
jjlaces — or rather prospective places — of 
that name, one situated near the point where 
the Burlington railroad leaves Lancaster 
county and enters Cass, three miles south- 
west of the present town of Greenwood; and 
the other about two miles northwest on Salt 
creek, near the mouth of Camp creek. These 
locations on the map correspond with the 
statement of Governor Izard in his veto of 
the bill : "All agree, however, that there are 
two towns in Lancaster county, by the name 
of Douglas, already made i:pon paper. To 



REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL 



531 



which of these it is the intention of the legis- 
lature to remove the seat of government I 
am left wholly to conjecture. It might so 
happen and from my knowledge of the specu- 
lative genius of a certain class of our citizens, 
I think it highly probable that should the bill 
under consideration become a law each of these 
rival towns would set up a claim to the cap 
ital, which it might require long and tedious 
litigation to settle ; leaving the people of the 
territory in the meantime without a seat of 
government." 

A bill to remove the seat of government to 
the same neighborhood precipitated the riot 
in the next (fourth) legislature. 

There are extant certificates of shares in 
Salt City and Bedford, issued in 1856, which 
show that the salt basin lent the contiguous 
land a speculative value for townsites. Salt 
City was to be situated on the western border 
of the basin, the site comprising 640 acres. 
According to a prospectus contained in the 
certificates of shares, Bedford had hopes of 
becoming the county seat : "It is situated 
near the center of Lancaster county, contains 
640 acres, or 2,200 lots, 200 of which are to 
be given to the county in case the county-seat 
is there, besides public grounds for court 
house, churches, and parks. The timber on 
Stephen's Creek and Salt Creek lies conve- 
nient to Bedford; and the noted Salt Spring 
in Lancaster county is a sure evidence that 
it will at no distant day be the wealthiest 
county in the territory." The stock of each 
of these townsites was divided into 200 
shares, and to Daniel H. Wheeler, the prom- 
inent Cass county pioneer, they seemed to 
have more than a paper value. He paid in 
gold $150 for a single share of Salt City and 
^100 for a share of Bedford, its rival. 

The suggestion or contention, often heard 
in recent years, that the confluence of several 
minor creeks was a strong secondary reason 
for placing the capital in the salt basin, in 
the expectation that the easy grades they of- 
fered would be a drawing invitation to con- 
verging railroads, must be regarded as an 
apologetic afterthought. The first two and 
■vitalizing lines and two other distinct lines — 
the Chicago & Northwestern and the Rock 



Island — entered by the salt valley ; the two 
principal western lines of the Burlington sys- 
tem climb arduous grades to get out, and 
only two of the four creek -beds in question 
are used to any appreciable extent. Engineers 
of the converging systems assert that in com- 
parison with Alilford or Seward, for example, 
Lincoln is im favorably situated in this re- 
spect, and that to avoid the heavy grades the 
through freight trafific of the main lines of the 
Burlington should be diverted to a new track 
along the Blue river. The "especial advan- 
tage" urged by the commissioners for the site 
of their choosing was that it lay approxi- 
mately in the center of a circle with a diam- 
eter of 110 miles whose circumference in- 
tersected or passed near Omaha, Fremont, 
Columbus, Pawnee City, the Kansas-Ne- 
braska line, Nebraska City, and Plattsmouth. 

On the 29th of July, 1867, the commission- 
ers chose "Lancaster" for the site ; August 
14th they made proclamation of the event, and 
the next day August F. Harvey and A. B. 
Smith began to survey the ground, which 
comprised 960 acres. 

Sale of lots at public auction, which began 
September 18, 1867, was characterized by 
questionable expedients and irregularities. It 
was a common practice to bid in lots and hold 
them for an advance without paying for them, 
and the commissioners in their report made 
the remarkable admission that they deliber- 
ately violated the mandate of the law thai 
the proceeds of the sales should be deposited 
in the state treasury, because they assumed 
that the treasurer might be as lawless as them- 
selves and would refuse to give up the monej 
for its lawful purpose^ for, being a resident 
of Omaha, he was personally hostile to the re- 
moval scheme. 

But whatever the sins, omissive or com- 
missional, of the commissioners and other 
founders of Lincoln, they at least exercised 
great courage and enterprise. The fact that 
the mere arbitrary and fiat beginning has so 
soon developed into a prosperous and most 
attractive city challenges admiration for the 
unexcelled faith, resolution, and self-denial 
of its pioneer citizens. Of a surety, "thy row- 



532 HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 

ers have brought thee into great waters, but has the funds raised from the sale of a section 

thy builders have perfected thy beauty." and a half of land, worth, three years ago, five 

The Brownville Advertiser of February 12, dollars an acre, to provide two other fine 

1870, congratulates the state on the business buildings, and some 500 lots left for future 

sagacity which has produced "a state house, use." The entire sales of 1867, 1868, and 

ample for present purposes, completed, and 1869 brought $400,000. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

Starting the State — Scandals in the State Government — Senator Tipton Re- 
elected — Governor Butler's Third Election — Hitchcock United States Senator 

— Impeachment Proceedings 



THE CALL for the session of the legis- 
lature for providing the legal machinery 
necessary for operating the state organization 
covered thirty-one subjects of legislation, 
though the last was a catch-all of doubtful 
validity. The first fourteen specifications 
proposed revision or amendment of existing 
statutes. The eighth proposed "to abolish 
the distinction between actions at law and 
suits in equity" by supplying the omission of 
the last territorial revision. The eighteenth 
specification called for provision for the "lo- 
cation and disposition of such lands as are, or 
may be hereafter donated to the state by the 
general government for any purpose." The 
school lands had all been located except the 
proper sections in the half-breed Indian tract, 
which, it was contended, was subject to such 
reservation. The f)rincipal enactments of the 
session were as follows : The state auditor 
was constituted state land commissioner and 
he was authorized to offer for sale all school 
lands at an appraised value which should not 
be less than seven dollars an acre. The state 
was divided into three judicial districts, the 
first district comprising the counties of Rich- 
ardson, Nemaha, Otoe, Johnson, Pawnee, 
Gage, Jefferson, Saline, Fillmore, Nuckolls, 
and the territory west of them ; the second 
district comprised the counties of Cass, Sarpy, 
Douglas, Saunders, Lancaster, Seward, But- 
ler, and the territory west of them ; the third 
district, the counties of Washington, Dodge, 
Platte, Cuming, Burt, Dakota, Dixon, Cedar, 
L'eau qui court, Kearney, Lincoln, Merrick, 
Hall. Buffalo, and the counties west and north 
of the Platte river. The chief justice, Oliver 
P. Mason, was assigned to the first district. 



Associate Justice George B. Lake to the sec- 
ond, and Associate Justice Lorenzo Crounse 
to the third. The office of district attorney 
for each district was established with an an- 
nual salary of $1,500. The bill locating the 
seat of government and the public buildings 
thereat was passed ; a state seal was adopted ; 
provision was made for the transfer of suits 
from the territorial to the state courts ; also 
for the appointment of four commissioners 
who should select and enter the public lands 
donated to the state ; an apportionment act 
created eleven senatorial districts with thir- 
teen members and nineteen representative dis- 
tricts with thirty-nine members. Four mem- 
bers each were allotted to Cass, Nemaha, and 
Richardson counties ; five to Otoe ; six to 
Douglas; two each to Sarpy and Washington; 
one each to Dakota, Dodge, Johnson, Lan- 
caster, Platte, and Pawnee; one to Gage and 
Jefferson jointly ; one to Butler, Saunders, 
and Seward ; one to Kearney, Lincoln, and 
Saline ; one to Buffalo, Hall, and Merrick ; 
one to Burt and Cuming ; and one to Cedar, 
Dixon, and L'eau qui court. Fifteen thou- 
sand dollars of the fund granted by the fed- 
eral Congress to pay the expense of the mili- 
tia raised for defense against Indians was ap- 
propriated to pay current and contingent ex- 
penses of the state for the year 1867. It was 
provided that one term of the supreme court 
should be held at C)maha and one at Ne- 
braska City each year ; but unless the commis- 
sioners of Otoe county should offer the use of 
the court house for the term, free of charge, 
it should be held instead at Brownville or 
such other place south of the Platte "as may 
offer the use of court room free of charge." 



534 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Distinction between actions at law and suits 
in ec|uity were abolished ; the revenue act was 
amended ; a bill was passed to locate, establish, 
and endow a state normal school at Peru, 
provided that the tract of not less than sixty 
acres adjacent to the town, known as the 
grounds of Peru Seminary and College, with 
all buildings, should be donated to the state; 
the new school to be under the direction of a 
board of seven members, five to be appointed 
by the governor, the other two to consist of 
the state treasurer and state superintendent 
of public instruction. Twenty sections of 
state lands were appropriated to the school as 
an endowment, and $3,000 was appropriated 
for completing the school building, procuring 
apparatus, and putting the school in operation. 
It was provided that the secretary of state 
should be state librarian. A drastic general 
registration law, under which the registrar of 
a precinct might exclude names from the vot- 
ing list for "disloyalty" and other reasons, 
was passed ; the general school law was re- 
vised ; seventy-five sections of the public lands 
were granted to the Northern Nebraska Air 
Line railroad company to aid in the construe- , 
tion of a road from De Soto to Fremont. 
Tlie act provided that the company should re- 
ceive twenty sections on completion of each 
ten miles of the road, but definition of what 
"completion" meant was singularly neglected. 
The boundary of the new county of Cheyenne 
was defined, and the fourteenth amendment 
to the federal constitution was ratified. 

Memorials to the federal Congress prayed 
that a land office might be established at Lone 
Tree for the convenience of the many settlers 
along the line of the Union Pacific railroad, 
and vigorously protested against the continu- 
ance of the Indian policy : "We represent to 
you the unvarnished and unpalatable truth that 
at no point from the northern boundary of 
Texas to the British Possessions can either 
trade or travel be prosecuted from the western 
settlements to the Rocky mountains without 
imnfinent danger to life and jjroperty." This 
•danger was much greater than it had been 
twenty-five years before. It was insisted that 
the policy of treating with the Indians as in- 
dejiendent nations was impracticable ; for "the 



Indians will not and the governiuent cannot 
respect them [the treaties] and fulfil their 
stipulations. The Indians of the plains are 
proverbially faithless." The only order to the 
military commander sent against the Indians 
ought to be to chastise them until they should 
sue for peace. With due allowance for the 
selfishness of the settlers who knew by actual 
experience the conditions of which they com- 
plained in urging this drastic policy, yet the 
fact that the proposed policy was soon adopted 
and permanently adhered to illustrates the su- 
periority of popular judgment to that of the 
few wise men in whom authority is vested by 
virtue of their theoretical wisdom, as also the 
advantage of local over absentee government. 
Since by the cruel but inexorable rule of social 
progress the superior race was predestined tp 
encroach upon the domain of the inferior, 
and forcibly dispossess it, the ultimate forci- 
ble subjugation of the latter was inevitable, 
and its inevitability should have been sooner 
recognized in our Indian policy. 

In the year 1867, the capital contest had dis- 
tracted and all but demoralized the common- 
wealth which, still wrestling with the doubts 
and discouragements of occupying and sub- 
duing the unpromising interior plains that con- 
stituted most of its domain and its main pro- 
ductive dependence, needed its utmost re- 
sources for the difficult industrial conquest. 
But the year 1868, with the capital experiment 
still held doubtful, with a special session of 
the legislature, with state elections, involving 
the choice of a L'nited States senator, and the 
presidential election as well, gave no relief 
from the continuous curse of politics but 
rather an increase of its distractions. The 
first important political incident of the year 
was the appointment of a federal district 
judge. Dundy had the advantage of holding 
the corresponding office under the territorial 
organization, but his application for appoint- 
ment for the district covering the whole state 
was sharply disputed, and it took a year to 
settle the controversy. In the early part of 
January it was publicly reported that Judge 
Lake had been appointed, and after the party 
organs had dutifully commended the choice, 
it was announced that Colonel Henry G. 



STARTING THE STATE 



535 



Worthington had been nominated. Notwith- 
standing that he was a carpet-bagger, having 
come to Nebraska but a year before, and by 
pohtical stages from far ofT CaHfornia, via 
Nevada, where he had achieved the ofifice 
of delegate to Congress, the Omaha Repub- 
lican accepted the appointment, carpet-bag 
and all, as a solution of a difficult problem. 
But the wily Dundy had won the territorial 
judgeship after he had apparently lost it, and 
he soon repeated that rather remarkable feat. 
The warring executive and senate agreed to a 
truce in Dundy's favor, and his appointment 
was confirmed in the early part of April. 

A democratic state convention was held at 
Nebraska City, January 8, 1868, for the pur- 
pose of choosing delegates to the national con- 
vention. The national party was divided 
upon the cjuestion whether the 5-20 bonds 
should be paid in greenbacks or in gold, as it 
was divided in 1896 on the silver question, 
though not as sharply. Not only did the Ne- 
braska delegates to the convention support 
George H. Pendleton, apostle of greenbacks, 
for the nomination for president, but the two 
most prominent leaders of the party in the 
state — -Dr. Geo. L. Miller and J. Sterling 
Morton — who left the party in 1896, on ac- 
count of their opposition to silver, stoutly ad- 
vocated the greenback theory, so far as it in- 
volved redemption of the bonds in that cur- 
rency. Though the fact that it was expressly 
provided bv law that the 10-40 bonds should 
be paid in gold while there was no such pro- 
vision as to the 5-20s, afforded a strong argu- 
ment that it was the original intention that 
the latter should be redeemed in the same kind 
of money that the capitalist holders had paid 
for them, namely, greenbacks, and that such 
payment would not involve bad faith, yet, at 
bottom, the question was the same in kind as 
the silver question of 1896. 

The republican state convention for 1868 
was held at Nebraska City on the 29th of 
April. The state administration had been the 
object of constant merciless attack by the dem- 
ocratic press, and its defense was left mainly 
to the republican organ at the capital. It was 
necessary, therefore, either to repudiate the 
old crowd or to put on a bold front and unan- 



imously endorse them. The drastic alter- 
native was postponed, and the state of^cers 
were nominated by acclamation for a second 
term. 

Turner M. Marquett's home paper had 
urged that the nomination for member of Con- 
gress was due him because, though he had been 
elected twice, he had held the ofifice only two 
days, and because "he met upon the stump 
the great war horse of democracy — the power 
and eloquence of the democratic party — the 
acknowledged best democratic stump orator 
in the west, J. Sterling Morton — and he com- 
pletely whipped him. a thing which democrats 
say was never before done." But consider- 
able virile ability did not find favor in com- 
petition with smooth and comparatively color- 
less vote-getting qualities, and John TafYe 
was nominated on the first ballot by a vote 
of 34 to 18. At this time the civil war capital 
of the republican party was drawn on with- 
out stint, and it found characteristic expres- 
sion in the resolutions through the medium of 
General Robert R. Livingston's appropriately 
florid phrase. Though an anti-prohibition 
plank was introduced with studied apology, 
it was afterward summarily ejected. This in- 
cident shows that though the party had be- 
come a great business machine, politically and 
commercially, it showed a lingering trace of 
the sentimental philanthrophy on which it was 
founded. 

The second democratic convention for the 
year 1868 was held at Omaha on the 5th of 
August. Democratic and republican news- 
papers alike expatiated on the harmony of the 
respective party conventions this year. It has 
been heretofore pointed out that, owing to the 
extreme factional discord in the republican 
party, which had grown, mainly, out of the re- 
moval of the capital and the questionable 
methods of the pro-removal administration, a 
show of harmony was the alternative of re- 
pudiation of the administration ; and since pos- 
session of power and of spoils was at stake, 
harmony was necessary. For the democrats, 
harmony w^as easier. They had nothing mate- 
rialistic to quarrel over but unpromising pros- 
pects of power. At the January convention, 
S. H. Calhoun, a leader of the anti-Morton 



536 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



"young democracy" of Otoe county, was 
chosen temporary chairman, permanent presi- 
dent, and a member of the committee on res- 
olutions, and Morton was unanimously chosen 
as a delegate to the national convention. 

In the convention of August 5th, Andrew J. 
Poppleton, a favorite of Morton and of the 
Omaha Herald, was nominated by acclama- 
tion as the candidate for Congress and thus 
made leader of the party for the campaign, 
and he sympathized with the general Pendle- 
ton-greenback sentiment of the party in the 
state. The specific declaration, in his speech 
to the convention, in favor of a policy which 
should encourage the building of railroads in 
the state, while in accord with a prevailing 
and natural public sentiment, yet, between the 
lines, foreshadowed a subsequent division of 
the party which tended to keep it in an almost 
inconsequential minority until it united with 
the professedly anti-monopoly populist party 
in 1894. The candidates for the state offices 
were also nominated by acclamation, a mode 
of choice with which democratic conventions 
became familiar through the common practice 
of some twenty-five years. The office seeks 
the man only when there is little or no chance 
that it will find him. 

The political campaign of 1868 was a tor- 
nado of vehement offense and defense — viru- 
lent epithets and violent personalities ; though 
the climax of this viciousness was not reached 
until the eve of the impeachment of the gov- 
ernor and auditor. It excites the wonder of 
their successors of the very next generation 
that these men of considerable parts could 
have played the game of politics on a plane 
so mean. Morton in the Nczvs and Miller in 
the Herald led in this unbridled oiifensive par- 
tisanship, partly because it was the business 
of the outs to attack the ins, partly because 
the reckless conduct of the administration of- 
fered so many vulneral)le points of attack, but 
more largely because Morton and Miller were 
greater masters of epithet than their still will- 
ing and resourceful antagonists of the Re- 
publican and the Couimonivcalth. 

The republicans won the elections by ma- 
jorities ranging aliove 2,000, though it is 
questionable whether they fairly won at all 



two years before. While local conditions fa- 
vored the democrats, the result of this con- 
test plainly indicated that thenceforth, owing 
to the prevailing republicanism of the large 
immigration and the great prestige and in- 
fluence of the national republican party, the 
organization in Nebraska was destined to be 
invincible for very many years. But the 
democratic party was not wanting in faults 
which strengthened and lengthened republican 
power in the state. 

At this time the "old soldier" shibboleth 
began to be an open sesame to public office at 
whose door it continued to knock for some 
twenty-five years with a persistency and suc- 
cess unfavorable to fair politics and good gov- 
ernment. The indebtedness and general pref- 
erence which were naturally conceded to this 
peculiar class, were naturally overworked and 
overdrawn, sometimes by themselves and con- 
stantly by selfish partisan demagogues at the 
frequent expense of due discrimination. 

The interval between the elections of 1868 
and the meeting of the legislature in regular 
session January 7, 1869, was busily employed 
by the democratic press in continuing the bom- 
bardment of the state administration — and 
Hovernor Butler in particular — for corrup- 
tion, and by the administration organs in deny- 
ing, rather than refuting the damaging 
charges. The Journal, the organ at the cap- 
ital, was the thick-and-thin defender, and the 
Omaha Republican, for the time, substituted 
a policy of apology for its former hostility. 
In the latter part of this year the capital 
coterie of politicians began agitation for a new 
state constitution. The first constitution was 
condemned as inadequate and otherwise faulty 
l)ecause it limited the number of judicial dis- 
tricts to three for the next six years, and they 
were "entirely inadequate, even now" ; be- 
cause under its provisions the supreme court 
was composed of the three judges of the in- 
ferior judicial districts, whereas a distinct and 
independent supreme tribunal was necessary ; 
because the salaries of state officers were too 
low — so paltry that they degraded the state ; 
because the period of forty days to which ses- 
sions of the legislature were limited was too 
short for the proper transaction of business; 



SENATOR TIPTON REELECTED 



537 



and because improved provisions for the crea- 
tion and regulation of corporations were 
needed. 

After the third session of the legislature 
had adjourned it was discovered that no pro- 
vision had been made for the election of presi- 
dential electors, and on account of this over- 
sight it became necessary to call the fourth 
special session which began at Omaha, Octo- 
ber 27, 1868, and lasted two days. The mem- 
bers of this legislature were elected in Octo- 
ber, 1866. 

The beginning of the period of almost safe 
supremacy of the republican party in the 
state was indicated by the composition of the 
third state legislature — but the first to have 
a regular session and the first, also, to hold a 
session at Lincoln. The observation that the 
half dozen democratic members looked very 
lonesome does not impute partisan bias in the 
observing party organ ; for this was a familiar 
phenomenon of many succeeding sessions. 
This legislature convened in the new capitol 
January 7, 1869. The officers of both houses 
were elected unanimously. Edward B. Tay- 
lor of Douglas county was president of the 
senate, and William McLennan of Otoe, 
speaker of the house. The prospectively rich 
resources of the salt springs had lured the 
capital to its site and largely carried the 
hazardous enterprise of establishing it. The 
result of actual experiment in their develop- 
ment had already become disappointing and 
embarrassing to the sponsors of the capital 
removal scheme. The governor complained 
in his message that the Nebraska Salt Com- 
pany, of Chicago, which had acquired a half 
interest in Tichenor's lease of the principal 
springs, had failed to fulfil its obligations ; 
even the local demand for salt had not been 
supplied, and the company "has been unable 
at times to supply even a single bushel for 
home consumption, and has refused to pay 
its debts among our citizens." The governor 
urged the legislature to take such action as 
would promote the manufacture of salt to the 
greatest extent. He urged the legislature to 
provide compensation for the company of vol- 
unteers which had been organized under his 
advice in the fall of 1867, consisting of those 



settlers who had been plundered of everything 
and compelled to abandon their homes. He 
also urged the passage of a militia organiza- 
tion law. 

The most exciting procedure of this session 
was the choosing of a United States senator 
to succeed Mr. Tipton. In the first caucus, 
Senator Tipton commanded less than a third 
of the total number of votes. He was sup- 
ported by the eleven members from Nemaha 
and Richardson counties, the representative 
from Gage, and from one to three from the 
North Platte. Turner M. Marquett of Cass 
and D wight J- McCann of Otoe, each con- 
trolled the seven members from his own 
county and those attached to make up the dis- 
tricts, and in addition two to three scattering 
votes. Governor David Butler controlled the 
votes of ten to twelve members, four from 
back counties south of the Platte, two from 
Douglas, and the remainder scattering from 
the North Platte. Four scattering ballots 
from Douglas county were probably held in 
reserve for Phineas W. Hitchcock. At the 
second caucus, held Saturday evening, Janu- 
ary 16th, Tipton's highest vote was 15, But- 
ler's 12, Marquett's 11, McCann's 10. Butler 
and Marquett tried to tie up their forces in 
the hope of winning enough to elect one of 
them, but at the third caucus, held January 
18th, the votes needed for the success of the 
plan began to go to Tipton, the first vote 
standing, Tipton 22, Marquett 15, McCann 8. 
The third ballot stood Tipton 27, Marquett 
15, McCann 2, and the independent and re- 
calcitrant senator succeeded to a long term, 
while his carefully conforming . colleague, 
Thayer, was put off with a single fractional 
term of four years. Charles H. Brown of 
Douglas county, as aggressive and indepen- 
dent as Tipton, but without his graces of ora- 
tory and too harsh in his methods for a suc- 
cessful politician, received the complimentary- 
vote of the seven democratic members. 

The most important question of the session 
was that of applying the public improvement 
lands to encourage the building of railroads. 
There was a general public sentiment in favor 
of the general policy of subsidizing railroad 
companies with these lands, and the only im- 



538 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



portant dispute was as to the extent of the 
grants and the manner in which they should 
be awarded. While the wisdom of the policy 
of subsidizing railroads or other private enter- 
prises with public property is open to question, 
and certainly it has been very often, if not gen- 
erally misapplied or abused, yet there were 
strong arguments in its favor in this case. 
For without railroads there could be no ap- 
preciable market for land or its products and 
so no general settlement. Locally, then, the 
question was one-sided ; for the settlers who 
had cast their fortunes with the Plains coun- 
try could not afTord to await the voluntary 
coming of the railroads. But whether, con- 
sidering the ample room and the undeveloped 
condition of states farther to the east which 
railroads had already reached, it was good 
economic policy to force the development of 
the trans-Missouri plains by expensive sub- 
sidies, is another question. So the present 
question is one of local speculation — whether 
in a particular case it will pay a local com- 
munity to invest a part of its property with 
the purpose of increasing the value of the re- 
mainder. In this case the state at large came 
within the purview of a local community. In 
the circumstances, therefore, the allegation 
that, "by common consent these lands, or the 
greater part of them, seem destined to be used 
for railroad purposes" is explicable, and it 
was also a correct forecast. 

A resolution declaratorv of the policy of the 
legislature, offered in the house, provided that 
all of the internal improvement grant, "or as 
much thereof as the legislature may deem 
proper," should be reserved for actual settle- 
ment, all the net proceeds of the sale of such 
lands to be used for aiding in the construction 
of railroads and for such other improvements 
as the legislature should deem best for the 
interests of the state. This policy was im- 
practicable because it involved the immediate 
sale of the land and therefore at a very low 
price, so that the proceeds would have 
amounted to but a small gratuity ; while under 
the policy which was adopted, of granting the 
lands themselves, the corporations would 
reckon on their prospective values which 



arise largely from the building of the roads 
in their propinquity. 

The measure adopted was the product of a 
compromise between the differing views. It 
provided that two thousand acres should be 
granteil for each mile of road that any com- 
pany should construct ready for rolling stock, 
within the state ; but ten consecutive miles of 
road must be built within one year from the 
passage of the act and before any land could 
be awarded. To prevent injurious compe- 
tition with the lands retained by the state, the 
railroad companies were prohibited from sell- 
ing their subsidy lands at less than $1.25 an 
acre, and to prevent "large tracts of land from 
being held for any considerable length of 
time, thereby retarding settlement and culti- 
vation," the companies were required to offer 
annually at public sale all lands which they 
should still hold after five years from the time 
they were acquired. The act contained the 
conservative provision that it should not re- 
main in force more than five years. The 
Union Pacific and the Burlington & Missouri 
companies were let into limited participation 
by the provision that companies which had 
received grants from the United States would 
be entitled to two thousand acres for each 
mile of road thereafter constructed, but only 
to the extent of twenty-five miles. 

Lingering resentment against the notorious 
grant of seventy-five sections of the public 
lands to the Northern Nebraska Air Line R. 
R. Co. at the session of June, 1867, was mani- 
fested in the vote — 12 affirmative, 23 nega- 
tive — on a bill offered by Brush to repeal that 
measure and to appropriate the lands for the 
construction of bridges across the Platte river 

.\nother important act of the session was 
that providing for the establishment of "The 
University of Nebraska." An act requiring 
the state treasurer "to keep constantly on hand 
the identical funds received by him from ar.\ 
source whatever," until they were paid ou^ 
according to law, was so inconvenient in prac- 
tice that it was repealed at the special session 
in March of the following year. Doubtless the 
sense of the inconvenience was manifested 
quite as much by those who hoped to profit 
by an open-door policy as by the treasurer 



GOVERNOR BUTLER'S THIRD ELECTION 



539 



himself. Disastrous experience in later years 
has shown that the makers of the inconvenient 
law did not act without prevision or reason. 

A law was passed prohibiting the sale of in- 
toxicating liquors on election day. Similar 
laws are now generally, in force throughout the 
L-nion. Five thousand dollars was appropri- 
ated for the compensation of Capt. John R. 
Brown's militia — company A, First Nebraska 
cavalry — "called into service against the In- 
dians by the governor from August 13 to 
November 15, 1867, and to satisfy claims of 
citizens who furnished to said company trans 
portation and quartermaster's stores." The 
report of the capital commissioners was ac- 
cepted, and Lincoln was formally declared the 
capital of the state. The original capitol 
grounds at Omaha were re-transferred to that 
city, "for the purpose of a high school, col- 
lege or other institution of learning, and for 
no other purpose whatever." Alvin Saunders, 
George W. Frost, Thomas Davis, John H. 
Kellom, Augustus Kountze, James M. Wool- 
worth, and their successors were constituted a 
l)oard of regents to manage and control the 
contemplated school. A joint resolution au- 
thorizing and recommending the people to vote 
upon the question whether there should be a 
constitutional convention aroused more atten- 
tion and caused more contention than any 
other enactment of the session. 

A bill "to regulate the passenger fare and 
tariff of freight on all railroads in the state" 
was prematurely perhaps introduced into 
the house by Stout. Tender nursing end in- 
dulgence of this class of corporations, rather 
than correction or restraint, was a natural 
public policy when expansion and develop- 
ment of the area of settlement was a serious, 
and perhaps the chief public care. But a 
self-seeking and powerful standpat element 
seized upon the opportunity afforded by this 
peculiar condition to project its influence far 
beyond a legitimate period. 

As a condition of admission to the union, 
Nebraska was required by the national Con- 
gress to grant the right of sulTrage to 
negroes. Just three years later the state 
was called on to give the assent needed for 
the adoption of the fifteenth amendment to 



the federal constitution which guaranteed 
universal right of suffrage to the black men. 
The motive for the first requirement was 
mainly philanthropic and was animated by a 
small number of political idealists led by 
Charles Sumner. The motive for the second 
was also partly philanthropic but very largely 
selfish partisan advantage. This partisan 
exigency or ambition demanded expedition, 
and of the objects of a special session of the 
legislature, the governor's call, issued Febru- 
ary 7, 1870, first specified the ratification of 
the amendment. The second object of the 
session was to provide for the erection of a 
penitentiary. Among the other proposed 
subjects of legislation were the ratification of 
the remarkable contract made by the governor 
with Isaac Cahn and John M. Evans for the 
development of salt manufacturing, and di- 
vision of the state into congressional districts. 

The republican state convention for 1870 
was held at Lincoln on the 10th of August. 
John Taff'e was nominated for member of 
the national House of Representatives for a 
third and last term, on the first ballot, his 
principal competitor being Joseph E. Lani- 
aster. After a fierce contest, David Butler 
was nominated for governor for the third 
time on the ninth ballot. His principal com- 
petitors were Robert W. Furnas and Samuel 
Maxwell. Furnas received sixty-five votes 
on the seventh ballot — within three votes of 
a choice. Maxwell received his highest vote 
— 32 — on the informal ballot. 

The omission from the resolutions adopted 
by the convention of any reference to the 
state administration or state affairs was sig- 
nificant and in harmony with the adage that 
the least said about some things the better, 
and it was tacit approval of Mr. Chase's 
warning as to the impropriety of nominating 
Butler. The glittering-generality character 
of the platform was illustrative of the fact 
that the republican party was still resting on 
the prejudices and laurels of the Civil war, 
and had not yet grappled with economic prin- 
ciples or accepted the economic policy of 
Pennsylvania and other almost exclusively 
manufacturing states of the northeast. 

This vear a third nartv organization was 



540 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



formed, composed in the main of republican 
dissenters and in effect chiefly an ally of the 
democrats. This dissenting and fusion move- 
ment progressed, though intermittently, until, 
twenty-four years later, it came into power 
in the state and held it for six years. At this 
time the mainspring of the movement was 
opposition to the maladministration of the re- 
publicans, or the Lincoln machine ; and though 
at the period of its greatest strength the third 
party espoused drastic and radical principles, 
maladministration of its opponents still lent 
it a large part of its strength. The new party 
adopted the same name • — the people's party 
— by which it was known in later years until 
the more distinctive and technical adaptation, 
"populist," displaced it. The state conven- 
tions of the democratic party and the new 
people's party were held simultaneously at 
Plattsmouth on the 7th of September, and 
their proceedings were in substantial harmony. 

The political canvass was violent even for 
an unsettled frontier society. The democrats, 
led by an able and unrestrained press, let slip 
its dogs of war more particularly at Governor 
Butler, and they were ably assisted by anti- 
Butler republican insurgents, including Sen- 
ator Tipton, now in open rebellion and prob- 
ably the cleverest campaigner in the state. 
Andrew J. Cropsey bearded the lion in his 
den and was elected state senator over his 
straight republican competitor. Dr. Stewart 
of Pawnee county, carrying his home county 
of Lancaster by a vote of 742 against 393. The 
republicans made virulent charges of crooked 
business transactions against Croxton, the 
democratic candidate for governor, but they 
naturally had little effect as an offset to the 
charges of official corruption urged against 
Butler. The chief and most specific of the 
accusations was that the governor had ap- 
propriated to his own use a large sum of the 
public school fund. In the face of unsatis- 
factory and often evasive denials, Mr. Crox- 
ton, accompanied by General Experience Es- 
tabrook, demanded permission to examine the 
books of the treasurer's office, which was re- 
fused. 

\A'hile Butler received a majority of only 
2,478 votes over Croxton, Taffe, the repub- 



lican candidate for member of the federal 
house of representatives, received a majority 
of 4,408 votes over his opponent. Judge Lake, 
a much stronger candidate than Croxton. 
This discrepancy does not fully reflect the ef- 
fectiveness of the bold and relentless attacks 
on Butler in, and previous to, the campaign, 
and since he was peculiarly apt in turning 
obloquy into reactionary sympathy, belief in 
his guiit as charged must have been wide- 
spread. Audacity is a very effective force 
in a political, as well as a military campaign ; 
but unless it is backed by rectitude and other 
substantial qualities it soon deteriorates into 
mere hardihood, and a fall follows. 

Though older northern states were be- 
ginning to drop out of the republican ranks, 
a premonition of the long period of demo- 
cratic control of the national House of Rep- 
resentatives which began four years later, 
yet, in the dependent new community, the 
perquisites of power were so strong a stimu- 
lus and stay of popular support that to 
cry the republican shibboleth loudly, as the 
organs, and especially as the organ at the 
capital cried it, in alarming tone, insured 
victory in the most adverse circumstances. 
And so the republicans were able to carry 
off a crippled state victory and also to win 
a large majority of the members of the leg- 
islature. The sensitive and solicitous ma- 
chine at the capital was rudely jarred by the 
election of Cropsey as a senator, but its in- 
terests were otherwise sustained at the polls 
by a vote of 798 for Butler and only 318 for 
Croxton, and 523 in favor of a constitutional 
convention and only 2 against it. 

In the temper and condition of the ma- 
jority party at this time negative qualities in 
a candidate for office were most successful, 
and so in this rather perilous campaign John 
Taft'e easily, if not triumphantly, achieved 
his third, though last election as member of 
the national House of Representatives, against 
a man of decided ability and individuality. 

The eighth session — second regtilar ses- 
sion — of the state legislature convened Jan- 
uary 5, 1871. Ebenezer E. Cunningham of 
Richardson county, was president of the 
senate : John C. Myers of Douglas county. 



HITCHCOCK UNITED STATES SENATOR 



541 



was temporary speaker of the house; and 
George W. Collins of Pawnee, was elected 
permanent speaker, over Elam Clark of Wash- 
ington county, by a vote of 21 to 16. Upon 
the organization of the house, Mr. Doom of 
Otoe county, anticipated in a virtuous resolu- 
tion, though less sweepingly, what Governor 
Folk actually did at the session of the Mis- 
souri legislature in 1905, as follows : 

Resolved, That all lobby members of this 
legislature, who have any business to attend 
to at home, and all federal office-holders 
within the state, who are drawing salaries 
from the government, be granted leave of 
absence until the 25th day of June, 1871. 

That federal officers, holding office in any 
other state or territory, be excused from 
further attendance upon this legislature. 

This was a Hitchcock broadside against 
Thayer's platoon of placeholders. 

The showing of the state's finances in the 
governor's message was still unfavorable. 
There was a balance in the treasury, De- 
cember 1, 1868, of $48,526.92. The receipts 
from all sources, up to November 30, 1870, 
had been S937,414.97, and the disbursements, 
including $315,188.60 expended for public 
buildings, were $908,055.33, leaving a balance 
of $77,886.56 ; but current funds were want- 
ing, and the message complained that a large 
amount of warrants on the treasury remained 
unpaid, and they had been at a discount of 
ten cents to fifteen cents on the dollar much of 
the time during the last two years. This was 
owing, it was said, to the difficulty in collect- 
ing taxes. The assessed valuation of property 
in the state had increased from thirty-two 
million dollars in 1868, to fifty-three million 
in 1870. The total amount of public lands 
received by the state was 727,960 acres. This 
was exclusive of the 2,643,080 acres of com- 
mon school lands, of which 72,578 acres had 
been sold at an average price of $8.93 an 
acre. Of the 500,000 acres of public im- 
provement lands, 257,312.71 acres had been 
awarded to railroad companies as bonuses. 

During the past two years 2,382,157 acres 
of land had been entered — 918,081 acres as 
homesteads and the remainder as preemp- 
tions. The entries at the Lincoln land office 



were 877,129, and at the Beatrice office, 
381,931; at the Dakota City office, 737,176 
acres; and at the West Point office, 385,921. 
Thus the growth of the North Platte and that 
of the South Platte sections were nearly 
equal. The Union Pacific railroad company 
had sold 289,644.42 acres of their land grant 
in the state — since July 28, 1869 — and the 
Burlington & Missouri company, 61,303.25 
acres. Lincoln lots and saline lands which had 
been sold at auction but not taken by the bid- 
ders, to the amount of $74,200, remained in 
the hands of the commissioners. This indi- 
cates either a remarkable unreliability of buy- 
ers or a very loose way of conducting the 
sales. 

The movement for encouraging immigra- 
tion had been organized under the law passed 
at the last special session of the legislature 
by the appointment of C. C. Smith of Falls 
City, William Bischoff of Nebraska City, and 
Fred Krug of Omaha, as members of the 
board of immigration ; and C. N. Karstein 
of Nebraska City, was chosen as the commis- 
sioner to reside in New York city. 

The election of a United States senator 
is usually the star play of a legislative ses- 
sion, but in that of 1871 this special feature 
was outshone by its more dramatic impeach- 
ment rival. The three principal candidates 
for senator were John M. Thayer, who sought 
reelection, Phineas W. Hitchcock, and Alvin 
Saunders, — all residents of Omaha. The 
twelve democratic members decided in caucus 
to vote for H^itchcock, and he owed his elec- 
tion to their questionable policy. Since they 
were too weak to conquer their greatly out- 
numbering enemy, they would inflict as much 
damage as possible by assisting one of the 
factions to the defeat of the "regular" 
candidate. 

Regularity was Thayer's standing and 
standard virtue, and he was more objection- 
able to the democrats than either of the other 
candidates because he particularly represented, 
and was the willing sponsor of the national 
administration. 

It was charged with truth, that Thayer's 
only occupation since he came to Nebraska 
had been office-seeking and officeholding. and 



542 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



this objection yielded some advantage to those 
candidates who had been less persistent or 
less prosperous in this regard. He was "al 
ways a candidate for office, never a lawyer, 
save in name, nor a plain or ornamental 
farmer; he has joined his senatorial fortunes 
with Stout and Kennard." After his defeat 
he was comfortably cared for in the office 
of governor of the territory of Wyoming 
during nearly four years. 

General Thayer's military merit lay chief- 
ly in the careful execution of superior orders, 
supplemented by the more superficial and yet 
important qualities of good personal appear- 
ance and deportment. This disposition not 
to reason why, which was a virtue of the 
soldier, was a fault of the statesman, though 
it was not then rated and resented by the 
public as it is at the present day. This defeat 
ended General Thayer's important officehold- 
ing in Nebraska during his virile years. Ed- 
ward Rosewater opposed the election of 
Hitchcock, but his political temper was anti- 
thetical to Thayer's. Instead of bending to 
the success of the object of his opposition, he 
forecast his future career as the leader in 
Nebraska journalism by regarding the assault 
as the mere beginning of a war to the finish. 
He took counsel of the future instead of the 
past, and at the end of six years the now 
triumphant Hitchcock met his quietus — the 
first important victim of this nemesis of num- 
berless Nebraska politicians. 

Impeachment of Governor Butler. As 
soon as the senatorial question was out 
of the way, the legislature took up the ques- 
tion of impeachment of Governor Bvitler. 
The anti-Butler press, both democratic and 
republican, had crystallized the sentiment for 
such act before the legislature convened. On 
the 25th of January Edward Rosewater of- 
fered a resolution, requesting the governor to 
communicate to the house, "at the earliest 
moment," the name of the agent appointed, 
bv act of the legislature, to collect from the 



United States five per cent of the proceeds 
of the sale of public lands made before the 
admission of the state into the Union, the 
amount collected, and the amount paid the 
agent for his services. 

The governor reported that the $16,881.26 
had been collected and deposited in the state 
treasury, and that there were no fees for the 
collection. It developed that the governor 
had used the funds for private purposes and 
had given the state real estate mortgages as 
security. The governor made a plain admis- 
sion of the act. The governor was suspended 
during the trial, and after the impeachment 
abdicated the office. 

By act of the legislature, iMarch 3, 1873, a 
commission composed of the governor, sec- 
retary of state, and the state treasurer, was 
authorized to liquidate and settle all claims of 
the state against David Butler by taking from 
him a warranty deed for lands in lieu and re- 
lease of all mortgages against him, but neither 
his residence nor his lands in Lancaster coun- 
ty should be included in the deed which in- 
cluded 3,400 acres lying in Gage, Jefferson, 
and Pawnee counties. 

Impeachment of Auditor Gillespie. Audi- 
tor Gillespie had joined the anti-Butler fac- 
tion and had assisted in exposing Butler's 
derelictions. The sobriquet "ITonest John" 
was bestowed upon him by the reform faction 
as a sort of objective contrast. This was a 
dangerous distinction, and the Butler parti- 
sans used it as a derisive epithet. As soon as 
the Butler proceedings were out of the way, 
Galey of Lancaster county offered a resolu- 
tion providing for a committee to investigate 
the letting of printing contracts in 1868. A 
summons was issued for Gillespie and he ap- 
peared before the senate with his counsel : he 
was allowed six days in which to prepare an 
answer. The anti-Butler faction prevented 
action by breaking the quorum, and finally by 
adjournment until the second Tuesday in 
January, 1872. 



CHAPTER XXV 

Anarchy in the Legislature — Sessions of 1871-1872 — ■ The Lunatic Asylum Burned ■ 

Constitutional Convention of 1871 



THE ni'TLER faction in pressing the 
impeachment of Gillespie was only play- 
ing a game of tit for tat; and its organ, 
the State Journal, made the most of its op- 
portunity to take the right side of a technical 
f|iiestion of the contro\ersy : 

Tiie two houses, in the absence of a 
quorum, having failed to do the only thing 
they !iad a constitutional right to do, viz : to 
adjourn from day to day and dispatch the 
sergeant-at-arms after absentees, are dead as 
a doornail and can no more meet on the "2d 
Tuesday in January, 1872," or any other time, 
of their own motion, than a cow can jump 
over the moon. They cannot adjourn over 
twenty-four hours unless a Sunday inter- 
venes, when they can make it forty-eight. 

Nevertheless, the excommunicated legisla- 
ture, or, rather, a part of it, did reconvene on 
Tuesday, January 9, 1872. There were eight 
senators present at the opening of the session, 
and three of those who had been elected to 
fill vacancies were admitted. Only twenty- 
three members were present when the house 
was called to order. Each house could mus- 
ter a quorum for ordinary business, but it 
was easy for the senate to fall short of the 
two-thirds necessary to go on with the trial 
of the auditor. Corrupt and despotic pro- 
cedure, incident to the attempt to remove tlie 
capital, demoralized and divided the fourth 
territorial legislature. Sectional animosity 
arising out of the actual removal which large- 
ly justified itself by exposure of the rotten- 
ness of the successful capital cabal, together 
with unbridled, though rather small-bore, po- 
litical ambitions, produced a like state of an- 
archy at this adjourned session of 1872. The 
Butler faction approximately localized in the 
South Platte section, longing for a more com- 



prehensive state constitution — and with par- 
ticular regard to more offices and larger 
salaries — and unwilling to follow again the 
slow course of regular procedure, was bent 
on the remarkable scheme of reviving by leg- 
islative enactment the constitutional conven- 
tion which had surely become extinct by its 
own act of adjournment without day. 

On the second day of the session a bill au- 
thorizing the convention to reconvene passed 
the senate by a vote of 8 to 2, and on the fol- 
lowing day it passed the house, 21 to 9. The 
ne.\t day — January 12th — the senate con- 
curred in an amendment by the house ; on the 
15th Acting Governor James vetoed the bill; 
on the 17th the senate passed it over the veto 
by a bare constitutional majority — 8 to 4 — ■ 
but on the 19th the house failed in its attempt 
by a vote of 12 to 21. The veto message set 
forth that in section 1, under the title "Amend- 
ments," the constitution provided that a ma- 
jority of the two houses of the legislature 
might call a convention to revise or change 
that instrument whenever they should deem 
it necessary, and thereupon the proposal of 
the joint resolution in favor of holding a con- 
vention passed February 15, 1869, was adopted 
by a meager vote at the general election in 
October of that year ; that by authority of the 
act of March 27, 1871, delegates to the con- 
vention were elected and convened June 13, 
1871, and after fifty-eight days labor "ceased 
to exist" as a body by an adjournment, sine 
die, and were resolved back co the body of the 
people. The constitution prepared by this 
convention was rejected at an election held 
according to a provision in the instrument 
itself. 

Section 1 of Article 9 of the constitution, 



544 



HIST()RY OF NEBRASKA 



which the short-cut device of the legislature 
would have avoided, provided that if a ma- 
jority of both houses of the legislature should 
deem it necessary to call a convention to revise 
or change the constitution, they should recom- 
mend to the electors to vote for or against a 
convention at the next election of members of 
the legislature, and if a majority of the elec- 
tors should vote for a convention, then the 
legislature, at its next session, should provide 
for calling it. The population at that time 
was very unstable, and since no method had 
been prescribed for filling vacancies, it is 
probable that many districts would have been 
without representation at the proposed second 
sitting of the convention which must have oc- 
curred nearly a year after the delegates had 
been elected. Inasmuch as the method of 
procedure in question is incorporated in sub- 
stance in the present constitution, according 
to the contention of the revivalists of 1872, 
of whom the State Journal was evangelist, 
the convention of 1875 is a perpetual body 
whose powers are merely dormant and cap- 
able of being reinspired into action at the call 
of any legislature. That venerable body, thus 
reassembled by the omnipotent legislative fiat, 
might well recur to the apostrophe of St. Paul 
(or Alexander Pope) : "O, grave, where is 
thy victory!" Mr. Estabrook's contention 
that this was "the next legislature" which had 
power to call the convention and therefore 
had power to recall it, was merely ingenious 
and scarcely to be taken seriously. 

On the 19th a conference committee of the 
two houses reported a resolution to adjourn 
sine die on the 24th, at 1 1 o'clock p. m. The 
house adopted the report the same day, but a 
motion in the senate to concur under suspen- 
sion of the rules was defeated, and in the res- 
ular order the question lay over one day. The 
senate remained in fruitless session all night, 
but on the morning of the 20th, during a call 
of the house, Sheldon moved to adjourn until 
December 31st. Thereupon Scofield raised 
the point of order that no business could be 
transacted while the call was pending, which 
the president overruled. On the question, 
"Shall the decision of the chair stand as 
the judgment of the house?" there was 



an even division, Abbott, Cropsey, Metz, 
Sheldon, Thomas, and President Hascall 
votinge aye, and Hilton, Linch, Larsh, Sco- 
field, Tennant, and Tucker, no, which, it 
was asserted, of course defeated the affirm- 
ative side of the question according to the 
rules of the senate and all other legislative 
bodies. But political assemblies, especially 
when under factional incitement, seldom hesi- 
tate to live up to the venerable maxim that 
where there's a will, there's a way ; and with 
Hascall in the chair that was an easy task — 
as easy as it had been in former not more or 
less halycon days, with Hanscom presiding on 
the floor. On the same day, the acting gov- 
ernor, with good reason, construing this con- 
trary action as a constitutional "case of dis- 
agreement between the two houses in re- 
spect to the time of adjournment," interposed 
the following message : 

State of Nebraska, Ex. Chamber, 
January 20, 1872. 
To the Honorable the Speaker of the House 

of Representatives: 

Whereas, The House of Representatives 
adopted a resolution to adjourn sine die on 
the 24th inst., in which the senate failed to 
concur and adopted a resolution to adjourn 
until the 31st day of December, 1872: And 
whereas, no reasonable hope is entertained 
that the longer continuance in session of this 
legislature will result in the adoption of any 
measures which have for their object the pub- 
lic good. 

Now, Therefore, I. William H. James, Act- 
ing Governor of the State of Nebraska, under 
and by virtue of the authority vested in me by 
the Constitution, do hereby declare this legis- 
lature adjourned without a day. 

William H. James. 

Having declared the senate adjourned, Has- 
cal dropped out, and on the evening of the 
20th, Hilton was elected president pro tern. 
On Monday, the 22d, the senate, ignoring the 
action of the acting governor, took up the con- 
ference report in regular order and adopted it. 
With the exception of Kennedy of Douglas, 
only the old guard of the Butler faction — • 
Hilton, Linch, Larsh, Scofield, Tucker, and 
Tennant — were present. In attempting to 
prorogue the legislature without day, the act- 
ing- srovernor exceeded his constitutional au- 



SESSIONS OF 1871-1872 



545 



thority, which was as follows: "In case of 
disagreement between the two houses, in re- 
spect to the time of . adjournment, he [the 
governor] shall have power to adjourn the 
legislature to such time as he may think 
proper, but not beyond the regular meetings 
thereof." 

On the 22d the rump remnant of the senate 
also agreed to a preamble and joint resolution, 
declaring the office of governor vacant, and 
that the two houses should fill the vacancy on 
the 24th. When the house met at two o'clock 
in the afternoon of the 22d, its journal was 
missing, but it was found in the auditor's 
office with the governor's adjournment mes- 
sage, which had not been regularly received, 
"attached by some other hand than that of the 
clerk who made up the journal ; and it was 
forthwith expunged from the record." The 
attempted sessions of the 23d were a farce, 
and the meetings of both houses on the 24th 
expired of imbecility. On the 23d, the act- 
ing governor illustrated the efficiency of the 
vaunted "checks and balances" of our consti- 
tutions by shutting off the coal supply from 
the legislative chambers. 

The most important of the few enactments 
of the session of 1871 was a law providing for 
a constitutional convention which should meet 
on the second Tuesday in June of that year. 
The law provided that fifty-two delegates to 
the convention, one from each senate and rep- 
resentative district, should be chosen on the 
first Tuesday of May, and that the delegates 
and the secretaries of the convention should 
receive $3 a day and the same mileage that 
was allowed members of the legislature. A 
herd law was enacted which held owners of 
cattle, horses, mules, sheep, and swine re- 
sponsible for all damage done by them upon 
cultivated lands. 

In a memorial which recited that Nebraska 
had never received more than the 500,000 
acres of public lands, given on admission as a 
state, while not less than one million acres had 
lieen given to foreign corporations and an 
equal amount for the endowment of agricul- 
tural colleges. Congress was asked to grant 
lands to aid in the construction of a railroad 
from Lincoln to Denver, and another from 



Brownville to Denver ; also in aid of the 
Omaha and Northwestern, and the Fremont, 
Elkhorn and Missouri Valley lines. Because, 
owing to the great depression in business, 
preemptors of lands could not pay for them. 
Congress was asked to extend the time of pay- 
ment to three years from the time of filing. 
Congress was petitioned also to grant 90,000 
acres of land for the endowment of an agri- 
cultural college — 30,000 acres for each sen- 
ator and representative — under the act of 
July 2, 1862 ; to reimburse citizens of the 
state for losses on account of Indian depre- 
dations during the last eight years ; and for 
the removal of the national capital to the great 
basin of the Missouri valley. 

At the adjourned session of 1872 only four- 
teen acts, none of much importance, were 
passed. By one of these, Guy A. Brown was 
appointed a commissioner to revise and com- 
pile the laws of the state, a work in which he 
continued for many years until his death ; an 
act appropriated, annually, $3,000 to the state 
board of agriculture, and $2,000 to the state 
horticultural society, "for the sole purpose of 
advancing, developing, and making known the 
agricultural and horticultural capacities of the 
state" ; and another appropriated $4,500 out 
of the insane asylum fund to be used for the 
erection of a temporary hospital in place of 
that recently destroyed by fire. 

Thomas F. Hall, chairman of the ways and 
means committee, which had been directed by 
the house to investigate the condition of the 
state treasury, on the fifth of June reported 
the resources of the treasury as follows: tax 
levy of 1870, general fund, $122,500 ; general 
fund 1870, deiinciuent, $60,500 ; levy of 1870, 
sinking fmul, $26,800 ; sinking fund delin- 
quent, $18,000. The report estimated that 
there would be a shortage of $100,000 in col- 
lections of these nominal resources. There 
were S9,000 uninvested in the permanent 
school fund; $73,000 invested in United 
States, and Union Pacific bonds ; and $73,- 
000 due the state from insurance companies. 
The liabilities of the state were as follows: 
general fund, $200,000 ; interest on bonds and 
floating indebtedness, $25,000; outstanding 
warrants, general fund, $130,000; building 



546 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



fund, $40,000; territorial bonds belonging to 
school fund, $36,300; loan of university fund 
(to pay impeachment expenses), $16,000; to- 
tal $447,300, leaving a balance of indebted- 
ness, 219,500. The warrants were fifteen per 
cent below par value. 

By the state treasurer's report it appears 
that the amount received into the treasury 
from January 21, 1869, to January 11, 1871, 
was $893,268.66. This report was largely a 
statement of grievances. Owing to the finan- 
cial depression, farmers were scarcely able to 
realize prices for their crops exceeding the 
cost of production, consequently nearly all the 
taxes of 1869 and a large part of the levies of 
former years remained uncollected. "Besides 
this, wealthy railroad corporations, operating 
lines of railroad within the borders of the 
state, and, doubtless, fully able at any time to 
meet the demands upon them for taxes 
assessed, are delinquents, proposing, as is 
supposed, by the power of their wealth and 
influence, to override the just demands due 
the state for the protection afforded by law 
to their rights and privileges, thereby casting 
the whole burden of the state government uj)- 
on the less powerful." 

The year 1871 in Nebraska was one of 
gloomy poverty — morally and economically ; 
its only resource, agriculture, was as yet 
doubtful and undeveloped. Prices of pro- 
ducts which, owing to imperfect transporta- 
tion to long distant markets, were normally 
low, were ]3ressed by the impending indus- 
trial panic down to an unprofitable scale. As 
we have seen, official speculation and faction- 
al strife had demoralized and almost de- 
stroyed social order. This very bad condition 
was illustrated and made worse by the in- 
cendiary burning of the insane asylurh on the 
17th of April. 

One inmate perished in the fire. Ten con- 
victs escaped from the penitentiary during the 
night of the conflagration, and it was charged, 
though without proof or probability, that they 
were let loose to assist in kindling it. The 
leading republican, but anti-administration, 
organ summed up the case as follows : 

The lunatic asylum ought to have been a 



substantial public building and an honor to the 
state. By law the expense was limited to 
$50,000, but the state officers took the responsi- 
bility of increasing it, until the amount actual- 
ly paid was about $150,000. The main build- 
ing was 72x90 feet, and five stories high, 
with a four story wing running northward, 
42x80, making a total frontage of 170 
feet. A brick structure of this size, and costing 
so much money, should have been something 
for every Nebraskan to be proud of. But this 
asylum did not excite emotions of that sort, 
beiiig so badly put together that visitors were 
fearful it would fall while under its roof. . . 
The builder of this matchless specimen of 
architecture was one Joseph Ward. An at- 
tempt was made to burn it several months 
ago, by placing combustibles in the roof, but 
failed. . . Of the grand delivery of peniten- 
tiary convicts, we have too few facts to justify 
comment. But ten convicted criminals are 
certainly at large. . . What a history the 
capital has furnished of late. The state offi- 
cers charged with peculating and speculat- 
ing — Impeachments, queerly handled — 
Burning of a Lunatic Asylum and Lunatics — 
and winding up with the quiet departure of 
one-third of the convicts in the Penitentiary. 
Surely it is about time for a constitutional 
Convention that will build for the state anew, 
and let it start again with a clear record. 

The chief care of the compilers of the con- 
stitution of 1866 was to make it a password 
to statehood ; and so they craftily contrived 
that it should resemble the territorial organic 
act as closely as practicable. The juilicial 
system for the stat ; was the exact counterpart 
of that of the territory; there was no change 
in the number of the members of the legisla- 
tive houses; the number of executive officers 
was not increased and their salaries were kept 
down nearly to the old beggarly level ; and 
against the emotional sentiment for negro en- 
franchisement with which the republican party 
was possessed, its devotees in Nebraska op- 
posed the ancient and reactionary restriction 
to white suffrage. This concession was cal- 
culated to weaken or subdue the opposition of 
the democrats who lacked the stimulus of 
prospective senatorships and high federal of- 
fices which temporarily stifled the principles 
and stultifiedthe philanthropic professions of 
the expectant republicans. But by 1869 the 
partisan emoluments of the change to statehood 



CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1871 



547 



had been seized and the dominant Butler fac- 
tion felt that its new capital, which was an 
outgrowth of admission, was now established, 
so that it might safely proceed to enlarge its 
powers, privileges, and emoluments through 
a new constitution of broader scope. The 
malcontents insisted that the state was "ham- 
pered by the want of courts, by the need of 
proper grades in the judiciary and by the 
picayunishness and general meanness that 
breathes throughout our organic law." Every 
fourth year two general elections were neces- 
sary because the constitution fixed the time 
of the state election earlier than that of the 
national election ; the supreme court, en banc, 
"sit on their own decisions" ; the code "is a 
conglomerated patchwork, it is neither the 
Ohio nor the New York code, which are rad- 
ically different from foundation to turret, but 
is a compromise between the two with a lot 
of loose rubbish culled from all the rest of 
the states thrown in." 

The constitution of 1871 was in the main a 
replica of that of Illinois which had been 
adopted the year before, and the long session 
of the convention was chiefly occupied in 
rather tedious discussion over proposed 
changes of the Illinois pattern, but very few of 
which were made. The spirit of the Granger 
movement, at that time becoming rife in the 
north central states, was positively and plen- 
tifully reflected in the Blinois constitution ; 
and since the principal debates in the Ne- 
braska convention were devoted to questions 
of that class they served to disclose the atti- 
tudes of the members toward the new and 
progressive doctrines and also to disseminate 
them among the people with the recommenda- 
tion or approval of many of the most in- 
fluential citizens and political leaders. 

The convention is subject only to the sec- 
ondary liability of an endorser for the long 
preaching preamble which it copied verbatim 
from its Illinois model. The Illinois bill of 
rights was also copied with few and unim- 
portant changes. Five sections were added — 
defining treason ; guaranteeing the right to a 
writ of error in cases of felony ; requiring the 
passage of property exemption laws ; estab- 
lishing the same rights of property for aliens 



as for native citizens ; and reserving to the 
people all rights not delegated by the consti- 
tution. The section regulating eminent do- 
main was amplified, and through the persist- 
ency of Mason there was added the radical 
provision that compensation for taking or 
damaging property, except in time of war or 
other public exigency or for roads which 
should be open to the public without charge, 
"shall in every case be without deduction for 
benefits to any property of the owner." In 
the Illinois constitution this question of dam- 
ages was left to be ascertained by a jury, "as 
shall be prescribed by law" ; and the Nebraska 
constitution of 1875 has only the simple pro- 
vision that, "the property of no person shall 
be taken or damaged for public use without 
just compensation therefor." There was no 
counterpart of the robust, radical democrat, 
Mason, in the convention of 1875. 

The article relating to corporations in the 
constitution of 1871 differs from that of the 
Illinois constitution only in permitting coun- 
ties and municipal subdivisions to make do- 
nations to them after a proposal to make such 
grants had been submitted to the electors of 
the district or division to be affected and ap- 
proved by three-fifths of those voting upon 
the question, and in the addition of a few 
precautionary restrictions. The provision of 
the constitution of 1871 and of its Illinois 
original that "the legislature from time to time 
shall pass laws establishing reasonable maxi- 
mum rates of charges for the transportation 
of passengers and freight on the different rail- 
roads in this state," was changed in the con- 
stitution of 1875 by substituting the merely 
permissive "may" for the mandatory "shall." 
While this change was of no practical im- 
portance, because there is no power except its 
own will which can compel a legislative body 
to this or that action, yet it foreshadowed the 
complete subserviency to the railroads which 
has distinguished the political history of the 
state. 

That the committee on railroad corpora- 
tions were willing to report the Illinois article 
indicates that the inspiriting influence of the 
Granger sentiment had reached across the 
Missouri ; and the thunder tones of Mason 



548 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



reveal that the idea of control was clear and 
insistent. The bold heroics employed by the 
chief justice in opposing^ public donations to 
railroads are not improved upon by the stump 
speeches or in the judicial harangues of the 
present anti-corporation heyday, which neither 
cost courage nor inspire caution : 

There was a time when the name of king 
was hateful to the whole American people. 
When our forefathers rebelled against British 
tyranny they came to couple in their minds, 
with their dislike of oppression, an aversion to 
the very title under which tyrannical power 
had been personified. But now we hear con- 
stantly of railroad kings — just as if railroad 
kings were any less odious than political kings ! 
We want no kings of any kind in America — 
neither political kings nor railroad kings ! If 
the power of the great railway corporations 
be not curbed and repressed and lessened, and 
that right speedily, we fear it will be difficult 
to preserve the liberties of the people in oppo- 
sition to them. Such aggregations of capital 
are always naturally and inherently unfavor- 
able to popular instincts and rights. We do 
not say that the collection and concentration 
of capital may not sometimes be made to con- 
tribute to the public good, but then it should 
be regulated and controlled by the strong hand 
of law. It should also be vigilantly and always 
watched as liable at all tiiues to assume the 
character of a public enemy. Our great rail- 
way corporations already elect state legisla- 
tiTres. These legislatures make laws and ex- 
ercise more or less jwwer over state judges. 
At any election of president they may be able 
to turn the scales in favor of the one candidate 
or the other. Presidents appoint federal 
judges, and thus the national courts may be 
reached. The railway power is the most 
dangerous jiower existing in the country to- 
day : to make this fact generally realized is 
the first step toward efifecting the reduction of 
that power. 

Robinson skilfully argued that each case 
of voting aid to railroads and other partially 
public enterprises was one of expediency to be 
decided in some fair way by the people them- 
selves and that there was no difference in 
principle between taxing private property to 
aid in building railroads and in doing the 
same thing to maintain ])ul)lic highways or 
public schools. 

Now relative or conventional necessity is 
but another term for expediency. So if the 



proposition is to have any force at all strict 
necessity must be meant. . . A small amount 
of travel, a low state of commerce would not 
demand a railroad, while it might demand a 
highway. Again, travel and trade might be 
so low as to make even a highway unneces- 
sary. In the one case it would be expedient 
to build a railroad, in the other to build a 
highway. This, I think, is sufficient to show 
that the quality of the necessity which ought 
to enter into the purpose of taxation is wdiolly 
conventional and the question whether or not 
the tax ought to be levied for a given purpose, 
wholly a question of expediency. Where a tax 
is levied upon all for a purpose which is ex- 
clusively for the benefit of a portion of the 
community, that is wrong; but that case is not 
this case nor resembles it. 

There was an ostentatious anti-monopoly 
demonstration also in the long and heated dis- 
cussion over the liability of stockholders in 
banking corporations. The committee on 
banking reported the section of the constitu- 
tion of Illinois which provided for a liability 
of an amount equal to the stock held in addi- 
tion thereto — the provision of the present 
constitution of Nebraska. This convention 
discussed at length a proposed section pro- 
viding for the compulsory attendance at the 
jniblic schools of children between the ages 
of eight years and sixteen years and for es- 
tablishing a reform school. The usual argu- 
ments in favor of compulsory education were 
advanced by Estabrook, Lake, Manderson, 
Neligh, Vifquain, and Wakeley, and the fa- 
miliar arguments against it by Kirkpatrick, 
Maxwell, Newsom, and Robinson. Apparent- 
ly owing to the fact that the proposal for 
compulsory education was complicated with 
that for a reform school which certain mem- 
Ijers feared might lead to unwarranted ex- 
]5ense, the section was separately submitted to 
the popular vote. 

A proposal to insert a section providing that 
lands granted within the state by the United 
vStates to railroad corporations should be sub- 
ject to taxation as soon as the grant became 
effective iirovoked an aggressive discussion in 
which Boyd's voice alone was heard in oppo- 
sition. At Judge Mason's instance, the sub- 
ject was referred to the judiciary committee, 
with Estabrook, Sprague, and W'akely added, 



CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1871 



549 



for information as to the legal power of the 
convention to reach the desired end. A less 
definite section than that jiroposed was 
adopted. 

There was a stirring discussion of Philpott's 
proposal to add to the section of the bill of 
rights which made the usual exclusive pro- 
vision for the grand jury system a proviso 
that "the grand jury system may be abolished 
by law in all cases." Estabrook, always pro- 
gressive, said, "it does seem to me that the oc- 
casion for the grand jury has gone," and 
Lake, Majors, Maxwell, Strickland, and 
Thomas also supported the amendment, 
while Campbell, Manderson, Mason, Myers, 
Wakeley, and Wilson opposed it. Mason, as 
usual, spoke to the principle involved, con- 
tending emphatically that the alternative 
method of accusation by information placed 
an undemocratic and dangerous power in the 
hands of one man. The dispute resulted in 
a compromise by which it was left to the courts 
to impanel grand juries in their discretion — 
substantially the provision of the Illinois con- 
stitution and the present constitution of Ne- 
braska. The convention frequently set out 
on an original departure from its Illinois 
copy but seldom got far astray. 

The report of the legislative committee pro- 
vided that the first senate under the new con- 
stitution should have twenty-five members and 
the first house of representatives, seventy-five. 
This precipitated a heated debate, and the 
number was reduced to nineteen for the sen- 
ate and fifty-seven- for the house. In Ijoth 
cases it was left to subsequent legislatures 
to fix the number of members, but it should 
not exceed thirty-three for the senate or one 
hundred for the house. Delegates from the 
western counties clamored for the larger num- 
ber so that they might have eft'ective represen- 
tation. The more conservative members in- 
sisted first the chambers would not accommo- 
date the proposed numbers and that the ex- 
pense of so large a body would be too great. 

Lake warned the convention that a feeling 
of opposition to the constitution throughout 
the state had already been engendered on ac- 
count of its extravagant provisions which 
might defeat its adoption. He pointed out 



that there were only two important objects in 
reforming the constitution, the first to create 
an independent supreme court and perhaps 
add one more judicial district, and the second 
to consider the question of extending county 
and municipal aid to railroads ; but, he com- 
plained, "we are getting up a constitution 
which will require a much larger e.xpenditure 
of money in order to carry out its provisions 
properly than is expended in many of the 
older states." 

The various petitions relating to the liquor 
traffic were referred to a special committee of 
which Oliver P. Mason was chairman. Judge 
Mason made a long report which was chiefly 
an arraignment of the traffic, and it stopped 
short of recommending absolute prohibition 
only because the committee feared that it 
would not be a practicable remedy for the 
evils which the report portrayed. "Had your 
committee the evidence that a prohibitory 
liquor law would be sustained by the vote 
of a majority of the legal voters of the 
state, they would earnestly recommend to this 
convention the adoption of the inhibitory 
principle . . . but not having this evidence 
before us and realizing that such a law un- 
sanctioned by the people might be productive 
of evil and not good," the committee proceed- 
ed to recommend an article directing the legis- 
lature to pass a local option law essentially 
the same as the measure later favored by 
prohibitionists and which came near being 
adopted at the session of 1911. The ques- 
tion was compromised by submitting the pro- 
hibition provision separately and simply au- 
thorizing the taxing of liquor dealers in the 
article on revenue and finance. 

The proposal to confer the right of suffrage 
upon women caused a rather one-sided debate 
in which Estabrook and Manderson argued 
for the affirmative in extended and able 
speeches. Manderson saw the early advent 
of the expanded suffrage in the agitation 
then going on in England. ". . Meetings are 
being held in every city and town and some 
of the foremost men and women of that 
country are advocating the measure. They 
are knocking at the doors of parliament, and 
we are told that not many months will elapse 



550 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ere this [ritjhlj will be extended to woman." 
The fact that just such a demonstration is 
now stirring ICnglish politics coujjled with the 
fact that Wakeley's statement in the conven- 
tion that he wanted women to have the right 
to vote whenever they demanded it and fa- 
vored the submission of the question to them 
alone expresses the present common sentiment 
of men toward the question and indicates 
that there has been but little change in its 
status in the intervening forty years. Esta- 
brook stated that in the opinion of able con- 
stitutional lawyers the fourteenth and 
fifteenth amendments conferred the right to 
vote upon women, and he cited the recent fa- 
vorable expression of Jeremiah S. Black and 
Michael C. Kerr, leading democrats, as the 
basis of his belief that woman suffrage would 
soon be adopted as an issue of the democratic 
party. But neither of the national party 
conventions of 1908 seriously thought of fa- 
voring woman suffrage. The convention 
evaded the question by shifting it on to the 
people by the convenient separate submission 
device. 

The clause afTecting the ta.xation of church 
property was the most important provision of 
the constitution because it was chiefly respon- 
sible for its rejection by the people ; and yet it 
was adopted after thorough discussion and 
was probably just and fair. Mason precipi- 
tated the debate by a motion to strike the 
word "religious" from the section reported 
by the committee which classified the property 
usually held exempt from taxation. 

,\ section reported by the committee, which 
provided that "the cai)ital or seat of govern- 
ment shall remain at the city of Lincoln," 
precipitated a lengthy and heated debate. 
Boyd moved an amendment which provided 
that it should remain in Lincoln until 1880 and 
thereafter until it should be removed by a law 
designating some other place to be approved 
by a vote of the people. Estabrook, Hascall 
and Myers, all of Omaha, and Kirkpatrick 
and Stevenson advocated the original section, 
while Philpott of Lancaster county. Mason, 
and Wakeley supported Boyd's amendment 
which was carried. The constitution cured 
the uncertainty as to when the functions of 



an impeached officer should cease bv provid- 
ing that no officer shall exercise his office after 
he shall have been impeached and notified 
therof until he shall have been acquitted. 
'I'his amendment was carried into the consti- 
tution of 1875 though that instrument lodged 
the power of impeaching in both houses in- 
stead of the House of Representatives alone 
and the authority to try the impeached officers 
in the supreme court instead of the senate. 

The constitution was rejected at the elec- 
tion held September 19th, by a preponder- 
ance of 641 vote^. While some of the ob- 
jections urged against it were legitimate, yet 
they were not of sufficient importance to war- 
rant its repudiation ; but they were used to 
increase and justify the factional and sec- 
tional prejudices and to cover the corpora- 
tion hostility, which together mainly inspired 
the opposition. 

Owing to the adverse conditions in which 
Nebraska was first occupied by white settlers, 
the plea of poverty became a habitual state of 
mind which has long outlived the economic 
fact which produced it. The chief objection 
to statehood in 1860 and in 1866, and to the 
adoption of the constitutions of 1871 and 1875 
was that they would be. too expensive. This 
now venerable obsession reduced salaries of 
]>ublic officers to the level of beggary in the 
first constitution, to inadequacy in the two 
subsequent constitutions, and still keeps cer- 
tain of the state institutions in penny wise and 
pound foolish starvation. And so economy 
was the war cry against adoption of the con- 
stitution. It was objected that it was better 
fittetl for a state of half a million, than for 
one of only 175,000 people; that the salaries 
of executive officers were too high : that the 
number of members of the legislature was 
too large, and that their compensation was 
unnecessarily increased from $3 to $4 a day, 
and no limit was fixed to the length of the 
sessions. By defeating the constitution the 
state would save annually $17,000 in judicial 
and $10,000 in executive salaries ; $10,000 in 
extra expense of census taking; and $60,000 
by avoiding a special session of the legisla- 
ture. At an anti-constitution public meeting 
held in Omaha, August 29th, the statement 



CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1871 



551 



was made that the salary provided for judges 
of the supreme court in the proposed consti- 
tution — $3,500 — was the highest of a list 
of salaries paid such officers in twenty-three 
states. Jtidge Oliver P. Mason spoke in 
favor of adoption at this meeting. 

The fact that the recently adopted consti- 
tion of Illinois had been drawn on freely for 
material by the Nebraska convention was used 
as an argument in favor of the approval of 
its work. It was said that it contained "near- 
ly all the wholesome reforms embodied in the 
new constitution of Illinois, which is ac- 
knowledged to be the best in the United 
States," and was ratified by a majority of 
more than 100,000 votes. Although the pro- 
posed constitution was bitterly assailed, on 
the other hand its friends were alike active, 
and the arguments in its favor were promul- 
gated with ability and industry. Printed 
copies of the instrument, preceded by an ad- 
dress which explained and moderately ex- 
tolled its merits, and underw-ritten by a com- 
mittee composed of Chas. F. Manderson. 
chairman ; John C. Campbell, David T. Moore, 
Eleazer Wakeley, Enos F. Gray, Alexander 
S. Stewart, and Charles A. Speice, were dis- 
tributed to voters. Friendly speakers and 
newspapers also enli\'ened the thirty days' 
campaign. 

Encouragement of railroad building had 
thus far been the prime article of economic 
and political faith in Nebraska ; and, there- 
fore, railroad interests would naturally be in- 
clined to nip in the bud the presumptuous 



heresy that was propagated in the regulatory 
provisions. Other corporation interests had 
reasons of their own for joining the rail- 
roads in opposition to adoption. But while 
these considerations contributed toward re- 
jection, it was chiefly due, no doubt, to the 
general public disapprobation and distrust of 
the political status. The spectacle of the im- 
peachment proceedings and the succeeding po- 
litical anarchy, which just then filled the public 
eye, were well calculated to produce a restive 
public disposition. While sentiment for and 
against the constitution was not clearly de- 
fined by the old Platte river sectional line, 
yet the vote of the North Platte section was 
4,932 against and 2,068 for ; while that of the 
South Platte was 5,918 for and 3,695 against, 
and eighteen of the twenty-two North Platte 
counties gave majorities against, and ten of 
the sixteen South Platte counties for adop- 
tion. The vote of the four North Platte 
counties that favored the constitution, with 
the exception of Cuming, was verj' small. 
It is significant also that the decidedly demo- 
cratic counties of Dakota, Platte, and Sarpy 
were almost unanimous, and Dodge was 
strongly against the constitution. 

The vote on the five sections submitted sep- 
arately follows ; Liability of stockholders, 
7,286 for, 8,580 against ; municipal aid to cor- 
porations, 6,690 for, 9,549 against ; compulsory 
education, 6,286 for, 9,958 against ; submis- 
sion of prohibition proposition, 6,071 for, 
1,060 against ; woman suffrage, 8,502 for, 
12,676 against. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

A Spfxial Session Fiasco — The Tennant Case — Right of a Negro to be a Jury- 
man — Validity of Admission to Statehood — Political Disruption of 1872 — 
The Furnas Libel Suit — The Kennard Claims — State Finance — 
Retirement of Tipton and Election of Paddock for United States 
Senator — Final Defeat of Thayer — Capital Removal — 
Legislature of 1875 



TT DID NOT satisfy the hunger for disor- 
-*- der that the cup of anarchy had been 
filled by the performances of the adjourned 
session of 1872; and the enemies of the acting 
governor's regime set about causing an over- 
flow. The disturbers had won over to their 
side Hascall, the president of the senate, who 
in the temporary absence of Acting Governor 
James from the state, himself assumed the 
office of acting governor, and, on the 8th of 
February, hastily issued a call for the legis- 
lature to convene in special session, February 
15th. The olijects of the session as stated 
in the call were to enact laws, ( 1 ) providing 
for the encouragement of immigration; (2) 
for the issuance of funding bonds to the 
amount of $50,000; (3) to declare the cases in 
which oi^ces were deemed vacant and the 
mode of filling them; (4) for investigation; 
(5) relating to common schools; (6) to cities 
and towns ; (7) to new counties ; (8) appro- 
priation of money for the general welfare; 
(9) for the keeping of state prisoners; (10) 
increasing jurisdiction of probate judges ; (11 ; 
correction of the journals of the last regular 
session of the legislature. 

Acting Governor James left the state Fel)- 
ruary 6th, to go to Washington on pnlilic 
business. He did not take the usual course of 
notifying Mr. Hascall, who, according to the 
constitution, would become acting governor in 
case of his own absence from the state, prob- 
ably because he was unwilling to contribute 
toward Hascall's authority for convening the 
legislature. The faction which was clamoring 



for a special session charged James with bad 
faith in violating an alleged agreement to call 
it, as a condition of the settlement of the ad- 
journment imbroglio of the January session. 
Whether this assertion is true or not is past 
finding out, and it has little or no bearing upon 
the question of the propriety or legality of 
Hascall's obtrusion. On the 13th, Acting 
Governor James issued a proclamation declar- 
ing that issued by Hascall unauthorized, null, 
and void, and enjoining the legislature to dis- 
regard it. 

On the 15th, seven senators — a bare quo- 
rum — and fifteen members of the house — • 
five less than a quorum — mustered at the 
Capitol in response to the spurious call, but 
they found the doors of -the chambers locked 
and barricaded on the inside. Twenty mem- 
bers of both houses — -presumably all who 
were whole-hearted in the enterprise — united 
in a petition to the acting governor, who had 
hastened back from Washington after a stay 
of only six hours, for admission to their re- 
spective halls. A teapot revolution followed 
the firm denial of the request, and emissaries 
of the insurgents gained access to the cham- 
bers by unusual and devious ways. Those 
who honored the call were, in the main, rep- 
resentative of the Lincoln cabal, and the 
coterie which had favored the salt subsidy 
and the impeachment of Gillespie. "After the 
room was cleared of the barricades, and the 
janitors had made the fires, the senate pro- 
ceeded to business," which consisted of the 
appointment of a committee to inform the 



THE TENNANT CASE 



553 



house that it was ready for business, and 
another to report rules. The house appointed 
T. B. Hartzell as sergeant-at-arms, and seven 
assistants, and instructed them to bring in 
absentee members.. On the second day the 
accession of Cropsey, Linch, and Tennant, 
with the loss of Sheldon and Smith, raised the 
number of senators to eight. The house re- 
ported twenty absent, which meant one less 
than a quorum present. But trickery and 
fraud quite commonly defeat themselves. On 
the 17th the senate passed a bill providing for 
the filling of vacancies in executive offices. 
But it was now easy to discern that this ill- 
considered scheme was a failure, and as rats 
desert the sinking ship, the members who 
came were not inclined to stay. On the 19th 
the opposition played its trump. On the ar- 
rest of Senator Tennant by the sergeant-at- 
arms, to compel his attendance, a writ of 
habeas corpus was applied for in the supreme 
court. At the hearing on the 21st, the testi- 
mony of Acting Governor James, his private 
secretary, and Senator Hascall was taken. 
In the report of the case it is stated that, 
"Hascall. who resided in Omaha, learning of 
James's absence, went at once to Lincoln, the 
capital, and under pretense that the document 
was one certifying that some person was a 
notary public, obtained from James's private 
secretary the great seal, long enough to get its 
impress to a paper of which the following (the 
proclamation) is a copy, and which was pub- 
lished in some of the papers of the state." 

Eleazer Wakeley and Mark H. Sessions, 
coimsel for Tennant, adopted and emphasized 
the theory that Hascall had not assumed the 
office of governor, according to the spirit and 
form contemplated by the constitution. He 
had not acted in good faith, but had clandes- 
tinely slipped into the governor's office and, 
under a false pretense, appropriated and used 
the seal for this single specific purpose. 
Judge Lake leaned to this view in his opin- 
ion ; but Crounse did not commit himself on 
that point. Both of these judges, however, 
contended that the executive had complete 
control of the proclamation up to the time 
when it had become finally eft'ective, and that, 
having recalled it, the legislature was not in 



legal session, had no authority to compel the 
attendance of members, and so its "every act is 
without the shadow of authority." Judge Ma- 
son, in his dissenting opinion, made the very 
strong point that the regularity of the proced- 
ure, preliminary to the assembling of the legis- 
lature, could not be questioned collaterally ; it 
had resulted in a session, at least de facto, of a 
coordinate department of the government of 
which the other departments were bound to 
take judicial notice. The chief justice also 
strenuously maintained that Hascall's call be- 
came vitalized beyond revocation the moment 
that it was issued. He plausibly more than 
hinted that the majority was governed by po- 
litical bias. "Courts should yield to no clamor, 
and shrink from no responsibility," he said. 
Justice Crounse protested against Mason's in- 
sinuations in a curt note appended to the opin- 
ions, in which he said that his opinion 
and that of Judge Lake were given hastily 
at the time of the hearing, while Mason had 
taken time for investigation before preparing 
his own. 

Decisions of questions with a political bear- 
ing by mere majorities in our courts, high and 
low, are so common, that Judge Mason's stric- 
tures need not excite our wonder. It seems 
relevant to note that the domicile of the two 
agreeing judges was in the North Platte, and 
that of the dissenter was in the South Platte. 
There is ground for perpetual dispute as to 
whether the contention of the majority or that 
of the minority is the better sustained by rea- 
son. The eiTect of the decision was at least 
salutary in summarily circumventing the cheap 
trickery of Hascall and relieving the state 
from another scandalous exhibition of imbe- 
cility. For it is not probable that a working 
quorum could have been kept together. The 
attitude of the press is as clearly explicable as 
the opinions of the learned judges are inde- 
terminate and confusing. The Lincoln organ 
was of course in favor of a session, and so the 
Tribune-Republican at Omaha was of course 
violently opposed to it. The Bee, just then 
fighting for a foothold in the Omaha journal- 
istic field, was against its local rival, and so 
supported Hascall. The episode moved the 
nearly republican organ in the neighboring 



554 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



state to a drastic summing up of jiolitical con- 
ditions in Nebraska : 

That the state of Nebraska is blessed with 
the scurviest set of pohtical rascals outside of 
New York, no one who has noticed the course 
of events in that state during the past twelve 
months will question. The governor has been 
impeached and deposed, and the last session of 
the legislature was an illegitimate and abnor- 
mal affair, characterized throughout by scenes 
of violence and disorder that would have dis- 
graced the lowest bar-room brawl. And now 
comes Senator Hascall, president of the sen- 
ate, proclaiming himself acting governor in the 
absence of Governor James who is at present 
out of the state. His first act is to issue a 
proclamation convening the legislature on the 
15th inst. . . The Omaha Tribune, in a 
double-leaded article, denounces this action as 
revolutionary, "the cheap and dirty trick of an 
irresponsible and unprincipled politician, an 
insult to the state and a dastardly game of per- 
sonal revenge against Gov. James." 

The game of politics, played upon a larger 
scale and by the larger men, though never fas- 
tidious or on a very high plane, is interesting 
and instructive. In this degenerate aspect, 
however, its petty story is told and tolerated 
chiefly for the incidental light it throws ujjon 
the evolution of the commonwealth. 

In February, 1872, the supreme court of the 
state decided that the statute confining the 
legal right to sit on juries to free white males 
was overruled by the condition to admission 
interposed by Congress, which declared that 
there should be "no denial of the elective fran- 
chise, or of any other right, to any person by 
reason of race or color." The question arose 
in the trial of one Brittle on a charge of bur- 
glary, in the district court of Douglas county, 
when the right of Howard W. Crossley, a 
negro, to sit on the jury was challenged by 
the defendant. Chief Justice Mason dissented 
from the decision of Justices Crounse and 
Lake. Justice Mason answered in the nega- 
tive his question. "Could Congress change the 
constitution which the people had adopted and 
admit the state into the Union with its funda- 
mental law so changed, without the consent of 
the people?" He contended that, "being 
elected by the people to legislate under the re- 
strictions of the constitution, the legislature 
was not, nor could Congress, by recognition or 



otherwise, constitute it. the representative of 
the people to overturn the law which the peo- 
]jle had established for it as well as for the 
citizen." The "very best constitutional law- 
yers of the land," who were members of the 
Congress which imposed the condition, knew 
that it was without force or effect. "The peo- 
ple of this state never voluntarily entered the 
Union with a constitution amended by the 
erasure of the word 'white.' Congress admit- 
ted representatives from the state, and the ter- 
ritorial government was withdrawn ; and noth- 
ing remained for the people but to go on under 
the state government. Coerced in this way 
their action is now said to conclude them." 

This question "is too serious to be an- 
swered by a sneer. It is too profound to be 
solved by an appeal to partisanship. . . It 
has always been conceded that Congress could 
not prescribe a form of government to a peo- 
])!e, save that it should be republican in form." 

In the majority opinion it was pointed out 
that the enabling act — of 1864 — prescribed 
that a convention, organized according to pro- 
visions of the act, should meet in July, 1864, 
and form a constitution which should be sub- 
mitted to the electors of the territory, for their 
ratification or rejection, in the following Oc- 
tober ; and that the sentiment of the people at 
that time being opposed to a change to state- 
hood, the convention "refused to make a con- 
stitution and adjourned sine die." Afterward, 
in 1866, "as is well known, the constitution 
was originally drafted in a lawyer's office by a 
few self-appointed individuals," who "impor- 
tuned the legislature then sitting, to submit it 
to a vote of the people." 

And then the opinion proceeds to pronounce 
little short of a dictum that the constitution 
was not fairly adopted by the popular vote on 
account of the throwing out of the Rock Bluff's 
ballots and the improj^er counting of the sol- 
dier vote : 

Suppose, then ... a criminal is put 
upon his trial ; and, as a defense, he offers to 
show that at the June election in 1866, a clear 
majority voted against the adoption of the 
constitution, notwithstanding the laoard of can- 
vassers have declared otherwise. . . I am 
satisfied that he could make a fair showing in 
that direction. It is said that a whole precinct 



VALIDITY OF ADMISSION TO STATEHOOD 



555 



in one county was thrown out, where the ma- 
jority was already against the constitution ; 
that, in another place, a large number of sol- 
diers voted in its favor, with no pretext of 
right so to do ; and in other respects, irregu- 
larities intervened which might easily over- 
come the declared majority of a hundred. 
This might well be where a vote was had 
under no competent authority, and where no 
one, for ballot-box stuffing or for false returns 
could be punished. Would the court allow the 
evidence ? 

The opinion held that it was clearly too late 
to question the validity of statehood, and so of 
the terms and conditions under which admis- 
sion to statehood had been effected. The 
federal constitution simply prescribed that, 
"new states may be admitted into the Union,' 
and "this is all that is said. The manner in 
which such states shall be fonned, or how they 
shall be introduced, is nowhere prescribed. It 
is a political question, to be settled by the peo- 
ple of the territory on the one side and the 
Congress on the other. When the fact of ad- 
mission is established, the courts are bound by 
it and cannot go behind it." It was argued 
that the question, how or by whom the consti- 
tution was formed, was of no consequence, 
neither was it necessary to submit it to a vote 
of the people. Congress had prescribed sub- 
mission in the original enabling act, but that 
act was not regarded as a standing ofifer ; so 
in 1867 Congress amended the constitution of- 
fered by the legislature, the territory accepted 
the amendment, the territory was then for- 
mally admitted under this last provision of 
Congress and assvmied the functions of state- 
hood. 

Justice Mason was no doubt right in his 
emphatic contention that Congress could not 
force a constitution, or any part of one, upon a 
prospective state, and that the condition of ad- 
mission which undertook to confer suffrage 
upon negroes was null and void. "At the time 
of the discussions over the Lecompton consti- 
tution in Kansas, by which the whole country 
was convulsed, it was universally supposed 
that the doctrine was once and forever settled, 
that no territory could be forced into the Union 
until its people had a full, fair, free opportun- 
ity to express their approval or disapproval of 



its constitution. . . Until the case of our 
state arose, no single instance ever occurred of 
Congress admitting a state without the popular 
approval of the constitution." The Congress 
which imposed this condition comprised many 
very able men — among them the most emi- 
nent leaders of the republican party — most of 
whom, without partisan distinction, emphati- 
cally expressed the opinion adopted by Justice 
Mason. His dissenting opinion reduced the 
controversy to two points : "There are but two 
circumstances in the whole course of this his- 
tory which deserve a moment's consideration — 
one, the vote of the people upon the constitu- 
tion, without which all that had gone before 
was of no avail ; the other the action of Con- 
gress. Each, in its turn, cured all irregularities 
which preceded it, and relieves us of the neces- 
sity of any inquiry in respect of everything 
else." 

Jurisprudence being very far from an exact 
science, as is illustrated by the not infrequent 
five to four decisions of our highest judicial 
tribunal, we may not be expected to see clearly 
why subsequent uses, by assumption of the 
functions of statehood under the color of a 
contract, consisting of the acceptance of at 
least a part of the constitution by a formal 
popular vote and of another alleged part of it 
by the legislature on the one hand, and the act 
of Congress and the proclamation of the presi- 
dent on the other, should have cured all irregu- 
larities except the suffrage condition or 
amendment. Yet when it is considered that 
the constitution which the people approved 
does not contain the suffrage condition, there 
appears to be at least a judicial distinction, or 
color of reason, which justifies Justice Mason's 
conclusion. 

But Justice Mason's second contention, that 
the statute excluding negroes from jury service 
was not inimical to the fourteenth amendment 
of the federal constitution, was swept away by 
a decision of the federal Supreme Court in 
1879. The court made a distinction which left 
some plausibility for Justice Mason's distinc- 
tion that jury service was not a "right" but 
a public duty or burden. "We do not say that 
within the limits from which it is not excluded 
a state may not prescribe the qualifications of 



556 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



jurors, and in so doing make discriminations. 
It may confme the selection to males, to free- 
holders, to citizens, to persons within certain 
ages, or to persons having educational qualifi- 
cations" ; but the aim of the fourteenth amend- 
ment was to prevent discrimination on account 
of race or color, and this was the effect of the 
statute of West A'irginia, as also of that of 
Nebraska in question. 

The year 1872 was distinguished by political 
revolt : within the republican party against a 
corrujit and despotic machine, commonly called 
Grantism ; within the democratic party against 
a bourbonism which kept it chained to a dead 
past. The movement led to the nomination of 
Horace Greeley for president, by a formidable 
rebellious faction called "Liberal Republicans" 
and also by the democratic party, whereby 'the 
latter turned its back on its traditions and on 
some of its principles. Dissatisfaction and dis- 
gust with local conditions had particularly pre- 
pared those Nebraska republicans who were 
courageous enough, to revolt even in the cause 
of reform for the general weal. 

At a mass meeting of liberal republicans, held 
in Nebraska City, the last week in April, Geo. 
W. Ambrose and John McCormick, of Omaha. 
Dr. Renner, of Nebraska City, and A. W. Kel- 
logg, of Lincoln, were chosen as delegates to 
the liberal republican national convention, 
which was held in Cincinnati. In June and 
July, David Butler, ex-governor ; Oliver P. 
Mason, chief justice of the supreme court : 
Thomas W. Tipton, United States senator ; 
Monroe L. Hayward, many years afterward a 
United States senator; Experience Estabrook, 
ex-attorney-general : and Elder John M. 
Young, of Lincoln, all prominent republicans, 
made speeches for Greeley. Hayward, Mason, 
and J. Sterling Morton spoke at a Greeley 
meeting in Nebraska City. Spectacles of like 
incongruity are found only in the proverbial 
strange bedfellowships of politics ; though 
all three of these men were inclined to in- 
dependent action. Mr. Hayward also signed 
the call for the liberal republican state conven- 
tion held this year. The prematurity of this 
attempted local fusion almost equaled the like 
attempt in the national campaign, and in such 
conditions sticcess in either case was not to bt 



expected. The signal failure of this reform 
movement in its national aspect greatly 
strengthened the regulars locally and left them 
in power until the successful populist revolt 
twenty years later. A republican convention 
was held at Lincoln, May 15th and 16th, for 
the purpose of choosing delegates to the na- 
tional convention. The strained formality of 
long lists of vice presidents and large commit- 
tees and tedious two-day sessions, even, with 
but a single simple function to perform, was 
still in vogue. The remarkable feature of the 
convention was the advocacy of popular elec- 
tion, not only of United States senators, one 
of our present-day most prominent objective 
reforms, but federal administrative officers in 
general. Acquiescence by this body in nation- 
al political conditions was perfunctory and a 
matter of course. 

But that devil which had so long insiiircd 
the local republican machine was content to 
recognize, monk-like, the sickness of the na- 
tional organization and to prescribe civil ser- 
vice reform : and revenue reform, also, by "ad- 
justment of the tariff until protection shall bear 
equally upon the difTerent sections of the coun- 
try." The republican organ at Omaha con- 
tinued its complaints against the northeastern 
sectional tariff policy, but to which the party 
throughout the west fell complete captive dur- 
ing; the following decade. 

The democratic convention, held at Lincoln 
on the 20th of June, joined the Greeley reform 
movement, which had been formally started at 
the Cincinnati convention. Notwithstanding 
the consistency and justification of the reform 
slogan, of which there was forcible local illus- 
tration, and the considerable license allowed in 
politics for strange bedfellowship, the incon- 
gruity between the leader and the new depart- 
ure following was too great to be taken se- 
riously. The moral efifect of this independent 
protest was lasting and greatly aided the log- 
ical leadership of Tilden to sweep the country 
— by the popular vote at least — four years 
later, and substantial victory eight years later 
still. Greeley and his traditions were a dish 
bitterer than crow for bourbons of the Mor- 
ton type, who were leaders of the Nebraska 
deniocrac\'; but their lane of defeats had been 



POLITICAL DISRUPTION OF 1872 



557 



very long, with still no sign of turning, and 
anything that involved a possibility of change 
doubtless seemed better than to further pursue 
the monotonously direct course to failure. 

In the fall there was a formal fusion of 
democrats and liberal republicans for the local 
campaign by the same methods which were 
employed by democrats and popidists in and 
after 1894. Henry C. Lett of Nemaha county, 
headed the fusion ticket as candidate for gov- 
ernor; James M. Woolworth of Douglas coun- 
ty, was nominated for chief justice of the 
supreme court ; and Jesse F. Warn.ir of Da- 
kota county, for member of the lower house 
of Congress. At the republican convention, 
held Sepember 4th, Robert W. Furnas was 
nominated for governor, and George B. Lake 
for chief justice of the supreme court. John 
TatTe was at last retired from Nebraska poli- 
tics by this convention, and Lorenzo Crounse, 
an improvement in ability and virility, was 
nominated for member of the national House 
of Rei)resentatives. in his stead. Lett, Wool- 
worth. Warner, Lake, and Crounse were all 
men of a higher average of character and 
ability than previous nominees for the same 
offices. While not nearly as bright a man as 
his opponent, Mr. Furnas had an advantage 
of military prestige and as a pioneer devotee 
and demonstrator of horticulture and agri- 
culture. 

It can only be said that the political canvass 
of 1872 was less acrimonious than its Inter 
predecessors. The recent shocking exposure 
of crookedness which had characterized the 
whole career of the state ought to have 
caused a reaction which would have assured 
the nomination for governor of a man above 
corruption or suspicion. But the relentless 
editor of the Omaha Herald remembered that, 
as a member of the third territorial legisla- 
ture, Furnas had been charged with receiv- 
ing a bribe to vote against the removal of the 
capital from Omaha to Douglas City, and the 
Herald opened its campaign with specific re- 
iteration of the old accusations. The fact 
that fear of defeat drove Furnas to boldl) 
meet the accuser by beginning a libel suit 
against the Herald at least indicates the ap- 
pearance, or reappearance, of a public con- 



science, though friends of the candidate, much 
shrewder than he, advised against this course 
as unnecessary and unwise. There were 
counter charges that Lett had fraudulently 
obtained twenty thousand acres of the state's 
public improvement lands for the Brownville, 
Fort Kearney & Pacific railroad company, of 
which he was president, by making a false 
affidavit that ten miles of the road had been 
constructed when rails had been laid on only 
seven miles, and all of the work done was of 
very inferior quality. Incidentally, the 
Omaha & Southwestern, or the Atchison & 
Nebraska company had been thus swindled 
out of a just right to these lands. John J. 
Gosper, republican candidate for secretary of 
state, was also smirched by the campaign 
character-painters. 

Because the independent or insurrectionary 
movement meant chiefly a "new departure," 
looking to the weakening or breaking of now 
unnecessary and only hurtful party bonds — 
this purpose was emphasized by Greeley — it 
was premature. It also unwisely sought to 
unite incongruous political elements. Greeley, 
therefore, carried only six states, all of the 
south. Economic conditions in Nebraska still 
encouraged dependence on the paternalistic 
republican party, and notwithstanding the de- 
fection of many of its influential leaders, it 
was successful by an increased majority of 
about 6,000. But the charge of bribery 
against Furnas was not ineffective, and he 
ran about 600 behind the average vote for his 
party ticket. 

The fifth legislature met in the ninth ses- 
sion, being the third regular session. January 
9. 1873, and finally adjourned March 3, 1873. 
William A. Gwyer of Douglas county, was 
elected president of the senate, Guy C. Bar- 
ton of JJncoln county, the democratic candi- 
date, receiving only two votes. Mark H. Ses- 
sions of Lancaster county, was elected speaker 
of the house: his opponent, R. F. Steven- 
son of Cuming county, receiving only seven 
votes. 

Acting Governor James, who had at least 
successfully held on to his office with perti- 
nacity against the schemes and machinations 
of the Lincoln machine, in his retiring mes- 



558 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



sage to the legislature expressed the hope 
that "the animosities engendered by the fierce 
political strifes through which we have passed 
in the last two years, may be buried and for- 
gotten." Practical encouragement to immi- 
gration was still urgently needed, and the 
message justly commended the Burlington & 
Missouri and the Union Pacific railroad com- 
panies "for their material aid in advancing 
this important interest." In the face of the 
chronic denunciation of the State University 
as a failure by the (Jmaha press, the message 
commended its purpose and progress — a 
needed, and, coming from the North Platte, 
a notable concession. 

Governor Furnas in his inaugural address 
complained that the law exempting lands 
planted to trees from taxation had become 
oppressive, causing an annual loss to the state 
in revenue of $200,000: he urged the revision 
of the constitution in the most expeditious 
manner possible ; recommended the develop- 
ment of coal and salt deposits by the state ; 
and insisted that the Indians should be re- 
moved from their reservations, and from the 
state. Governor Furnas was a man of hu- 
mane and gentle impulses, and to the Indians 
the persistent determination to dispossess them 
of their ancient domains was cruel. But 
this was a question of economic competition, 
which is in its nature relentless, and l)y its 
pressure within a decade three of the tribes 
of the weaker race were forced to go because 
they were the weaker race. 

Political turbulence, which had thus far 
characterized the state's career, had apparent- 
ly exhausted itself. No doubt the formidable 
beginning of dismemberment of the dominant 
party had also a sobering efifect ; and so the 
session of the legislature was not marked by 
so much as a single violent episode or even 
by any procedure of unusual importance. 
William F. Cody, beter known as BulTalo 
Bill, was the democratic candidate for mem- 
ber of the house from the twenty-sixth dis- 
trict and according to the returns of the 
board of canvassers of the district he was 
elected by a majority of 44 votes. The re- 
port of the committee on privileges and elec- 
tions disclosed that the clerk of Harlan 



county had neglected to transmit the returns 
of the election in that county to the can- 
vassers of Lincoln county as he was by law 
required to do. The committee found that by 
counting the votes of Harlan county, D. P. 
Ashburn, Cody's opponent, was elected by a 
majority of 42 votes. The house thereupon 
decided to "go behind the returns" of the 
canvassers and seat Ashburn. Mr. Cody did 
not appear to clairu the seat, and the errone- 
ous popular belief that he was a member of 
the legislature arose from the finding of the 
canvassers of Lincoln county who were au- 
thorized to canvass the returns of the seven 
counties comprising the district. 

Two resolutions were reported in the house 
authorizing the resubmission of the constitu- 
tion of 1871 with such changes as the legisla- 
ture might make. The majority of the com- 
mittee to whom they were referred recom- 
mended the adoption of one of them (H. R. 
71 ), but Babcock's minority report, which con- 
tended that the proposed "revision and sub- 
mission of the so-called new constitution" 
was beyond the powers of the legislature, and 
recommended that the question of calling a 
new constitutional convention be submitted to 
a vote of the people at the next general elec- 
tion, was adopted ; and thus the foundation 
was laid for the convention of 1875. 

Erroneous information that a bill to remove 
the capital had passed, sent to the Omaha 
newspapers on the 12th, led them to expose 
their anti-Lincoln animus. The next morning 
the Herald entitled its editorial leader, "Move 
It, yes, move It !" and the Republican was 
equally vociferous. On the same day, also, 
over-sanguine removalists telegraphed to 
Senator Hitchcock at Washington, that the 
capital was on wheels, Lincoln was dead, and 
an appropriation for a postoffice was needless. 
A motion to indefinitely postpone this bill was 
lost by a vote of 14 to 22 ; but it was not diffi- 
cult to demoralize the removalists because they 
could not agree on a new location, and the 
bill was finally laid on the table by a vote 
of 25 to 11, six members from the North 
Platte — Bartlett and Goodman of Douglas 
county. May of Dodge, Nelson of Burt, Sprick 
of Washington, and Tzschuck of Sarpy — 





^/ 



/-vi^t^ 



P()LITICAL DISRUPTION OF 1872 



559 



voting with the majority. The eleven who 
voted against the motion were all of the 
North Platte section, except Brown, of Cass. 
Two of the six members from Douglas voted 
for postponement. 

The Bcc. February 19, 187v5, declared, "that 
Lincoln could not remain the permanent seat 
of state government must be conceded on all 
hands.'-' It ofifered as a salve for its unwar- 
ranted cocksure conclusion the theory or argu- 
nient that the Herald had used when Omaha 
lost the capital, namely ; that Lincoln as a city 
was now a fixed fact and would not per- 
manently suffer from removal. Its solicitude 
for getting the capital away was ostensibly 
based on a condition, not a theory. "A most 
pernicious atmosphere of corruption sur- 
rounds our legislators whenever they assemble 
there." 

Reiterated charges by the press that the act 
of the legislature authorizing the construction 
of a state penitentiary had been corruptly vio- 
lated by the state prison inspectors in entering 
into a contract whose consideration greatly 
exceeded the proceeds of the lands which 
were appropriated to pay for the structure, 
and that the contractors, Stout and Jamison, 
had done dishonest and inferior work, forced 
the legislature to enter on an investigation. 
A. K. White, J. S. Brown, Charles L. Metz, 
and R. H. Wilbur of the house committee on 
the penitentiary made a majority report which 
was little more or less than a whitewash. 
Henry Sprick made a minority report which 
contended that the original act appropriating 
the fifty sections of pententiary land for the 
purpose of building a penitentiary and the 
amendatory act granting twenty additional 
sections, "commonly known as the capitol 
building lands," for the same purpose, clearly 
contemplated that the cost of the building 
should be limited to the proceeds of the lands, 
and that tiie contract made June 13, 1870, 
providing for an expenditure of $307,950, an 
amount in excess of the proceeds of the lands, 
violated the law. The report showed also 
that the builders had not complied with the 
specifications. A special investigating com- 
mittee of the house, consisting of Silas Gar- 
ber, M. Dunham, A. H. Babcock, L. M. 



Howard, and C. W. Wheeler, made an ex- 
tended inquiry in which many witnesses were 
examined. All of the members of the com- 
mittee excepting Wheeler joined in applying 
a finishing coat of whitewash to the trans- 
action. Mr. Wheeler's minority report re- 
enforced that of Mr. Sprick. He pointed out 
that the provision of the original act, which 
limited the time for the erection of the build- 
ing to one year, clearly showed that it was 
the intention of the act to limit the expendi- 
ture to the proceeds of the appropriation of 
fifty thousand acres of land. This time limit 
was not extended by the legislature until 
February 10, 1871, eight months after the 
excessive contract had been made. Experi- 
ence proved, what this unlawful contract 
showed on its face, that its execution would 
take a great many years. Mr. Wheeler con- 
tended that if the inspectors who executed 
the contract could bind the state for any 
amount whatever beyond the appropriation 
they could have so bound it to an unlim- 
ited amount, and that the proposed building 
was disproportionate to the needs and finan- 
cial condition of the state. In July, 1870, 
new plans and specifications were improperly 
substituted for the originals ; inferior lime was 
used in the walls when the specifications 
called for cement ; and heading courses had 
been omitted. 

The administration of our great public land 
trust has been distinguished by gross frauds 
during the last forty years, but it is only imder 
the administration of the late strenuous execu- 
tive that the honest determination and indom 
itable will requisite for their detection and 
punishment have come together. In that ear- 
lier heyday of fraud and profligacy it would 
not be expected that a legislature of Nebraska, 
whose paramount fealty was party fetichisni, 
would have the will to find the way to fraud 
in the sale of the penitentiary land if the vo- 
ciferous allegations of their perpetration were 
true. The Omaha newspapers led of course 
in these charges of fraud. The Herald alleged 
that lands were sold for two dollars an acre 
which under an honest sale would have 
brought from five dollars to ten dollars. The 
Republican was equally censorious. "It seems 



560 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



to us that $307,000 was a pretty large sum for 
the prison inspectors to pay for a penitentiary 
in so young a state and so sparsely populated, 
and it further seems to us that $174,000 was 
a low price for 44,800 acres of land." The 
lands, it was insisted, were to pay in full for 
the buildings. It was never dreamed that the 
state would be called upon for the payment 
of $160,000 or any other sum. But, as a 
matter of course, the legislature authorized 
the levy of a half mill state tax for 1873 and 
1874, and a mill tax for 1875 and 1876 to 
pay the excess which was incurred not only 
unlawfully but unreasonably. This tax was 
a grievous burden on the settlers in those 
years of grasshopper devastation and a still 
more hurtful burden for many years to come 
in the shape of Stout politics as well as 
Stout contracts. 

It was a grievous fault of the newspapers 
at that time to make extravagant and often 
reckless assertions as to malfeasance of public 
officers upon hearsay. Thus the editor of the 
Omaha Herald made the boldest charges 
against the Butler administration and in the 
penitentiary aiifair, yet in both cases, when 
summoned to testify, he as positively asserted 
that he did not know "a solitary fact" — ex- 
cept of course by hearsay. A juster public 
opinion today requires of newspapers an 
available basis of fact to justify accusations 
of this nature; and so the press is doing the 
most eiTective as well as genuine detective 
and reform work. Demands by the legisla- 
ture in the form of joint resolutions, upon 
the late acting governor, auditor, and super- 
intendent of the ipsane asylum, for funds and 
furniture belonging to the state, which, the 
resolutions alleged, had been wrongfully ap- 
propriated by those officers to their personal 
use. illustrate the continuing disgraceful public 
corruption, or else a mean and outrageously 
slanderous spirit. The legislature seconded 
the contention of the governor that the state 
should be rid of the Indians by memorializing 
Congress to that end, and continued the now 
familiar complaint of manipulation by the 
railway companies of their land grants in a 
manner unfair and oppressive to the home- 
steaders and preemptors. 



The continuing aggression of the Indiant, 
on the westerly settlements was set forth in 
a recjuest for the establishment of a military 
post, west of Red Willow county, by the 
federal government ; and the impracticability 
of leaving an uncivilized and unassimilable, 
though peaceably inclined, people in juxta- 
position with aggressive civilization was em- 
phatically set forth in a demand that the Otoe 
and Missouri, Omaha, and Pawnee be abso- 
lutely restrained from passing through the 
white settlements on their way to the hunt- 
ing grounds now beyond the frontier. 

The public scandals which had been con- 
tinuous since the organization of the state 
government — and especially since the re- 
moval of the capital to Lincoln — up to this 
period, were varied or signalized by periodical, 
explosive episodes. There was the impeach- 
ment of Governor Butler in 1871, the an- 
archical disturbances between the legislature 
and Governor James in 1872, and now, in 
1873, another famous state trial in which 
Governor Furnas, though nominally plaintifif, 
was really defendant. Furnas foolishly began 
the suit but, in view of the damaging facts 
which it judicially established, he more fool- 
ishly allowed it to be brought to trial. The 
defendants were George L. Miller and Lyman 
Richardson, publishers of the Omaha Herald. 
and they were charged with having libelously 
alleged that Furnas stipulated to receive and 
had received $3,000 in gold, while a member 
of the council of the third territorial legisla- 
ture, in 1857, to influence his vote on the 
question of the removal of the capital from 
Omaha to Douglas City. The trial began 
June 19, 1873. Oliver P. Mason, Seth 
Robinson, and John C. Corwin were counsel 
for Furnas, and Eleazer Wakeley. James W. 
Savage, and George W. Ambrose for the 
defendants. 

Furnas voted for the removal bill when it 
passed the council, but on the dilatory mo- 
tions made by its friends who favored a test 
vote on the question of passing the bill over 
the governor's veto, he changed sides and 
voted with the anti-removalists. Finney, 
member of the house from Nemaha — the 
same county which Furnas represented — ■ 



THE FURNAS LIBFX SUIT 



561 



voted against the passage of the bill. These 
two were the only members from the South 
Platte section who stood against passing the 
bill over the veto, and, more significantly, 
only the vote of each was lacking in his 
respective house to override the veto. 

Benjamin P. Rankin, who had been mem- 
ber, of the territorial legislature and also 
treasurer of the territory, was a lobbyist in 
the legislature of 1857 and conducted nego- 
tiations with Furnas. At the time of the 
trial he lived at San Jose, California, and 
Oliver P. Mason took his deposition at that 
place. In the course of his testimony he said : 
"I may have told, and probably did tell, Pop- 
pleton and others that I had paid, or was to 
pay, R. W. Furnas money in consideration of 
his vote." He also testified that he made no 
oft'er or promise of money to Furnas except 
to compensate him for loss of profit on public 
printing which might be taken away from him 
by the majority of the legislature, which fa- 
vored removal of the capital, if he should vote 
against them. The witness "understood" that 
there was $3,000 deposited at Moffat's bank 
lo secure the vote of R. W. Furnas, but did 
not see it deposited or taken from the bank. 

The following pledge which Furnas signed 
-was introduced in evidence : "I hereby pledge 
myself to oppose any and every bill for the 
removal of the capital from Omaha city at 
the present session of the legislature of 
Nebraska, and for the division of Douglas 
county and for the change of the county seat 
of said county." Furnas testified that this 
pledge was in Rankin's handwriting, but he 
himself signed it. Rankin said to him. "If 
you will sign this pledge I will protect you 
in the profits of public printing." "I think 
since," Furnas answered, "that it was very 
improper for me to sign it. Other men may 
have reaped benefits from it, and I have had 
to lav under that cloud for seventeen years." 
He expected that citizens of Douglas county 
would make up the loss of the profits on his 
contract for the territorial printing if there 
should be any, and that was the admitted 
reason why he signed the pledge. His reason 
for having torn his name from the pledge was, 
"I did not want mv name to remain there any 



more." He thought there was no impropriety 
in this. "You are aware that was the way 
things were done in those days." 

Furnas voted in accordance with the pledge 
against the Douglas county division bill and so 
against the sentiment of his section of the 
territory. 

There were printed shares of the site of 
Douglas City which were promoted by 
McComas and Nuckolls. He took some of 
these shares himself, but that was before he 
was elected a member of the council. To 
Wakeley's question, "Did you know it was a 
fact that McComas had distributed shares to 
all tlie members who would go for the re- 
moval of the capital?" he answered no. He 
admitted that he heard about the charge that 
money had been deposited for him in the 
MoflFat bank the following winter. When 
pressed to explain why he did not go to the 
bank to look up such an important matter, 
he answered, "I don't know why I didn't." 
He testified that he was never in the bank, but 
Alfred D. Jones and James A. Jackson tes- 
tified that they saw him there during the 
session of the legislature. Furnas also denied 
that he received the certificate of deposit as 
alleged by other witnesss. 

David H. Moff'at, who became a very 
prominent banker and railroad builder, ol 
Denver, Colorado, was at the time of the 
alleged bribery teller and bookkeeper of the 
Bank of Nebraska at Omaha and was only 
eighteen years of age. He testified as follows : 
"There was a sum of $3,000 deposited in the 
bank in which I was teller, to be paid to 
Robert W. Furnas on the condition that he 
voted for the retention of the capital at Oma- 
ha. I issued a certificate of deposit, payable 
on the condition above mentioned to the order 
of Robert W. Funias, and delivered that cer- 
tificate to Benjamin P. Rankin. After the 
adjournment of the legislature that winter, 
Mr. Rankin and Robert W. Furnas came into 
the bank with the certificate properly endorsed 
and satisfied me that its conditions had been 
complied with, and I paid over the money. I 
suppose that certificate is among the papers 
of the Bank of Nebraska, in the possession of 
B. F. Allen, at Fort Des Moines, in the state 



562 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



of Iowa. I do not recollect whether Rankin 
took the package of money away from the 
counter, or whether Furnas did. They were 
both together." Q. "Do you know for whose 
use the package of money was received, or 
what was to be done with it?" A. "I under- 
stood it was for the use and benefit of Robert 
W. Furnas." 

Andrew J. Poppleton testified that B. P. 
Rankin told him, "during the canvass for dele- 
gate to Congress," that he got $3,000 for Fur- 
nas on his vote on the question of capital 
removal and that Furnas used the money to 
pay debts and buy a printing press. 

Theodore H. Robertson testified that he 
saw the certificate of deposit in iNIotifat's 
bank, that it was payable to Furnas or his 
order, on condition of the defeat of the cap- 
ital removal bill and the bill for the division 
of Douglas county at that session of the legis- 
lature. Witness also saw the pledge signed 
by Furnas with the certificate of deposit. 
Joshua Hanscom's testimony showed that the 
certificate was delivered to Rankin but was 
payable to Furnas, and that he saw the pledge. 
Experience Estabrook showed that Furnas 
was in favor of the removal bill until the gov- 
ernor vetoed it. This witness also saw the 
certificate in the bank in the fall of 1858 and 
made a copy of it. William B. Hail, member 
of the first five territorial legislatures, testi- 
fied that Furnas advocated removal in the 
caticuses of the legislature which were held 
for the consideration of that question, "up to 
near the time of the bill being voted on by 
the council." 

James A. Jackson testified that Rankin 
represented to him that a fund must be raised 
to prevent the removal of the capital, and 
$3,000 was collected. Furnas asked him if 
he knew what would have to be done to pre- 
vent removal. "About the time the bill was 
to come up for final action in the council," 
said this witness, "myself and others were no- 
tified to make a deposit of the fund of $3,000 
raised that morning for Furnas, the plaintifif, 
or it would be too late. I went to the Bank 
of Omaha [Nebraska], of which one David 
Mofifat was cashier [teller], on the morning 
designated, and found plaintiff Furnas in 



waiting with Dr. Rankin. The $3,000 raised 
was that morning placed in the hands of Mr. 
Aloffat in the presence of Furnas, the plaintiiT. 
At the time the money was so deposited, Mr. 
Furnas, the plaintifif, said to me, 'My constitu- 
ents will go after me for this," or, 'make 
it mighty hot for me,' or something of that 
kind, and I have seen nothing of the money 
so deposited or any portion thereof since." 

The jury disagreed, but only two stood for 
the plaintiff, which was, of course, a damaging 
defeat. Furnas complained that sectional pre- 
judice was so strong, that he, being of the 
v^outh Platte section, could not have a fair 
trial in Douglas county, and that, through the 
influence of the defendants, "the court officer 
having principally in charge the making up 
and handling of the jury, there were and are, 
good grounds for a belief that partiality would 
be and was exercised for the defense and 
against the plaintifl:'." The defendants, on the 
other hand, alleged in the Herald that the jury 
was composed of six republicans, only four 
democrats, one "temperance party" and one 
"mixed." 

The principal tactics of the prosecution was 
to make a scapegoat of Rankin. His reputa- 
tion so nearly adjusted itself to the other cir- 
cumstances of the case as to make the theory 
that Rankin was the real culprit and beneficiary 
of the bribery fund at least very plausible. 
Mr. Co win contended in his argument to the 
jury that Rankin's testimony showed that 
Furnas was the victim of conspirators who 
divided the plunder they procured in his 
name. When the trial went against him, 
Furnas pursued the same policy by extra-ju- 
dicial methods. In January, 1873, in prepara- 
tion for the trial, he wrote to Rankin request- 
ing him to make a statement of the facts in 
relation to the charges as he remembered 
them, as he thought it might lead to a settle- 
ment of the suit without trial. Rankin's reply 
was evasive and of little help to Furnas, so 
that it became necessary to take his deposition. 
After the trial, Furnas made a passionate ap- 
peal to Rankin to write a statement exonerat- 
ing hiiii from the guilt which the evidence and 
the verdict of the trial had fastened upon him, 
and the response was more favorable, though 



THE FURNAS LIBEL SUIT 



563 



still equivocal. James A. Jackson and David 
H. Moffat wrote letters to Furnas in which 
they expressed a belief that he had been the 
innocent victim of a base conspiracy. Fur- 
nas was severely criticised for publishing these 
letters of his friend Rankin, who had admon- 
ished him to regard them as confidential. 

The testimony of David H. Moffat that he 
made out the certificate of deposit of the 
$3,000 payable to Furnas, which Furnas and 
Rankin afterward brought to the bank "prop- 
erly endorsed," and of Theodore H. Robert- 
son that about eighteen months afterward he 
saw the certificate so described in Moffat's 
Ijank, with the strong corroborative evidence, 
is very difficult to overcome or explain away , 
but it leaves some room for the theory that 
Rankin fooled Furnas with promises and ac- 
tually got all the money himself. But Fur- 
nas's own admissions leave him in a plight 
but little better than if he had confessed to 
taking the money itself. Though the Bee was 
only less hostile and aggressive in personal 
attack than the Herald, yet its estimate of 
Furnas's admissions seems fair and correct : 
"I'hat testimony needs no comment. It proves 
that things were 'loosely managed in those 
days.' It exhibits a lack of moral stamina 
that was properly characterized by one of the 
able legal councillors [counsel] of the gov- 
ernor as decidedly compromising. . . The 
admissions made by the plaintiff are, how- 
ever, of such a nature that we cannot compre- 
hend what can be gained by dragging this suit 
to another court or before another jury." But 
Furnas came to comprehend that nothing 
could be gained for himself by a retrial, and 
he dismissed the suit notwithstanding his pre- 
mature and too heroic declaration that he 
would "be further vindicated though it cost 
me my last dime and last breath." The un- 
usual temptations and vicious practices inci- 
dent to newly formed societies are commonly 
but unwisely pleaded in palliation of dishon- 
esty in public relations. Moreover, there were 
public servants in Nebraska from the begin- 
ning who walked uprightly. 

There were no general elections in the state 
in 1873 and so no partisan convention, but a 
convention of the "Grand Castle of the Order 



of American Farmers and Mechanics of Ne- 
braska" was held in Lincoln July 29 and 30, 
1873. The resolutions adopted declared that 
while the objects of the order were to exert a 
general benevolent, beneficent, educational in- 
fluence, yet a part of its duty was to rid legis- 
latures and the federal Congress of monopo- 
lists and corruptionists and procure the pas- 
sage and enforcement of just laws, etc. ; that 
the beneficiaries of the "back and increased 
pay" in Congress were knowingly guilty of a 
gross and brazen fraud upon the nation ; that 
freight and passenger railroad tariffs on trunk 
lines were unjust and oppressive; that there 
should be no pooling or combinations of rail- 
roads ; no subsidy for railroads or other cor- 
porations — hotels, printing companies, and 
flouring mills were as much entitled to such 
aid as railroads ; that the members of the or- 
der were friends to the railroads as servants 
but opposed to them as masters ; and that or- 
ganization of all industrial classes was neces- 
sary. 

All of the state conventions of 1874 were 
held in Lincoln. The republican convention 
was in session September 2d and 3d. Charles 
H. Gere of Lancaster county, was temporary 
chairman and Nathan K. Griggs of Gage 
county, president. Lorenzo Crounse of Wash- 
ington county, was nominated by acclamation 
for member of Congress for a second term. 
Silas Garber of Webster county, was nomi- 
nated for governor on the first ballot ; Patrick 
O. Hawes of Douglas county, for contingent 
member of Congress; Bruno Tzschuck of 
Sarpy county, for secretary of state ; J. C. 
McBride of Colfax county, for treasurer ; 
George H. Roberts of Harlan county, for at- 
torney-general ; J. M. McKenzie of Nemaha 
county, for superintendent of public instruc- 
tion ; Nathan S. Porter of Dixon county, for 
state prison inspector. Two of the state offi- 
cers, Governor Furnas and Attorney-General 
Webster, were denied the customary second 
term — • Furnas, because of the scandals asso- 
ciated with his political career, and Webster, 
because he had not been as subservient to the 
ruling political powers as safety demanded, 
and, in particular, because with imprudent 
temerity he had begun suit for the state against 



564 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Thomas P. Kennard to recover proceeds ot 
the sale of certain lots pf the capitol site 
which, the petition alleged, the defendant had 
not accounted for. 

The platform contained a timid recommend- 
ation for return to a metallic basis for money ; 
a milder insinuation of the monopolistic ten- 
dency of the national bank system ; a positive 
declaration against a presidential third term, 
aimed at signs of a movement to again nomi- 
nate General Grant in 1876; and positive de- 
nunciation of political outrages in the south- 
ern states and of the so-called Quaker Indian 
policy which had "failed to afford either bene- 
fits to the Indians or protection to the frontier 
settlers." The declaration in favor of an 
amendment to the federal constitution provid 
ing for the election by direct popular vote of 
the president, vice president, and all other fed- 
eral officers, and also of United States sena- 
tors, superficially regarded, seems an inex- 
plicable freak of radicalism ; but it should 
probably be accounted for on the ground that 
the republican party then still felt the pro- 
gressive impulse of youth and had not yet 
attained the condition of an almost reaction- 
ary defender of vested interests, now popu- 
larly known as "big business," which charac- 
terized it for about a quarter of a century and 
up to the revival of recent years. There was 
an ajiologetic show of protest against exces- 
sive railroad rates, earnest of the long innocu- 
ous policy of the party which was to follow. 
The pristine radicalism of the party broke cut 
also in the declaration favoring the establish- 
ment and operation by the federal government 
of a double-track railroad from the Missouri 
river to the Atlantic seaboard ; and in view of 
the burden imposed upon people and products 
by the still uncontrolled system of private 
ownership, it would perhaps be rash to stig- 
matize this policy of the young republican 
party as radical. The demand for equable 
taxation of railroad property was direct, and 
it was emphasized and particularized by the 
request for the passage of the bill for taxing 
non-patented subsidy railroad lands in the 
state, which had been introduced in Congress 
by Mr. Crounse. 

The convention recognized that there was 



by this time a positive and growing popular 
sentiment in favor of stricter control of the 
liquor traffic, by advising that the question of 
incorporating prohibition, local option, and 
license in the new constitution be submitted 
separately. A resolution offered by ex-Gov- 
ernor David Butler declaring in favor of a 
local option law which should empower the 
people of the several towns, precincts, and 
municipalities to decide to prohibit or regu- 
late the sale of intoxicating liquors, was de- 
feated by a vote of 47 to 181. Governor But- 
ler led in the debate in favor of the resolution 
and Edward Rosewater against it. 

The "People's Independent Convention" 
met September 8th, with about one hundred 
delegates in attendance. J. F. Gardner of 
Richardson county was temporary chairman 
and A. Deyo of Cass, temporary secretary. 
Robert R. Livingston of Cass was president 
and John D. Calhoun of Franklin, secretary 
of the permanent organization, j. F. (^lard- 
ner was nominated for governor ; Fred \\'eibe 
of Hall county, for secretary of state ; Thomp- 
son Bissell of Saunders county, for attorney- 
general ; R. H. Walker of Douglas county, 
for state prison inspector ; J. M. McKenzie of 
Nemaha county, for state superintendent of 
l)ublic instruction ; James W. Davis of Doug- 
las county, for member of Congress, and John 
D. Calhoun for contingent congressman. The 
platform declared with emphasis that all po- 
litical power is inherent in the people ; in fa- 
vor of the restoration of gold and silver as the 
basis of the currency and the resumption of 
specie jjayment "at the earliest practicable day 
without injury to the business interests of the 
country," and the maintenance of the credit 
of the country until the resumption of specie 
payment by "a system of currency based upon 
the credit of the nation, issued by the govern- 
ment directly to the people" ; opposed all com- 
binations and devices that tend to increase 
the cost of transportation beyond a fair re- 
muneration to the carrier ; and demanded the 
exercise of all constitutional powers to 
remedy these evils ; opposed any further land 
grants, subsidies to steamships, and all dona- 
tions of bonds to aid public enterprises : fa- 
vored a tariff' for revenue only ; demanded the 



POLITICAL CONVENTIONS OF 1874 



565 



election of President and L'nited States sen- 
ators by a direct vote of the people; favored 
strictest economy in all public affairs ; stated 
that taxes in the state were high beyond en- 
durance and must be reduced ; favored re- 
vision of homestead laws and a memorial to 
Congress for relief of homesteaders in the 
grasshopper district ; declared that interstate 
commerce should be regulated by Congress 
and that railroad pools like that of the Bur- 
lington and Missouri, Chicago & Northwest- 
ern, Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, and Kan- 
sas City, St. Joe & Council Bluffs, be pro- 
hibited so that competition might be encour- 
aged. 

The democratic state convention was held 
in the opera house, September 10th. E. A. 
Allen of Douglas county was temporary chair- 
man and Frank P. Ireland of Otoe, temporary 
secretary. Mr. Allen was president of the 
permanent organization ; Samuel Cowdrey of 
Saline county, J. W. Pollock of Cuming, Lor- 
en Miller of Douglas, Dr. John Black of Cass, 
and Israel Loomis of Johnson, vice presi- 
dents ; Frank P. Ireland and F. G. Beecher of 
Platte county, secretaries. A committee con- 
sisting of J. F. Morton, Stephen H. Calhoun, 
Benjamin Hankins, Milton Montgomery, and 
James E. North reported the following plat- 
form which was adopted by the convention : 
1st. The restoration of gold and silver as the 
basis of currency; resumption of specie pay- 
ments as soon as possible without disaster to 
the business interests of the country by stead- 
ily opposing inflation and by the payment of 
the national indebtedness in the money of the 
civilized world. 2d. Individual liberty and 
opposition to sumptuary or prohibition laws, 
free commerce, and no tariff except for reve- 
nue purposes. 3d. Rigid restriction of the 
governments, both state and national, to the 
legitimate domain of political power by ex- 
cluding therefrom all executive and legislative 
intermeddling with the affairs of society, 
whereby monopolies are fostered, privileged 
classes aggrandized, and individual freedom 
unnecessarily and oppressively restrained. 4th 
The right and duty of the state to protect 
its citizens from extortion and unjust discrim- 
ination by chartered monopolies. 5th. That 



we appreciate the beneficial influence of rail- 
roads in developing the resources of the coun- 
try, and favor liberal legislation in that 
direction, but only on a basis of taxation 
equitable in its application both to citizens and 
to corporations. 6th. That we believe the 
people are the source of all power and that 
their will and not the wishes of mere party 
demagogues should govern and form the real 
basis of all republican governments. 

The following nominations were made with- 
out opposition : P'or governor, Albert Tux- 
bury of Otoe county; secretary of state, John 
A. Fatherly of York county ; treasurer, Rob- 
ert C. Jordan of Hall county; attorney-gen- 
eral, Milton Montgomery of Lancaster coun- 
ty ; superintendent of public instruction, Eli 
Huber of Otoe county ; state prison inspector, 
R. H. Walker of Douglas county; member 
of Congress, James W. Savage of Douglas 
county. Only twenty-eight of the fifty-eight 
counties on the secretary's list were repre- 
sented. 

The republicans foreshadowed the facile 
opportunism which later came to characterize 
their party by making theirs the most radical 
of the three platforms. The money plank of 
the democrats shows that they had ceased to 
follow the greenback god of Pendletomsm, 
where J. Sterling Morton had led them a few 
years before, and it is more orthodox than 
the republican declaration. The independents 
contradicted themselves by demanding a re- 
turn to specie payment, but also that its way 
be blocked by an intermediate system of un- 
covered paper currency. They took what was 
then advanced ground in favor of the regula- 
tion of interstate commerce by Congress, a 
position which the already apparent and to be 
long continued devotion of the leaders of the 
two old parties to railroad interests prevented 
them from assuming ; and so their declara- 
tions on this subject were perfunctory gen- 
eralities, lacking point and specification essen- 
tial to real meaning. The declaration of the 
republicans in favor of the construction of a 
railroad by the federal government and poo- 
ular election of United States senators and 
federal officers was a temporary lapse or aber- 



566 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ration, and misrepresented the dominant in- 
fluence of the party at that time. 

The first prohibition convention to nomi- 
nate a state ticket was held September 9th. 
It kept the middle of the road, steadfastly 
refusing to endorse the nominations of the 
other parties save one. Notably, also, the 
convention declared in favor of a currency 
convertible into gold and silver but upon a 
gold basis. This is the first declaration dis- 
tinctly favoring a gold standard ever made 
by a party convention in Nebraska. Besides 
demanding prohibition of the sale of intoxi- 
cating liquors, the convention called for the 
lowest rates of railroad transportation. But 
the influence of the railroad corporations was 
soon able to check this rising popular reform 
sentiment, and through the subserviency of the 
political leaders they were able to hold it in 
virtual subjection for upwards of thirty years. 

Though the political campaign this year was 
much milder than its predecessors under the 
state government, yet the republicans were 
again vigorously assailed on account of the 
continuiiig corruption, now centered in the 
Kennard-Stout ring, successors to the Butler 
regime. The staunch party habit of that pe- 
riod inevitably induced ring and boss domi- 
nance and graft, which in turn commanded 
the submission of all aspirants to place and 
power, irrespective of their original inclina- 
tion to cleanliness or corruption. The report 
of the Garber penitentiary investigating com- 
mittee was adduced to show the subserviency 
of the reitublican candidate for governor to 
the dominant ring. This report, it was 
charged, whitewashed "the most monstrous 
system of swindling that has occurred in the 
w-hole history of the state." That the pen- 
chant for personal attack still survived, ap- 
peared in the showing that Roberts, repub- 
lican candidate for attorney-general, while 
captain in the Nineteenth Pennsylvania cav- 
alry, had been dishonorably discharged in 
1S64. The re]niblicans, however, published 
an order issued liy direction of the president 
"to correct the record" and to issue an hon- 
orable discharge. It was contended that the 
first order was obtained through spite. 

The repul)lican candidate for governor re- 



ceived 21,568 votes; the democratic candidate, 
8,946; the people's independent candidate, 
4,159; and the prohibition candidate, 1,346. 
The vote for the rest of the candidates did 
not vary much from that for the heads of the 
tickets, except that Roberts, candidate for at- 
torney-general, received only 19,797 votes, 
while his fusion opponent. General Montgom- 
ery, whose career in the Civil war left him 
with an empty sleeve, received 15,709. The 
proposal for a constitutional convention car- 
ried by a vote of 18,067 to 3,880. The opposi- 
tion was scattered irrespective of sections — 
Burt, Cass, Dixon, Dodge, Nemaha, Otoe, 
Pawnee, Platte, and Sarpy making the lar- 
gest relative showing. In this campaign the 
Omaha Bee fairly entered on its long course 
of peculiarly aggressive and relentless person- 
al political journalism which destroyed a large 
number of political ambitions — in most cases, 
however, to the public advantage. At this 
time, Mr. Hitchcock, United States senator, 
was Mr. Rosewater's principal target and his 
fire proved fatal. For defense the senator, 
striving for reelection, bought the Union. 
John Taffe was again editor of the Republi- 
can, which pursued a conservative course and 
so considered the Union a useless injection in- 
to the already overfilled field of Omaha jour- 
nalism. 

Butler, the star of the political stage, hav- 
ing been driven ofif, Kennard was now the 
principal target of the anti-graft fire. His 
faults, though similar to Butler's, were not 
tempered by the latter's virtue of open-hand- 
edness and natural leadership. Kennard's al- 
leged acquisitiveness would have done credit 
to the public land grafters of the present day. 
It was recklessly asserted that by virtue of 
his office of secretary of state and capital 
commissioner, with a salary of $600, his prof- 
its on the sale of Lincoln lots were half a 
million dollars. It was charged that Govern- 
or Furnas falsely denied that he had appointed 
Kennard state agent, under the act of the 
legislature of February 8, 1873, to recover 
what might be due the state under the pro- 
vision entitling it to the usual five ])er centuni 
for lands filed upon with military bounty war- 
rants and on account of the Indian reserva- 



THE KENNARD CLAIMS 



567 



tions, and also to have swamp lands given 
over to the state. It was vehemently insisted 
that Kennard was not fit for the agency and 
that he could not consistently undertake it if, 
in view of his public record, the people were 
suspicious of him. 

The charge that Furnas had secretly ap- 
pointed Kennard agent arose from the asser- 
tions that during the year 1873 he diligently 
prosecuted the claims of the state in Wash- 
ington while his contract with the state for 
that purpose was not executed until October 
15, 1874. Mr. Kennard based his contention 
that under the enabling act the state was en- 
titled to five per cent of the aggregate value 
of all the Indian reservations in the state, 
rated at $1.25 an acre, on similar allowances 
made under specific acts of Congress to the 
states of Arkansas and Mississippi. The so- 
licitor of the Indian department approved the 
claim, the total percentage amounting to about 
$58,000, but the comptroller of the treasury 
refused to concur in the decision. After the 
passage of the acts authorizing the sale of 
the Pawnee and the Otoe and Missouri reser- 
vations, Kennard again presented his claim, 
this time asking for five per cent of the ac- 
tual proceeds of the sale of the lands. On the 
14th of January, 1881, the commissioner of 
the general land office decided to allow the 
claim as to the Pawnee reservation, five per 
cent of the sales amounting to $43,807.42, 
and $27,043.99 was actually paid to the state ; 
but then the decision of the land commission- 
er was questioned, and no more payments 
were made. The first payment on account 
of the sale of the Pawnee lands, amounting 
to $6,275.47, was made direct to the state, 
but Governor Nance denied Mr. Kennard's 
application for half that sum according to the 
terms of his contract with the state. A bill 
appropriating the amount of this claim passed 
both houses of the legislature in 1883, but 
owing to the neglect of the secretary of the 
senate it was not presented to the proper offi- 
cers of that body for signature. In 1895, the 
legislature passed a resolution permitting Mr. 
Kennard to sue the state on his contract, and 
in a suit begun in the district court of Lan- 
caster county, May 29, 1897, he obtained a 



judgment for $13,521.99 — half of the 
amount the state had received on account 
of the Pawnee sales. But on appeal 
to the supreme court the judgment was re- 
versed on the ground that the reservation was 
public land and therefore it was within the 
provision of the act of 1873 authorizing the 
appointment of the agent which excepted cash 
sales of public lands. The supreme court of 
the United States refused to assume jurisdic- 
tion on appeal because no federal question had 
been pleaded in the state court, but it inci- 
dentally held, what Mr. Kennard's attorneys 
contended for in the state supreme court in a 
rehearing, that the reservation did not consti- 
tute public lands. In support of this conten- 
tion, they showed, conclusively, it would seem, 
that the reservation had been segregated from 
the public lands when it had been conveyed to 
the tribe in question, and that the United 
States accounted to the Indians for the pro- 
ceeds of the sale of the lands. By the final 
decision, then, of the land department, con- 
curred in by the dictum of the sujireme court 
of the United States, the state was not legally 
entitled to the money it received, but still holds 
by a characteristic quip of the law. The state 
then unjustly remains the beneficiary of one- 
half of the $27,043.99, which it is not dis- 
puted Mr. Kennard procured for it. 

The sixth legislature convened in the fourth 
regular session, January 7, 1875. There were 
only fi f teen opposition members — democrats 
and independents — in both houses, and the 
officers were chosen without party division. 
Nathan K. Griggs of Gage county was chosen 
president of the senate and Edward S. Towle 
speaker of the house — both unanimously. 
Daniel H. Wheeler of Cass county was elected 
secretary of the senate, receiving ten votes 
against three for Thomas Wolfe of Seward 
county. George L. Brown of Butler county 
was elected chief clerk of the house, receiving 
27 votes against 7 for E. S. Chadwick and 4 
for F. M. Dorrington. 

The governor's message to the legislature 
contains an unusual amount of information 
relative to the afifairs of the state. L-p to this 
time the state's growth and development had 
been obstructed by the same influence which 



568 



HISTORY OF NEP.RASKA 



usually causes and extends industrial depres- 
sions : namely, lack of public confidence. At 
last, it seemed, the conditions for great agri- 
cultural prosperity had come to be quite gen- 
erally recognized. "The crude and erroneous 
idea formerly prevailing as to the adaptability 
of our entire state to profitable cultivation, 
has been exploded by actual experiment. Our 
population has quite doubled itself within two 
years past, numbering now, without doubt, at 
least three hundred thousand souls." Thence- 
forth success would fatten upon itself. 

But the financial condition of the state gov- 
ernment was bad. Delinquent taxes amounted 
to $599,460.47. "The disbursements desig- 
nated for the past two years were $600,000, 
while the revenues were but $400,000." The 
trouble was ascribed largely to exemptions 
and evasions. The total valuation for tax- 
able purposes was eighty million dollars, while 
there was "not less than three hundred million 
dollars worth of property in the state which 
should be made to yield revenue." But the 
principal cause of the excessive taxation com- 
plained of was extravagant local expenditure 
and indebtedness. The aggregate local indebt- 
edness, as shown by statements from the sev- 
eral counties, was nearly $4,500,000. The gov- 
ernor urged that "additional restraining yjro- 
visions be thrown around the mode and man- 
ner of voting aid to the various and lumierous 
enterprises so frequently presented to the peo- 
ple." Exclusive of the two-mill tax for school 
purposes the state tax levy was four and one- 
fourth mills, and "a judiciously adjusted sys- 
tem of revenue could be made to reduce this 
one-half to three-fourths at least." 

But notwithstanding the inequital)le and 
generally defective system of taxation, state 
warrants were at par, and those registered had 
all been paid. There was no bonded indebted- 
ness ; but the permanent investment of the 
common school fund, comprising general fund 
warrants, $184,119.67, "and certificate of state 
indebtedness for a former investment under 
authority of law, $158,837.67, amounted to 
$342,957. ,34, drawing ten per cent annual in- 
terest." The auditor's report, December 15, 
1874, showed that there were building fund 
warrants outstanding in the amount of $43,- 



812.19, which, with accrued interest, $17,- 
524.84, amounted to $61,337.03. The re- 
sources with which to meet these warrants 
were 314 Lincoln lots and 8,000 acres of saline 
lands. The governor stated that "these war- 
rants were originally issued without authority 
of law', for expenditures in excess of appro- 
Ijriations for the erection of the capitol, in- 
sane, and university buildings," and that they 
were subsequently ratified by an act of the 
legislature and ordered paid from the building 
fund. The only resources of this fund re- 
maining were Lincoln city lots, "their entire 
value not being stifficient to meet the interest 
alone." A bill (H. R. 206) providing for the 
payment of these warrants, was introduced at 
this session, and a committee to investigate the 
proposition reported that they were issued in 
payment of expenditures on the construction 
of the State University and that they were a 
valid claim against the state. The committee 
recommended, "that said warrants be paid out 
of the state general fund, and the state be re- 
imbursed from the proceeds of the university 
lands which should be sold for that purpose." 
But the bill was defeated after the third read- 
ing Ijy a vote of 14 to 21. 

The message showed that improved indus- 
trial conditions were reflected in the growth 
of the jniblic schools. According to the re- 
port of the superintendent of public instruc- 
tion for 1873 and 1874 there were 1,345 
school houses in the state valued at $1,300,000, 
while at the close of the fiscal year 1872 there 
were only 538 school houses valued at $700,- 
000. The number of school children at the 
close of 1872 was 51,123 ; at the close of 1874, 
72,991. The apportionment of school money 
for 1871 and 1872 was about $370,000; that 
for 1873 and 1874 showed an increase of near- 
ly $100,000. The school lands were sold by 
county authorities and though the notes given 
in consideration were payable to the state, 
they were held by the covmties, which under- 
took the collection of the annual interest. The 
evidences of indebtedness for the sale of these 
lands amounted to $1,119,621.44, which, the 
message complained, "should yield, if promjjt- 
ly collected and accounted for, $111,962.14 
annuallv ; whereas it has returned, under the 



STATE FINANCES 



569 



present management, but $69,309.48, showing 
a loss to the state in one year of $42,652.66. 

The governor pointed out that the law per- 
mitting school districts to issue bonds almost 
without restraint had worked disaster. "Some 
districts have recklessly involved themselves 
beyond ability to pay. . . The extravagant 
disposition to issue bonds has also reduced 
their value in the market to such an extent as 
to render them almost unsalable at any price." 

The new building for the normal school, "as 
far as completed, and occupied but little over 
a year," had cost $28,500, and 210 students 
were enrolled. The demand of the state for 
indemnity school lands in lieu of sections 16 
and 36 within the Sac and Fox Indian reser- 
vation had been disallowed by the secretary of 
the interior; but further prosecution was 
urged, "the claim being a just and equitable 
one." The policy of leasing the labor of con- 
victs "at mere nominal and speculative rates" 
— ^that of the state penitentiary for "the mea- 
gre sum of 42 cents a day" — was severely 
condemned. 

The message gave a detailed statement of 
the disposition of the public lands received by 
the state from the public domain. Of the 
seventy-two sections of saline lands so do- 
nated, twenty had been given to the normal 
school at Peru, two for the model farm of the 
agricultural college, one-fourth of a section 
for the hospital for the insane, 17,511.38 acres 
had been sold, 12,744.10 acres were still on 
hand, and four and one-sixteenth sections had 
not yet been selected. The internal improve- 
ment lands had all been given to railroads. 
The twenty sections of public building lands 
had been appropriated toward the construc- 
tion of the state penitentiary and all but 1,- 
676.56 acres of the fifty sections of peniten- 
tiary lands had been sold for the same pur 
pose. The governor stated that when he as- 
sumed his office (January, 1873) none of the 
university and agricultural college lands had 
been selected ; and he had caused them to be 
selected and confirmed. The expense of do- 
ing this having been paid out of the university 
fund, the governor recommended that the 
state should pay it back. 

The city of Lincoln originally comprised 



287 blocks, containing 3,447 lots. Eight blocks 
had been donated for public squares and as 
many for railroad depots; 155 lots had been 
given in exchange for the townsite of Lan- 
caster which was included in the new city ; 
twelve lots were given to the State Historical 
Society ; forty to various church organizations 
and benevolent societies ; twelve to the Lincoln 
Steam Mill Company ; 2,913 had been sold for 
the aggregate price of $293,358.75. The 314 
lots which had not been sold or otherwise ap- 
propriated were "principally in the Salt Creek 
bottom and of no considerable value at pres- 
ent." 

The disguised but really defensive tone of 
the discussion of railroad taxation and restric- 
tive legislation in the message shows that this 
now dominant issue or problem had then 
begun to excite serious public consideration 
and serves as an illustration of the attitude of 
the place-holders and leading politicians of the 
state for the next thirty years. It required a 
far more rugged personality — both mental 
and moral — than that of Furnas to resist a 
lasting impression by this one-sided vievv', and 
especially since it was framed in the alluring 
halo of the free pass of which he, in common 
with his compeers, was the lifelong beneficiary. 
While some lapses from the standard of pub- 
lic virtue with which readers have already 
been made acquainted destroyed the govern- 
or's availability for the usual second nomina- 
tion and for important elective office there- 
after, yet his innate practical interest in public 
affairs and, more particularly, his devotion to 
matters affecting the agricultural development 
of the state — -virtually its only resource — - 
almost raised him out of his otherwise native 
commonplaceness and kept him in the public 
eye and also in public office, as president or 
secretary of the state agricultural society, to 
the end of a lengthy life. The fact that Gov- 
ernor Furnas nearly always held political, 
military, or other public office and in the brief 
intervals was a candidate for office, was ow- 
ing to a mixture of weakness with strong 
qualities in his character. Governor Furnas 
states in his message significantly that he is 
"convinced as to the great impropriety of 
vesting this high power [of pardon] in any 



570 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



one iiidivichial." The severe castigation he 
had recently received on account of his par- 
don of Weber doubtless had something to do 
with this conviction. Public disapproval of 
the abuse of the pardoning power by Gov- 
ernor John H. Mickey during his second term 
of office revived a demand for a distinct "par- 
doning board or council" which Governor 
Furnas recommended. 

It is learned from the message that "dur- 
ing the month of May, 1873, severe storms so 
damaged the capitol and insane hospital build- 
ings as to render their occupancy impossible, 
and, in fact, their permanency seriously jeop- 
ardized." The governor, who was then the 
legal custodian of public buildings, expended 
$5,897 in repairing the capitol and $1,307.28 in 
repairing the hospital. "While the senate and 
representative halls were in a dilapidated con- 
dition, and undergoing repairs," the message 
recites, "it was thought advisable to take out 
the gallery over the speaker's stand and to put 
up railings in both halls to separate bystanders 
from members' seats." 

Since the last session of the legislature 
papers 'nad been issued for the prganization of 
eight new counties — Furnas, Hitchcock, 
Holt, Keith, Phelps, Red Willow, Sherman, 
and Valley. Organization had been perfected 
in all of these counties except Holt, in whose 
case it appeared that the pretended application 
of forty-three persons claiming residence in 
the county, on which documents were issued 
April 4, 1873, and returns formally made to 
the secretary of state of an election said to 
have been held in conformity with the law, 
was fictitious ; in short, "the whole proceedings 
on the part of the individuals seeking organi- 
zation was a fraud." The message discussed 
at length the grasshopper devastation and 
means of aiding the sufferers. On the whole 
it is an unusually interesting and useful docu- 
ment and reflects the governor's intimate ac- 
quaintance with the affairs of the common- 
wealth, acquired through active citizenship 
during nearly all of its life. But the excel- 
lence is marred by slovenly and incorrect 
verbal construction. 

Two special features or episodes — choos- 
ing a United States senator and attempted re- 



moval of the capital — attracted more public 
atteiUion than any other incident or measure 
of the session. Senator Tipton, at least one of 
the brightest debaters among the members of 
Congress yet credited to Nebraska, had by 
common consent forfeited the succession by 
his independent progressiveness which at that 
period of party fetichism was an unpardonable 
sin. Mr. Tipton lacked the plasticity and 
flexibility which were essential to adapt him- 
self to the rigid mold in which the republican 
party of that day was confined. Allegiance to 
the party during his second term required him 
to be an apologist of the corruption which was 
called Grantisni and to sustain the coercive 
policy or method of reconstructing the rebel 
states which was soon afterwards abandoned 
by the Hayes administration as impracticable 
and inexpedient. Mr. Tipton, like his after 
associates in the anti-machine revolt, Schurz 
and Sumner, was temperamentally a remon- 
strant. Though, as we have seen, many of the 
ablest republicans of Nebraska joined him 
in the support of Greeley against the regular 
re]Hiblican candidate for the presidency in 
1872, yet according to party usage this rebel- 
lious act barred him from reelection. 

Though wiser statesmanship would have 
foreseen and avoided the probable effect of his 
insurgent protest against evil practices and 
policies, yet he deserves credit for unusual 
courage and perhaps disinterestedness. He 
anticipated by thirty years inevitable general 
revolt against conditions and tendencies which 
under Roosevelt revolutionized the republican 
party, if it has not ended the two-party sys- 
tem. Senator Van Wyck subsequently took a 
like advanced position. Samples of Tipton's 
parliamentary oratory which he himself se- 
lected for his political memoirs, are character- 
ized by piquancy and aggressive alertness 
rather than depth. While his sallies won at- 
tention in a body which contained many able 
men and gained him notoriety, at least, in the 
country at large, yet his penchant for sarcasm 
and wit, not always of a high order, detracted 
from such strength as his speeches otherwise 
possessed. This is indeed the usual effect of 
such a course in important deliberative bodies. 
Yet, on the whole, Tipton must he ranked dis- 



RLECTION OF PADDOCK 



571 



tinctly above the average senator from Ne- 
braska, If Tipton's son-in-law, Henry M. At- 
kinson, could have shared with him his own 
excess of political astuteness, the senator 
would have been a more successful politician 
and perhaps a more useful statesman ; he 
would have won another election and the coun- 
try the benefit of his salutary insurgency. 

The senatorial situation was a counterpart 
of that of 1871, inasmuch as the republican 
members were in a large majority in the joint 
assembly of the two houses but could not 
unite a majority for either of the candidates; 
so that the opposition members — democrats 
and independents — dictated the choice. In 
1(S71 Phineas W. Hitchcock, Alvin Saunders, 
and John M. Thayer were the three principal 
candidates. Thayer's chief, though strong 
claim, lay in his title to regularity ; he knew 
no impulse and recognized no obligation out- 
side the bounds of party conformity, and his 
first term was fractional — only four years. 
But these considerations were not sacred to 
democrats, and they threw the balance of the 
ballots to Hitchcock. In 1875, Thayer, Elmer 
S. Dundy, Algernon S. Paddock, and Oliver P. 
Mason were the principal candidates. But 
there was more independence in the political 
atmosphere than there had been in 1871, and 
the democratic members, unappreciative of 
Thayer's chief claims — poetical justice and 
regularity — irreverently chose Paddock, the 
low man among republican candidates. 

On the first joint ballot, cast January 20th, 
Thayer received 18 votes, Dundy 14, Paddock 
8, Mason 6. Of the fourteen opposition votes 
— Alexander Bear was absent on sick leave — 
five went to candidates of their own kind — 
two to Henry C. Lett, and one each to Church 
Howe, J. Sterling Morton, and J. N. H. Pat- 
rick. The remaining eight were divided equal- 
ly between Mason and Paddock. Dundy and 
Thayer were the regular candidates and so in- 
eligible to democratic accretion. The second 
ballot stood, Thayer 17, Dundy 14, Paddock 8, 
Mason 6. Barnes, one of Dundy's supporters, 
voted this time for Turner M. Marquett. The 
third ballot stood, Dundy 15, Thayer 14, Pad- 
dock 9, Mason 6. 

The fourth ballot was cast the next day. 



Thayer receiving 21 votes, Dundy 19, Pad- 
dock 6, Mason 3. On the 22d the fifth and 
decisive ballot was cast as follows : Paddock 
38, Thayer 11. Baker voted for Morton and 
Crawford for Patrick, and Bear was still ab- 
sent ; all the rest of the democrats and inde- 
pendents went to Paddock, who unexpectedly 
was the beneficiary of Dundy's withdrawal. 
Most of the democrats and independents from 
the first gave their support to Mason and Pad- 
dock, presumably because both of the latter 
had shown decided symptoms of democracy. 
They were progressive enough to recognize 
the need of reforms and independent enough 
to stand for the interests of their own section 
of the country against the increasing encroach- 
ments of their party which was dominated by 
eastern power and animated by eastern inter- 
ests. 

Though Paddock's election, which involved 
the defeat of Thayer, who never broke with 
the Lincoln or any other ring, meant cleaner 
state politics, yet the statement that Thayer 
"was killed by an overdose of Stout and Ken- 
nard administered by Drs. Balcombe and 
Kosewater," and that the defeat was in effect 
"a complete slaughter of the Stout and Ken- 
nard brand," was extravagant ; for the corrupt 
and corrupting Stout influence lasted many 
years more. The just complaint that the , 
dominant senatorial aspirants were barnacles 
and the hopes for a new deal were rewarded 
in the new choice — or rather in the defeats it 
involved. Dundy and Thayer were done for, 
and the defeat of the Hitchcock-Cunningham 
combination, coupled with the demand made 
at the time by the Republican and the Bcc for 
an investigation of the charges that bribery 
had been used in Hitchcock's election, fore- 
shadowed his defeat in the next contest. 
While the election of Paddock was scarcely a 
democratic victory it was a republican defeat ; 
but the democrats ascribed too much impor- 
tance to it. The ephemerally named mouth- 
piece of the party at the capital professed to 
regard this mere temporary check as a perma- 
nent disability. "Victory has perched on the 
democratic banner in Nebraska in the election 
of Governor A. S. Paddock as senator. The 
backbone of the republican party has been 



572 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



broken, the rotten rings of corruption have 
received their death blow. . . The fight 
was a hard one but right has triumphed." 
As a consequence, Nebraska was soon to be 
numbered among democratic states. 

The influence or training of the Civil war 
had given the republican party a military 
aggressiveness and discipline and an au- 
dacious opportunism, and had so strongly 
fortified it, withal, by popular passion and 
prejudice and the reactionary condition of 
bounding industrial prosperity that, however 
glaring its faults, it was not seriously vulner- 
able. It seemed to possess the unnatural 
quality of Milton's angel (Satan) which 

"Vital in ever}' part 
Cannot bnt by annihilating die." 

E\en though overwhelmed by popular con- 
demnation at the national election of the fol- 
lowing year, it yet held the field and the 
spoils of partisan victory. In Nebraska this 
condition was emphasized. The state had 
but one resource — agriculture. Its growth 
was absolutely dependent U]>on, could only 
follow the extension of railroads. It fol- 
lowed, therefore, that the politicians of the 
dominant party and the railroads pooled their 
interests. This close ]5artnership had an eco- 
nomic basis and, however pernicious on the 
one hand, was for a time not without mate- 
rial advantage to the state. At any rate, the 
dependent people were either too worldly- 
wise or too morally timid to entertain any 
moral scruples against this arrangement which 
might have knocked at the closed doors of 
their consciences. This natural, if not de- 
fensible, acquiescence developed into a per- 
sistent habit which brought on injustice, op- 
pression, and great public corruption. Not 
until 1908 was there a convulsive and noisy 
reaction against these long encouraged evils 
which wise management on the part of the 
people might have largely avoided. So the 
hopes of the democrats were destined to be 
dashed. Their own leaders, moreover, led in 
a like direction. 

Mr. Paddock continued his long-time liberal 
inclination in the senate — manifested in his 
opposition to the coercive republican policy in 



the reconstruction of the rebellious states, and 
to the radical j)rotectionist policy. But his at- 
tempt to serve two masters, though with some 
vigor in behalf of his democratic allies or mak- 
ers, was necessarily unsatisfactory to the lat- 
ter, who criticised him with overdue severity. 
The personally ambitious democratic leaders 
were averse to helping republicans into place 
and power because they had symptoms of 
democracy — a policy which the minority 
rank and file were inclined to, partly because 
it gave them pleasure to displace a whole- 
hearted with a half-hearted republican and 
partially from the jjublic-spirited motive of ad- 
vancing in some degree western interests and 
progressive principles. The Herald, accord- 
ingly, discouraged democratic support of Pad- 
dock, alleging that ''he turns too many cor- 
ners in politics" ; that he ought to have stayed 
with Johnson but instead "now reposes in the 
bosom of Grant"; and though when the elec- 
tion had taken place that journal assumed 
credit for it as "a triumph of the democrats 
and conservatives" which had been won by 
their votes, yet after a few months of trial it 
disowned and denounced him for recreancy. 
"Elected by democratic votes as a conserva- 
tive and declaring himself 'in accord with the 
democratic party on the main issues of the 
(lav and time,' he secured their votes, without 
which he knows, and we know, his election 
would have been impossible." His last words 
to Dr. Miller (editor of the Herald) before 
he left for Washington were, "I am a repub- 
lican ; you understand that : but no caucus will 
control my action. You know my views." 

Notwithstanding his obligations and prom- 
ises Senator Paddock became a caucus repub- 
lican. But many stronger politicians and 
statesmen than Paddock have thus sacrificed 
obligation and profession on the :ltar of out- 
tyrannous two-party system. Under the free- 
dotn cf the modern logical group system there 
would have been an effective alliance of a'l 
those who stood for the imminent and vitfd 
(juestions of western and southern interests. 
As it was, the member of Congress who could 
not get under one or the other of the blanket 
mortgages which covered respectively the re- 
publican and the democratic party was a 



CAPITAL REMOVAL 



573 



pariah. Paddock, therefore, naturally elected 
slavery to his old party and therefore cut 
himself olT from efifective service of his sec- 
tion and the constituents which had created 
him their representative. 

Immediately after the senatorial election 
Thayer was appointed governor of Wyoming, 
chiefly for the purpose of removing him as far 
away as possible from further interference 
with the senatorial succession ; but in part, 
also, in recognition of his fixed aversion to 
doing anything else but hold public office. 
Henry M. Atkinson was propitiated with the 
important office of commissioner of pensions. 
Judge Dundy continued until his death to 
covet the senatorship. The routine and 
drudgery of his judicial place became irksome 
to his temperament ; but, though desiring an 
active political career, he was too shrewd to 
risk the comfortable life tenure of the judge- 
ship by a resignation in advance. In this 
campaign democratic leaders resumed their 
attack upon his character, and Atkinson 
shared with Dundy this marked but not plea- 
surable distinction. 

This second defeat of Thayer ended his im- 
portance as a political figure. He was taken 
up for the governorship ten years later when 
his over-ripeness, physical and mental, which 
increased his normal habit of conformity, 
made him useful to the dominating political 
influences. While Tipton, his colleague in the 
senate, was so independent that he was all Init 
erratic and could not be confined to the party 
rut. it was Thayer's natural habitat, and he 
never got out of it. He was mentally rather 
dull and his abilities in general were not of a 
high order, and though an imposing physical 
appearance of the military style and some 
supplemental martial gifts made him success- 
ful as a subordinate military commander, he 
lacked the alertness, breadth of view, plas- 
ticity, and independence essential to states- 
manship. \''ery luckily for himself he lived 
just at that time when military deportment 
and ambition passed for the most and, joined 
with the soldier's disposition not to reason 
why as a part of the rigid political machine, 
was an open sesame, also, to high civil office. 
Still, his military stififness in time made him 



iuif>opular with politicians who called him 
"peacocky." Popular sympathy for General 
Thayer on account of his rather forlorn old 
age, shrewdly manipulated by the selfish 
"system," resurrected him for the governor- 
ship in 1885. After serving the customary 
two terms in that office, he was awarded a 
pension of $100 a month which kept him com- 
fortable in his extreme old age. This closing 
incident of his career illustrates his utter de- 
pendence upon the bounty of public place. 
While no one opposed or begrudged this 
gratuity, and it was bestowed under President 
Cleveland's administration, characteristically 
hostile to special pensions of this sort, yet it 
was a favor due largely to political conditions. 
The career of General Amasa Cobb, for ex- 
ample, was in the main a counterpart of Gen 
eral Thayer's, except that at the close of the 
war and his long service in Congress he went 
to work in private business and continued at 
it to the end of his long life, saving only his 
term as justice of the supreme court. Thus, 
through wholesome activity, he achieved and 
deserved independence and competence — the 
chief comfort if not the main merit of a life. 

There was a culmination of the long gath- 
ering capital removal sentiment in this legis- 
lature, and a clear majority of its members 
came to Lincoln with the intention and expec- 
tation of carrying out that project. Even the 
southeastern counties were fiercely and ex- 
plicitly hostile to Lincoln. Otoe county, which 
had led in the struggle for removing the 
capital to Lincoln, now led in the attempt to 
get it away again. This hostility was due in 
part, no doubt, to displeasure or disgust with 
the Lincoln political junta, but chiefly to the 
ripened realization of the original economic 
mistake of erecting a barrier to the growth of 
Nebraska City which it was now apparent 
Lincoln was destined to be. 

Before the session began it was asserted 
that it was very well settled that the present 
legislature would remove it to some point in 
the western part of the state. Removal would 
cause no loss in public liuildings because "the 
university will fall down next year anyhow ; 
the capital should be donated to Lincoln — the 
lower part for a livery stable, the upper as a 



5/4 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



block-house — the upper windows would be 
good port-holes. The penitentiary, after Boss 
Stout takes out the windows, will make a first 
class ruin." The new lunatic asylum, it was 
conceded, was a good building. The Tecum- 
seh Chieftain favored removal for the osten- 
sible reason that a location nearer the center 
of the state was desirable and that the building 
would have to be remodeled. The Nemaha 
Journal and the Kearney Times asserted that 
when the last ballot for the election of a Unit- 
ed States senator was taken, Mr. Griggs, presi- 
dent of the senate, requested occupants of the 
chamber, the hall of the house of representa- 
tives, to refrain from stamping for fear the 
building would collapse. 

The history of 1873, when the Kearney ring 
and the Columbus ring killed each other, was 
repeated in 1875. The divided rival aspirants 
blocked one another while the alert Lincoln 
partisans. Napoleon like, whipped them in de- 
tail — with argument and other influences less 
legitimate but perhaps more effective. The 
removalist cause was roughly, though not un- 
justly, sumfiied up thus : "For no good to the 
state is the removal advocated. The reasons 
for removal are that a lot of land-sharks, 
dead-beats and carpet-baggers, having the ex- 
ample of the former Lincoln before their eyes, 
want a new deal." 

Though some members required and re- 
ceived direct payment in lawful money as the 
consideration of waiving their patriotic and 
dutiful intention to remove the capital to a 
more nearly central site, many were satisfied 
with reciprocal sops in the shape of enact- 
ments favorably affecting their pockets but in 
a less direct way. Moudy was at least partially 
appeased by the grant of a state road from 
Kearney Junction on the Union Pacific rail- 
road southward to the Kansas line, to be laid 
out without expense to his own county of 
Kearney which it would centrally intersect. 
A gift of the unappropriated saline lands — 
about twelve thousand acres — to the Mid- 
land Pacific railway company, "for the 
purpose of building and extending its lines of 
railway from Nebraska City to Omaha, and 
from Brownsville to a connection at St. 
Joseph, Missouri, with other railroads so as 



to lorni a continuous line of railwa\' from 
Omaha to the south line of the state and 
thence to St. Joseph." contributed powerfully 
toward smothering the cry for removal, loud- 
est in the populous eastern border counties 
which were the expectant beneficiaries of the 
grant. An appropriation of $10,000 for es- 
tablishing an asylum for the blind at Nebraska 
City tended directly to soften the harsh ag- 
gressiveness of members from that particular- 
ly disappointed quarter. The partisans of Lin- 
coln naturally held a good hand of palliative 
cards, and they were played off with skilful 
finesse so as to take the most advantage of 
the internal rivalry of the disunited removal- 
ist forces. This was the last direct attempt 
at removal until 1911. The law providing for 
a constitutional convention and the provisions 
for relief for sufierers from the depredations 
of grasshoppers were most important enact- 
ments of the session. The convention was to 
be composed of sixty-nine members and to 
be held at the capitol on the second Tuesday 
— the 11th — of May, 1875. The western 
counties fared better in the apportionment for 
the convention than in the membership of the 
legislature. The legislature authorized the is- 
sue of state bonds to the amount of $50,000, 
to run ten years and bear ten per cent interest 
payable semi-annually, for the purpose of buy- 
ing "seed grain for distribution among the 
citizens of this state made destitute by the 
ravages of grasshoppers in the year 1874." 
The act authorized a tax of one-tenth of a 
mill on the grand assessment roll annually for 
the payment of the principal and interest of 
the bonds. 

The homestead exemption was ar.iended so 
as to restrict it to the value of $2,000. This 
provision has continud to the present time. 
The property rights of women were enlarged 
by adding to the continual separate holding 
of all that they owned at the time of mar- 
riage or might afterwards acquire by descent 
or gift, all "which she shall acquire by pur- 
chase or otherwise." But the school suffrage 
of women was restricted by an amendment 
which confined it to unmarried women who 
had reached the age of twenty-one years and 
owned property subject to taxation ; whereas. 



LEGISLATURE OF 1875 



575 



before the change, "every inhabitant" of a 
district — which included all women of the age 
of twenty-one — could vote at the district 
meetings. 

By an amendment to the act of 1869 
which provided for organizing the university, 
the chancellor was left oft the board of regents 
which thereafter was composed of three mem- 
bers from each of the three judicial districts 
with the governor and state superintendent of 
public instruction as ex officio members. The 
office of treasurer was abolished and the state 
treasurer was constituted the custodian of the 
university funds. This act comprised a Dra- 
conian provision that the regents might, "by 
discharging professors and otherwise reducing 
the expenses of the university, apply the 
amount so saved or reduced from the 
expenses of 1874, in building a dormitory." 
An act granting block 29 of Lincoln to that 
city for "market purposes" some time after- 
ward aroused severe though unjust criticism. 
The block was originally devoted to the use of 
a state historical society but because no society 
competent to receive the grant had been organ- 
ized, it would have been included in the re- 
mainder of unsold lots which another act of 
this legislature authorized the governor, audi- 
tor, and secretary of state to appraise and sell 
at public auction, the proceeds of the sale to be 
turned into the public treasury, which, owing 
to the pinching poverty of that grasshopper 
period, particularly needed replenishment. The 
city had given up its original "market square" 
to the public use as a site for the postofifice, 
and since the commissioners named in the bill 
to sell all unappropriated lots were determined 
to include, this historical block, the members 
from Lancaster county properly thought that 
it would be wise and just to retain this block 
for [juhlic use as a market place in lieu of the 
block they had relinquished for another public 
purpose. This action was additionally justi- 
fied by the consideration that at forced sale 
in that period of depression the block would 
yield very little to the public treasury. The 
supreme court of the state decided that the 
intended grant to a historical society had 
lapsed by nonuser and that the state might 
dispose of the property at its will. 



A joint resolution prayed for the passage of 
a bill which had been introduced by Senator 
Hitchcock, authorizing the sale of the Fort 
Kearney military reservation, the proceeds to 
be used for the erection of an asylum for the 
blind ; but the act of Congress of July 24, 1876, 
provided for the offer of "said land to actual 
settlers only at a minimum price, under and in 
accordance with the provisions of the home- 
stead laws." 

Another memorial to Congress was the John 
the Baptist of the present general demand for 
the election of United States senators directly 
by the people. "Your memorialists, the legis- 
lature of Nebraska, would respectfully repre- 
sent that they express the will of the people of 
this state in asking for an amendment to the 
constitution of the United States which shall 
provide for the election of United States sena- 
tors by the whole people, and not by delegated 
authority." During the last decade the federal 
house of representatives many times expressed 
by fonual resolution the demand of the people 
of the whole country for an amendment of 
the constitution providing for the reform, but 
the senate itself persistently ignored this posi- 
tive popular demand until the special session of 
Congress in the year 1911. This remarkable 
lack of political efficiency is owing largely to a 
lethargic constitutional habit. Our political 
confinement for more than a century within a 
rigid constitution which it is very difficult, in- 
deed virtually impracticable, to amend, is in 
turn responsible for this unfortunate condition 
which has inculcated a pernicious popular 
habit of relying upon a forced construction 
of the constitution by our politically as well 
as judicially habited supreme court for the 
little progression in polity we have been able to 
achieve. The people of the several states are 
now quite generally recognizing and avoiding 
this denial of direct, concerted action, though 
without authority of the constitution and in 
violation of its spirit, by dictating to the state 
legislature their choice for senators. 

The only important effect of a joint resolu- 
tion which informed the president and the 
Congress that the legislature heartily endorsed 
the president and General Sheridan for assum- 
ing responsibility for the action of General 



576 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



De Trobriaiul in driving out of the capitol 
certain democrats who claimed seats in the 
I^ouisiana legislature, but had been denied cer- 
tificates by the returning board, was to disclose 
the identity of the fifteen anti-republican mem- 
bers whom it drew together in opposition to 
the resolution. The passage by both houses of 
the bill which placed railroad property in a 
class by itself and specified a maximum rate 
of taxation for it, indicates the nearly com- 
plete control of the state government by rail- 
road corporations which had now been estab- 
lished and which continued almost uncontested 
until the republican revolt of 1907. An 
amendment by the house of the senate revenue 
bill providing "that no railroad shall be as- 
sessed at a greater amount than $10,000 per 
mile," was referred to a conference committee 
which comprised Barton, Hoyt, and Chapman 
of the senate, and Thurston, Crawford, and 
Howe of the house. The committee recom- 
mended "that the senate concur in said amend- 
ment," Chapman alone dissenting. But, re- 
markably and inexplicably, Governor Garber 
proved to be a missing link of the otherwise 
complete chain of procedure. He vetoed the 
bill, not only on account of some technical 
irregularity but because in his opinion it was 
class legislation "and repugnant alike to the 
letter and spirit of our laws. . . Laying 
aside the legal and technical objections that 
may be urged against this measure, it does 
not appear to me to be expedient. It would 
reduce the grand assessment roll of the state 
a million and a half to three million dollars. 
It would relieve the railroad companies of at 
least $75,000 in taxes and place the burden 
upon the people." The governor very perti- 
nently reminded the subservient legislative 
body that the people had been persuaded to 
vote large subsidies to the railroads largely by 
the argument or promise that they would be 
repaid by the resulting great increase of tax- 
able property. 

The relentless determination or policy of the 
white masters of the commonwealth to dispos- 
sess the Indians even of the small remnant of 
their original domain which they held as reser- 
vations was manifested in two memorials to 
the federal Congress. The first ureed the 



passage of the bill, already introduced, pro- 
viding for the sale of the Otoe and the Paw- 
nee reservations. The second memorial was 
a very insistent — almost truculent — protest 
against the action of the federal government 
in assuming the authority in the treaty of 1868 
to grant the Sioux the privilege of hunting in 
that part of the state lying north of the North 
Platte river and recognizing it as unceded ter- 
ritory. The same memorial protested also 
against the removal of the Red Cloud and 
Spotted Tail agencies from Dakota to a loca- 
tion within the northwestern borders of Ne- 
braska. 

Investigation of ofificial malfeasance still con- 
tinued to be an important duty or diversion of 
the legislature. Because it was "reported that 
divers sundry' abuses are practiced in the pen- 
itentiary" and "barbarous and unknown pun- 
ishments inflicted upon convicts confined in 
said penitentiary and that the management of 
the same is inefficient," and also because "a 
serious revolt has recently occurred in said 
prison," a committe^of the house, consisting 
of Enyart, Folda, Baumer, Fisher, and Lucas, 
made an extended investigation of the affairs 
of the prison. The majority report of the in- 
vestigating committee found that cruel and 
unusual pimishment had been inflicted upon 
prisoners and barbarous and inhuman prac- 
tices had been resorted to in the manage- 
ment. The report recommended "a thorough 
and complete reformation in the treatment of 
the convicts" ; that the stocks and the bull-ring 
should be abolished ; that "the prisoners should 
not be confined on seats in one position during 
the Sabbath day" ; and that Noboes. deputy 
warden, and three of the guards "be discharged 
for cruel, inhuman, and barbarous conduct." 
Folda and Lucas made separate reports, the 
former recommending the removal of the war- 
den, Woodhurst, who had held the ofiice since 
December 6, 1873. Lucas minimized the 
abuses which the other members of the 
committee acknowledged and condemned. 
Senator Perky testified that the attempt 
of the senate committee to investigate 
the prison was stifled and that Senator 
Burr — of Lancaster county — was an ob- 
structionist. 



LEGISLATURE OF 1S75 577 

A joint committee of the two houses for in- plans were changed in 1873 but to the pubHc 
vestigating the charge that the plans and speci- advantage. The reputation of the alleged of- 
fications had been changed after their adop- fender, W. H. B. Stout, suggests a presump- 
tion and that they were not filed with the prop- tion of the truth of the charges which the di- 
er state officer applied a rather dull coat of luted whitewash of the committee scarcely 
whitewash. The committee found that the overshadows. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

Constitutional Convention 1875 — Constitutions Compared — Elections of 1875- 

Rise of Van Wvck — Politics of 1876 



THE sixty-nine members of the constitu- 
tional convention were elected Tuesday, 
April 6, 1875. While party distinctions 
were not strictly observed in their selec- 
tion, the statement that "in ever)' district 
of the state party has been ignored 
in selecting candidates for delegates to 
the convention" was not sustained by re- 
sults. It was not difficult for the two lead- 
ing counties — Douglas and Otoe — to agree 
upon an equal division of their representation, 
since they were politically doubtful at elec 
tions. The C)maha Herald approved the Bee's 
proposal chat seven members from Douglas 
county should comprise three democrats, three 
repulilicans, and Judge Lake, who at that time 
could not be accurately classified. The con- 
ventions of the several parties accepted the 
plan, but the democratic convention recom- 
mended Clinton Briggs instead of Judge Lake 
for the odd member, and the republicans 
adopted tlie recommendation. Two republi- 
caiTi and two democrats were chosen for Otoe 
county, and a like division was made of the 
two members for Dodge. Richardson county 
conceded one member — Franklin Martin — 
of her four to the democrats, and Cass did 
likewise in the person of her distinctively dem- 
ocratic war horse, Jacob Vallery, Sr. On the 
other hand, the safely democratic counties of 
Cuming, Platte, and Sarpy chose members of 
their political complexion. 

The election of Beach L Hinman, democrat, 
of Lincoln comity, was a concession to fitness, 
while that of a democratic member for Dixon, 
and also for Seward, was probably due to the 
chance of politics in those uncertain counties, 
^'ork chose an independent because it was 
then so inclined. All the rest of the members 



were chosen by and of repul:)licans because 
they had full jjower so to choose. The con- 
vention comprised fifty republicans, sixteen 
democrats, and three independents. Of the 
rather small number of democrats. Brown, 
Boyd, Calhoun, Hinman, Martin, Munger, and 
Stevenson were well equipped for effective and 
corrective work. Abbott, Boyd, Grenell, Hin- 
man, Kirkpatrick, Manderson, and Maxwell 
assisted in a very important degree in doing 
the preparatory work of this convention by 
virtue of their service in the convention of 
1871. The Omaha Bee advocated the election 
of the delegates by the legislature on the 
ground that stronger men would be chosen by 
this method than by popular election ; but the 
Herald properly opposed that plan. The peo- 
ple no doubt chose a convention more nearly 
representative of their spirit and wishes than 
I he legislature would have chosen, and that 
was more important than the mere question of 
ability. No representative newspaper would 
now suggest delegating a function of that na- 
ture to a legislature, because in the interim 
there has been a great increase of self-confi- 
dence among the people and a great decrease 
of popular confidence in legislative bodies. 

The convention met on the 11th of May in 
the hall of the house of representatives at Lin- 
coln and was called to order at three o'clock in 
the afternoon by Bruno Tszchuck, secretary of 
state. Alexander H. Conner of Buffalo coun- 
ty was temporary president and Guy A. Brown 
of Lancaster, temporary secretary. The com- 
mittee on credentials was composed of twelve 
members, one from each senatorial district. 
John L. Webster of Douglas county was 
chosen for permanent president ; Guy A. 
Brown of Lancaster, secretarv : Cassius L. 



CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1875 



579 



Mather of \\'ebster, assistant secretary : 
Phelps Paine of Seward, sergeant-at-arms ; 
J. W. McCabe, doorkeeper and postmaster ; 
and Edward Bragg, Richard Miller, and R. 
C. Talbot, pages. Abbott, Connor, Gere, 
Sterns, and Robertson were the committee on 
rules. A committee of twelve members — one 
from each senatorial district — was appointed 
to report the best practical mode of procedure. 
On the second day a committee of five on rules 
reported in favor of adopting the rules of the 
convention of 1871 with slight alterations. A 
committee was appointed to hear evidence in 
the case of the contest for membership from 
Franklin, Gosper, and Phelps counties. Pas- 
tors of the city were invited to act as chaplain 
in regular turn without compensation. 

Though a sensible public sentiment and the 
election as delegates of a goodly number of 
democrats of ability prevented domineering 
partisanship, yet a republican faction organ- 
ized tlie convention. Charles F. Manderson 
had a long distance eye on the seat in the 
United States Senate occupied by Mr. Hitch- 
cock, and with the alert purpose of precluding 
prominence of his local rival the senator put 
forward John E. Webster to contest against 
Manderson for the presidency of the conven- 
tion. While Webster easily won on the gen- 
eral vote, it was ominous for Hitchcock that 
his representative did not get a single vote 
from Douglas county where all three of these 
ambitious men resided. Reaction of Mander- 
son's defeat probably promoted somewhat his 
subsequent elevation to two terms of the sen- 
atorship, while his victorious indirect oppo- 
nent was put off with but one. 

The convention considered three plans of 
procedure. The first was to take the old con- 
stitution as a model and through the aid of a 
small number of the committee make such 
alterations and additions as seemed desirable : 
the second was to work upon the rejected con- 
stitution of 1871 in the same way : the third 
to proceed dc novo without any specific model. 
By the first two methods most of the work 
would have been done in committee of the 
whole. The last plan was adopted, chiefly be- 
cause the larger number of committees it in- 
volved humored the natural ambition of the 



members to take a conspicuous part in the 
procedure. The report of the committee of 
twelve on procedure was therefore rejected 
and that of the committee of five on rules pro- 
posing thirty-two committees, which should 
proceed to construct a new constitution, was 
adopted. The reasonable brevity of both the 
convention and the constitution indicate that 
the difference between the two plans of pro- 
cedure was not of great importance. 

The work of the convention was concluded 
on the 12th of June and the constitution was 
adopted by the great preponderance of 30,202 
votes against 5,474 on the second Tuesday — 
the 12th — of October, which was also the day 
of the general election under the old constitu- 
tion. The new constitution provided that ex- 
ecutive officers should be chosen at the genera! 
election of the following year — 1876. Those 
who were elected in 1874 — governor, secre- 
tary' of state, auditor, and treasurer — filled 
out their regular terms, and their successors 
were chosen at the same time as the new offi- 
cers — • lieutenant-governor, superintendent of 
public instruction, attorney-general, and com- 
missioner of public lands and buildings. B\' 
provision of the constitution the six regents 
of the university, judges of the supreme, dis- 
trict, and county courts, and elective county 
and precinct officers were chosen at the first 
general election — October 12th. A district 
attorney for each of the three new judicial 
districts was also elected at this time, but the 
tenure lasted only until the expiration of the 
regular term of the three who had been elected 
under the old constitution in 1874. The nine 
regents of the university, elected by the legis- 
lature under the old constitution, were legis- 
lated out of office by the new, but four of them, 
William .Adair, Charles A. Holmes, E. M. 
Hungerford, and Samuel J- Tuttle, were 
elected on the republican ticket at the first en- 
suing election. Republican legislatures had 
chosen two democrats — Alexander Bear and 
James W\ Savage — as members of the pre- 
ceding board : but under the popular election 
system there was no such wholesome princi- 
ple, and every hoard was solidly partisan until 
the republicans lost control of the state in 1894. 

The new constitution was about two and 



580 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



one-half times as long as that which it suc- 
ceeded ; but it varied but little in substance or 
length, from the rejected constitution of 1871. 
Judged by the original conception of Ameri- 
can constitutions — that they should be merely 
the fundamental basis of the government and 
of such statutory law as might be required in 
the course of time — the constitution of 1866 
was long enough. But the popular distrust of 
representative bodies which has been increas- 
ing since that time, as evidenced by the in- 
creasing length of later state constitutions, by 
the general adoption of direct primary elec- 
tions, and the growing use of the initiative 
and referendum, was responsible for the in- 
corporation in the new constitution of many 
provisions which otherwise would have been 
left to legislative enactment. The latest state 
constitution — that of Oklahoma — illustrates 
the constantly growing tendency. It is as 
much longer than the Nebraska constitution 
of 1875 as the latter is longer than its prede- 
cessor of 1866. 

There is no reason for thinking that any 
mandate or ad\ice of the constitution touching 
the regulation of railroad business has had any 
appreciable eflect vipon the legislature which 
has responded only to the iiiandate of public 
sentiment. The legislature ought to have 
passed an apportionment bill at the session 
which just preceded the convention, thus sav- 
ing that body from a distinctively [(artisan task 
and the constitution from its incongruous and 
unnecessary bulk. The legislation in the con- 
stitution is mainly comprised in those two mea- 
sures. The excess in its length over the con- 
stitution of 1866, outside those two subjects, is 
in the much greater detail of the provisions for 
the executive, the judiciary, education, and the 
schedule. This minute attention to detail is. 
however, due to the same motive and spirit 
which are manifested in the legislative fea- 
tures. The only other important new jirinciple 
incorporated into the new constitution was 
that forbidding special legislation in a long 
list of specified cases and "in all other cases 
where a general law can be made applicable." 
The section containing this prohil)ition, with 
the exception of the provision relating to the 
bonding of municipalities, which is added, was 



copied from the constitution of 1871. The 
constitution of 1866 merely prohibited the pas- 
sage of special acts conferring corporate pow- 
ers and provided that "corporations may be 
formed under general laws." 

After all the lands available for such a pur- 
pose had been bestowed upon railroad com- 
panies, the new constitution provided that 
"lands under control of the state shall never 
be donated to railroad companies, private cor- 
porations, or individuals." While this was 
chiefly a response to a subjective reaction, per- 
haps there was expectation that the swamp 
lands scheme would be productive. 

The important incidental changes consisted 
in the enlargement of the legislative, executive, 
and judicial departments and an increase in 
compensation of members and officers. The 
offices of lieutenant-governor, state superin- 
tendent of public instruction, attorney -general, 
and commissioner of public lands and build- 
ings were added to the executive department. 
The salaries of the four executive officers un- 
der the constitution of 1866 were as follows : 
Governor, $1,000; secretary of state, $600; 
treasurer, $400 ; auditor, $800. Under the new 
constitution the salary of the governor, audi- 
tor, and treasurer is $2,500; all the rest of the 
executive officers receive $2,000, except the 
lieutenant-governor, whose compensation is 
twice that of a senator. Under the old consti- 
tution these officers were not prohibited from 
receiving fees or other perquisites, and it was 
expected that the treasurer's meager allowance 
would be swelled by interest on loans of the 
funds in his custody. The new constitution 
prohibits all state officers from appropriating 
any fees or perquisites to their own use. Long- 
continued and wanton disregard of this inhi- 
Ijition demoralized the civil service and caused 
great losses of the public funds. 

The number of judicial districts was in- 
creased from three to six, with a judge for 
each, and an independent supreme court with 
three judges was established — an increase 
over the old regime of three districts and six 
judges. The legislature was authorized to in- 
crease the number of judicial districts once 
every four years, after 1880. by a vote of two- 
thirds of its members. The length of the term 



CONSTITUTIONS COMPARED 



581 



of the judges of the supreme court remains the 
same as under the old constitution. The sal- 
ary of judges was increased from $2,000 to 
$2,500. There was no provision for county 
judges in the old constitution. 

Under the constitution of 1866 the upper 
house of the legislature consisted of thirteen 
members and the lower of thirty-nine; but 
after ten years from the adoption of the consti- 
tution — that is, in 1876 — the legislature 
might increase the senate to twenty-five and 
the house to seventy-five members. The new 
constitution limited the membership of the 
senate to thirty and of the house to eighty-four 
until 1880, when that of the former might be 
increased to thirty-three and of the latter to 
one hundred. The legislature raised the num- 
ber of both bodies to the maximum at the first 
opportunity — in 1881. The provision for 
compensation of members in the new constitu- 
tion was copied from its predecessor, but at 
the general election of 1886 an amendment 
was adopted which increased the per diem 
from three dollars to five dollars and the num- 
ber of days for which compensation might be 
received in any one session from forty days to 
sixty days. The amendment also limits ■ the 
number of days for which members may be 
paid during their entire term of office to one 
hundred. 

The State University was organized and, un- 
til 1875, governed without any constitutional 
paternalism ; but a provision for its govern- 
ment was legislated into the new constitution. 
This unfortunately involves an elective board 
of regents. Members of this important body 
should have special qualifications. Under the 
convention system these offices were often 
tossed as a salve to some disappointed county 
or individual without due regard to fitness. It 
is not likely that under the present direct pri- 
mary system the choice will be more discrimi- 
nating. 

The new constitution designated certain 
state officers to constitute a board of public 
lands and buildings and another set of such 
officers for a board of education. Under the 
old constitution the same end was reached by 
legislative enactment. 

The constitution of 1871 hit a juster range 



of salaries than that of 1875. The members 
of the legislature were to receive four dollars 
a day, without limitation of the number of 
days ; the governor three thousand dollars a 
year and all the remainder of the state officers 
two thousand dollars, except that the allow- 
ance for the lieutenant-governor is the same in 
both constitutions. It would be difficult at 
least to overthrow the assumption that in 1871 
the superior dignity of the governor made his 
services worth a thousand dollars a year more 
than those of the other state officers ; but there 
seems to be no good reason for rating the gov- 
ernor, auditor, and treasurer five hundred dol- 
lars higher than the other state officers in 
1875. The attorney-general, for example, is 
probably the hardest worked, and ought to be 
the ablest, of them all. But the convention of 
1871 was palpably wiser than its successor in 
allowing a salary of thirty-five hundred dol- 
lars instead of twenty-five hundred for judges 
of the supreme court. The salaries of district 
judges were the same under both constitutions, 
but the convention of 1871 conceded that the 
legislature might well be entrusted with au- 
thority to readjust these salaries by providing 
that they should stand as specified in the con- 
stitution "only until otherwise provided bv 
law," while in the constitution of 1875 all sal- 
aries are rigidly fixed. 

The convention of 1875 followed that of 
1871 by incorporating in the constitution that 
barren formalism which confines the power of 
introducing appropriation bills to the house of 
representatives. This distinction is a mere 
echo of a constitutional principle which was 
recognized in England as early as the four- 
teenth century. It was an acknowledgment by 
the crown, grounded in expediency, of the 
growing self-assertion and power of the com- 
mons represented in the lower house of par- 
liament. The chief and sufficient reason for 
the rule was that the lords, by virtue of their 
life tenure, were not responsible or responsive 
to public opinion and therefore could not just- 
ly be entrusted with power of taking public 
money. The distinction was then logical and 
vital, whereas in our state legislature, whose 
members are elected at the same time in the 
same manner and for the same term and from 



582 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



the same class, it is an innocuous memory. In- 
deed, it may well be doubted whether the in- 
creased expense and clogging of business 
which flows from the mere arbitrary and ar- 
tificial division of this homogeneous body into 
two segments is oft'set by its assumed advan- 
tages of greater scrutiny and deliberation. 
This dual system is also a projection from a 
time when class distinctions were tmiversally 
recognized in political organization and other 
social relations. 

The only allusion to the location of the 
capital in the constitution of 1866 is a provi- 
sion that the first state legislature should meet 
at Omaha. The constitution of 1871 provided 
that the cajjital should remain at Lincoln until 
1880, "and until otherwise provided by law 
designating some other place therefor, which 
shall be submitted to and approved by a ma- 
jority of the electors voting thereon." The 
present constitution provides that the seat of 
government shall not be removed or relocated 
without the assent of a majority of the elec- 
tors of the state voting thereupon at a general 
election or elections, imder such rules and 
regulations as to the number of elections and 
manner of voting and places to be voted for 
as may be prescribed by law. Of these two 
provisions the former was probably the safer 
for Lincoln. It would have been difificult for 
the legislature to settle upon a specific new lo- 
cation and in turn still more difficult to pro- 
cure the assent of a majority ; whereas, under 
the present constitution, the legislature might 
adopt a plan fairer in appearance by which all 
aspirants would be voted upon together at 
as many successive elections as would be neces- 
sary to eliminate those having the low vote, 
thus reaching a final contest for a majority be- 
tween the two highest, but only after every 
other had had a fair chance. 

While the preamble of the constitution of 
1866 is not as fine in form as that of the fed- 
eral constitution, yet it is concise and dignified 
and superior to that of the constitution of 
1875, which, though commendably brief, is 
clumsy in construction, and that of the consti- 
tution of 1871 is verbose sermonizing. Prob- 
ably the worst verbal blemish in the constitu- 
tion of 1875 is the utterly indefensible substi- 
tution of "persons" and "people" for "men" 



in a clause adopted from a noble passage of 
the Declaration of Independence. For exam- 
ple: "All persons are by nature free and in- 
dependent ;" "to secure these rights . . . 
governments are instituted among people" ! 
]\Ir. Hascall attempted to perpetuate this van- 
dalism in the convention of 1871 but was suc- 
cessfully opposed by some of the ablest mem- 
bers. The committee on the bill of rights re- 
ported it in this bad form, and it appears to 
have passed without protest. Manderson gave 
much attention to the verbal form of this part 
of the constitution, and as he was a champion 
of the cause of suffrage for women the use 
of words of common, instead of masculine 
gender no doubt suited his purpose. 

The attempt to improve upon the style of 
the federal constitution in the preamble was 
no less unfortunate than that of improving the 
style of the Declaration of Independence. Sec- 
tion 24 of the bill of rights, which provides 
that "the right to be heard in all civil cases in 
the court of last resort, by appeal, error, or 
otherwise, shall not be denied," was a char- 
acteristic innovation of Maxwell, and it has 
caused no little expense and delay in obtain- 
ing justice, without compensating advantage. 

The first democratic convention of 1876 was 
held at Lincoln, April 19th. Miles Zentmeyer 
of Colfax county was temporary chairman and 
Stephen H. Calhoun of Otoe was pennanent 
president. George W. Ambrose of Douglas 
was chairman of the committee on resolutions 
which demanded the prosecution of plunderers 
of the cofifers of the nation ; declared that gold 
and silver were the true basis of sound money ; 
demanded return to specie payment "as soon 
as can be done without detriment to the com- 
mercial and industrial interests of the coun- 
try" ; and called on all political committees 
and candidates in the state to abstain from 
using money in state elections except in pay- 
ment for printing. The use of money in po- 
litical campaigns, they declared, was a great 
source of corruption in state and nation. This 
was a prelude to the corrupt practice acts 
which continuing conditions in question have 
been calling into existence in recent years. 
Dr. George L. Miller of Douglas county. Dr. 
Alexander Bear of Madison, Gilbert B. Sco- 
field of Otoe, Tobias Castor of Saline, F. A. 



RISE OF VAN WYCK 



583 



llarman of Franklin, and Charles McDonald 
of Lincoln, were chosen for delegates to the 
national convention. A motion instructing 
them to support Samuel J. Tilden as a candi- 
date for the presidency was laid upon the table, 
though under the leadership of Dr. Miller 
such instruments were unnecessary. A major- 
ity of the democrats of the state favored the 
nomination of Tilden, though there was a 
strong minority in opposition. 

The republican convention for choosing dele- 
gates to the national convention was held at 
Fremont, May 23, 1876. The spirit of prog- 
ress — or rebellion, for social progress in- 
volves rebellion — which in 1872 broke out in 
open revolt, was active in this convention. It 
was manifested in the election of Charles H. 
Van Wyck as temporary chairman over Amasa 
Cobb, the candidate of the conservatives or re- 
actionists, by a vote of 87 to 77 . Mr. Van 
W'yck's address to the convention on assuming 
the chair was a mild beginning of his subse- 
quent career of chronic insurgency. "We 
know well," he said, "the influences that have 
been at work during the last few years to the 
detriment of the republican party ; and we to- 
day witness an uprising of the people declar- 
ing that they have decided to take the power 
into their own hands. This feeling is . . . 
beginning to raise us into the atmosphere of 
political and financial honesty. The republican 
party must save the nation again. . ." 
Precisely the "insurgent" song of the present 
hour. The persistent inclination of this ag- 
gressive local leader to profess reform within 
the old party was an excuse, if not a justifica- 
tion, for the bitter assaults which the leaders 
of the alliance movement made upon him many 
years later. But in the meantime this insur- 
gent note, artfully and persistently repeated, 
sang him into the United States Senate — five 
years later. 

Two sets of delegates sought admission from 
Douglas county. One of them represented the 
interests of Senator Hitchcock and included 
Thomas M. Kimball, William A. Gwyer, and 
Isaac S. Hascall; the other represented the 
field of rivals and aspirants for Hitchcock's 
office, led by Charles F." Manderson, Alvin 
Saunders, Clinton Briggs, and John M. Thurs- 



ton. Three of these eventually realized their 
ambition, and the other — Briggs — was an 
vmsuccessful candidate in the next struggle in 
which Saunders was chosen to succeed Hitch- 
cock. Thurston's leadership, which, became 
more dominant than that of either of the others 
of the group, was then just budding; but 
Manderson alone was able to command a sec- 
ond term. The convention had no mind to 
engage in the factional fight over the senator- 
ship and so excluded both sets of Douglas 
county claimants. The powerful and pug- 
nacious opposition to Hitchcock in his own 
county and the preponderant strength against 
him in the convention foretold his defeat at 
the next session of the legislature. It was 
little more or less than a rush of the outs to 
oust the ins — in common political parlance, 
"dog eat dog." The organ at Lincoln de- 
nounced the disturbance, which was hurting 
the party, with an unwonted temerity. It was 
"the Omaha delegation nuisance." In a 
friendly leaning to the incumbent it observed 
that the Hitchcock delegates were "untitled 
gentlemen," while the hostiles were "a galaxy 
of judges, including the chief justice himself 
[Lake], an ex-governor [Saunders], and an 
ex -general [Manderson], with a private or 
tv.'o thrown in." No opposition to James G. 
Blaine was manifested, and a resolution in- 
structing the delegates to the national conven- 
tion to use all honorable means to procure his 
nomination for president was adopted unani- 
mously. 

The democratic state convention was held at 
Creighton Hall, Omaha, September 6, 1876. 
W. P. Connor of Fillmore was temporary 
chairman and F. J. Mead of Saunders, per- 
manent president. S. B. Miles of Richardson 
county and Milton Montgomery of Lancaster 
were vice presidents and Stephen H. Calhoun 
of Otoe was chairman of the committee or. 
resolutions. Endorsement of the St. Louis 
national platform was the main feature of the 
resolutions. They denounced the republican 
party for arming the Indians to take the lives 
of taxpaying white men and for protecting In- 
dians while leaving our white frontier without 
protection from them. The convention nomi- 
nated for governor, Paren England of Lan- 



584 



HISTORY ()F NEBRASKA 




Charles H. Gere 
Private secretary Governor Biitlc 



POLITICS OF 1876 



585 



caster county ; lieutenant-governor, Miles 
Zentnieyer of Colfax; secretary of state, Jo- 
seph Ritchie of Madison ; treasurer, Samuel 
Waugh of Saline ; auditor, G. P. Thomas of 
Burt ; attorney general, D. C. Ashby of Frank- 
lin ; superintendent of public instruction, J. M. 
Jones of Washington ; commissioner of public 
lands and buildings, Henry Grebe of Douglas ; 
for presidential electors, S. H. Calhoun of 
Otoe, St. John Goodrich of Douglas, M. C. 
Keith of Lincoln. 

The greenback party held a convention, com- 
posed of delegates from fifteen of the sixty 
counties, at Lincoln on the 26th of September. 
L. O. Barker was chairman and W. H. Morris 
of Saline county, Allen Root of Douglas, J. F. 
Gardner of Richardson, A. G. Wilson of Cass, 
Marvin Warren of Jefiferson, were the mem- 
bers of the committee on resolutions, and J. 
F. Gardner was nominated for governor. 

The republican state convention met at Lin- 
coln, September 26th. Its procedure hinged 
mainly on the senatorial succession, and the 
anti-Hitchcock faction elected Turner M. Mar- 
quett temporary chairman over Charles H. 
Gere — who, being editor of a typical party 
organ of the period was therefore ostensibly 
the friend of the incumbent — by a vote of 
144^4 to 141^. There was a long wrangle 
over the temporary organization, two sets of 
delegates from four of the counties contest- 
ing for seats ; so that the nomination of can- 
didates did not begin until the third day. 
After the composition of the convention had 
been determined, Mr. Gere was chosen per- 
manent chairman by acclamation. Up to the 
opening day of the convention Crounse was 
looked upon as the principal candidate for 
the nomination for member of Congress — 
to succeed himself ; but he kept out of the 
contest with the purpose of striving for the 
senatorship. There was a large field of com- 
petitors, the first ballot yielding 88 votes for 
Frank Welch of Madison county, 74 for John 
C. Cowin of Douglas, 36 for Charles A. 
Holmes of Johnson, 26 for Guy C. Barton of 
Lincoln, 24 for Leander Gerrard of Platte, 
15 for Champion S. Chase of Douglas. The 
nomination of Welch on the fourth ballot 
was another anti-Hitchcock incident. The 



withdrawal of Crounse was a misfortune 
for the state and for himself, because he was 
far more capable than his successor in the 
House and missed promotion to the Senate. 

Claiming that the population of the state 
was entitled to an additional member of the 
House, Thomas J. Majors of Nemaha county, 
was nominated as a contingent representative. 
By the census taken in the spring of 1876 
the population was 257,749, which, though 
too far below the lawful ratio to win an- 
other seat in the House, was near enough to 
inspire ambitious politicians with hope that 
it might do so, and Majors was renominated 
for the contingent honor over William H. 
Ashby, who suffered the then great disad- 
vantage of having worn the losing colors in 
the sectional war while the race of his com- 
petitor was expedited by the fact that his 
colors had triumphed. The incumbent execu- 
tive officers were renominated. The nomina- 
tions for the offices created by the new con- 
stitution were, Othman A. Abbott of Hall 
county, for lieutenant-governor; Professor 
S. R. Thompson, then principal of the nor- 
mal school at Peru, for superintendent of 
public instruction; F. M. Davis of Clay 
county, for commissioner of public lands and 
buildings ; George H. Roberts of Harlan 
county, for attorney-general. The platform 
demanded that the Union Pacific railroad com- 
pany should make pro rata charges on the 
basis of its own through tariff on all business 
originating on connecting lines in Nebraska 
and without discrimination as to those lines ; 
and it asked the national House of Representa- 
tives to admit an additional member from Ne- 
braska on account of the "great increase of 
population since 1870." The convention was 
very stormy and very long, lasting five days. 

The election was merelj' perfunctor}', the 
republicans winning with unhealthy ease — as 
they continued to do with increasing unhealthy 
effect upon the body politic until the popu- 
list revolution of 1890. Welch, republican 
candidate for Congress, received 30,900 
votes; Hollman, democrat, 17,206; Warren, 
greenback, 3,580; for contingent member. 
Majors, 31,467, Dech, 2,832. The greenback 



586 HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 

party, though small, and its monetary theory fact that after the silver leaders at last were 
nnsonnd. yet represented the protesting and obliged to abandon their theory because it 
progressive element and was the forerunner died on their hands, they took up the green- 
or nucleus of the later triumphant populist back principle. The national democratic plat- 
uprising. The free silver propaganda was form of 1908 illustrates instinctively this "re- 
close kin to the greenback, and it is a curious turn of the native." 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

Blunders in Procedure — -Defeat of Hitchcock for Senator — -The Legislature of 

1877 — Capital Removal — Increase in Population — Legislation and 

Politics, 1877-1883 — Omaha Labor Riot of 1882 



ON the 1st of December, 1876, Governor 
Garber called the sixth legislature elect- 
ed under the constitution to meet in a special 
session at ten o'clock in the morning of the 5th 
of that month, and on the 5th he called for 
another special meeting at three o'clock in the 
afternoon of that day. These were the 
twelfth and thirteenth sessions and the eighth 
and ninth special sessions. The federal sta- 
tute at that time required the electors to meet 
and cast their votes on the first Wednesday 
in December of the year in which they were 
appointed ; but the state statute provided that 
the vote for representatives in Congress 
should be canvassed by the legislature in joint 
session and that the vote for presidential elec- 
tors should be canvassed in the same manner. 
The legislature convened in regular session in 
January, 1877, too late to canvass the electoral 
vote : hence the necessity of a special session 
for that function. 

The democrats attempted to obtain an in- 
junction against the session, in the district 
court of Douglas county, and James R. 
Doolittle of Wisconsin and Abram S. Hewitt 
and John Morrissey of New York, came to 
Omaha to aid in this enterprise. But the 
judge, James W. Savage, dismissed the suit 
for want of equity. The democrats, with the 
exception of Enyart, Munn, and Tomlin of 
Otoe county, refused to attend the session ; 
but the seven republican senators and twenty- 
fi\e members of the house — five more than 
a quorum — were present, and the joint as- 
sembly proceeded to canvass the returns over 
the objections of Church Howe, which 
showed that under the law as it stood the 



canvass of the vote for presidential electors 
could be made only at the regular session in 
January, 1877. 

After the electors had been chosen, the eli- 
gibility of one of them — Amasa Cobb — 
was in doubt, and the afternoon session was 
called to provide against that danger. It 
proceeded to do so by again electing Cobb 
under the provision of the federal constitu- 
tion that "each state shall appoint (electors) 
in such manner as the legislature thereof may 
direct." Senator James C. Crawford formally 
objected to the proceeding for three reasons : 
( 1 ) that the joint convention has no 
knowledge of any vacancy in the office of 
elector, and so no power to fill it; (2) that 
the laws of Nebraska, which have never been 
repealed, require the election of electors by the 
people on the 7th of November; (.3) that 
the joint resolution under which it is proposed 
to appoint an elector is void because it was 
not read at large on three separate days and 
does not repeal the existing law providing for 
the choosing of electors. 

This expensive and otherwise troublesome 
incident arose from the second blunder of its 
kind by the legislature. Governor Butler had 
been obliged to call a special session of the 
legislature just before the election of 1868 
because no provision had been made for the 
election of presidential electors. The act 
passed at that session provided that the votes 
cast for the candidates for the office of elec- 
tor should be canvassed in the same manner 
as for candidates for the office of Representa- 
tive in Congress, which, according to the re- 
vised statutes of 1866, still in force, was to 



588 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



be done by the governor, the secretary of 
state, and the auditor, within sixteen days 
after the election. This left ample time for 
the electors to meet for the purpose of cast- 
ing their votes on the first Wednesday in De- 
cember, according to the act of Congress. 
But the act of the legislature of 1869 govern- 
ing elections — which, with the act of 1868 
providing for the choice of electors, was in- 
corporated in the revision of 1873 — provided 
that votes cast for candidates for repre- 
sentative in Congress should be canvassed 
by the legislature which, under the constitu- 
tion of 1866 and that of 1875, did not meet 
in regular session until the January following 
the general elections ; and the provision of the 
act of 1868 that the votes cast for candidates 
for the electoral college should be canvassed 
in the same manner as those for members 
of Congress remained unchanged ; hence the 
hurried call for the extra session to canvass 
the vote in December, 1876. 

After Amasa Cobb had been chosen as an 
elector in the regular way it was discovered 
that no "person holding an office of trust or 
profit under the United States shall be ap- 
pointed an elector," and that the fact that 
General Cobb was disbursing officer of the 
treasury de])artnient in the matter of the con- 
struction of the court house and j)ostoffice at 
Lincoln probably made him ineligible. A 
comedy of errors seemetl to monopolize the 
stage. The democrats did their utmost to 
turn the comedy into tragedy by applying for 
an order in the district court of Douglas 
county restraining the republican electors 
from meeting and casting their votes on the 
6th day of December, on the ground that the 
votes cast for them at the election had not 
been legally canvassed. 

It seems, however, that the irregidarity of 
1876 was not as flagrant as that of 1872, for 
there was an attempt to regularize it ; but we 
are told that "four years ago the secretary of 
state and the acting governor, James, set the 
precedent of interpreting the new law as not 
making any change in the old way of can- 
vassing the electoral vote, and opened the re- 
turns on the day required by act of Congress 
and canvassed them under the old provision," 



and that "the clause in the law holding that 
the vote for electors shall be canvassed in the 
same manner as the vote for congressman, 
meant as the vote for congressman was can- 
vassed at that time." 

The seventh legislatttre convened in the 
fourteenth session and the fifth regular ses- 
sion, January 2d, and finally adjourned 
February 15, 1877. George F. Blanchard, 
republican, of Dodge county, was elected tem- 
porary president of the senate, receiving 19 
votes to 9 for Church Howe of Nemaha 
county. Albinus Nance of Polk county was 
elected speaker of the house, his principal 
competitor being Dr. Alexander Bear of 
Madison county. 

The principal event of the session was, of 
course, the election of a senator of the 
United States. As the popular preference for 
candidates for this office is now e.xpressed at 
primary elections in most of the states, the 
formal election is merely perfunctory, a saving 
of much time and distraction over the old 
method. On the first joint ballot, Phineas 
W. Hitchcock, the incumbent, received 27 
votes; .'\lvin Saunders, 14; Clinton Briggs, 
12; Ivorenzo Crounse, 12; George B. Lake, 3; 
Charles F. Manderson, 4 ; Theron Nye, 3. 
The opposition cast 25 votes for James \V. 
Savage, democrat. On the first ballot taken 
the next day — January 18th — Saunders re- 
ceived 45 votes ; Hitchcock, 36 ; Savage, 26. 
( )n a second ballot, taken after a brief ad- 
journment, Saunders was elected, receiving 
the entire republican support and of ten in- 
dependents — 88 in all. 

Only one LTnited States senator from Ne- 
braska — Manderson — has gained two full 
terms. Tipton had a desperate struggle for 
reelection after his very short initial term of 
two years, and all the rest have been put out 
after one term. The charges that Thayer had 
lieen ])Ut off with only a fractional term by 
l)ri1)ery were kept ali\'e during the service of 
his successful competitor and probably caused 
his defeat. Mr. Hitchcock evidently attrib- 
uted liis misfortune to the bribery accusation. 

In the sensational campaign thirty-two re- 
puljlican newspapers actively opposed Hitch- 
cock's reelection, twenty-si.x were neutral, and 



LEGISLATURE OF 1877 



589 



only thirteen positively supported him. At 
that period no one poHtically unfriendly to 
railroads could attain an important political 
office, and probably no one not positively 
friendly to them ever did. But there seemed 
to be enough truth in the complaint that 
Hitchcock was over-friendly to them, even 
in that heydey of loyalty — largely pass-in- 
spired — to make it an eiifective aid to the 
bribery scandal and the inevitable disappoint- 
ed office seekers. Charged with these poisons 
and driven home by the restless and relentless 
Rosewater, the sting of the Bee was destruc- 
tive. 

Another formidable attempt to remove the 
capital from Lincoln — the last until 1911 — 
was centered in the house. On the final vote 
the bill received 36 affirmative, and 37 negative 
votes. Twenty-three of the thirty-six sup- 
porters of the measure were from the North 
Platte section. Of the eight members from 
Douglas county, three voted aye. three nay, 
two not voting. When "Jack" MacColl, in- 
troducer of the bill, was a candidate for gov- 
ernor in 1896, this incident had apparently 
not been quite forgotten. 

A report of the secretary of state upon the 
census showed that increase in the population 
of Nebraska from 1855 to 1860 was 542 per 
cent ; from 1860 to 1870, 327 per cent ; from 
1870 to 1876, 109 per cent. An exhibit ac- 
companying the report gave the population in 
1874 as 223,657; in 1875, 246.280; in 1876, 
257,747. The enumeration from which these 
aggregates were compiled was made by pre- 
cinct assessors under the law of 1869, and 
it is therefore unlikely that they are reliable ; 
but they at least served as basis for compari- 
son. According to the federal census the 
population was 452.402 in 1880. The consti- 
tution of 1875 provides for an enumeration 
every ten years, beginning in 1885. The direc- 
tion was complied with that year and the 
population was found to be 740,645, but it 
has been disregarded ever since. 

The laws passed at this session were not 
as numerous nor as important as those of sub- 
sequent sessions. The so-called Granger 
cases, originating in Illinois. Iowa, and ^^'is- 
consin, which established the principle that 



railroad rates could be controlled by legisla- 
tion, were decided this year but not in time 
to stimulate legislation along that line. The 
only acts affecting railroads passed at this 
session were an amendment strengthening the 
law of 1876 making railroads liable for the 
value of stock killed in transit ; another re- 
quiring railroad companies to keep stock cars 
clean ; and another making taxes on the road- 
bed, right of way, depots, sidetracks, ties, and 
rails a perpetual lien thereon, and declaring 
such property personal for the purpose of tax- 
ation and collection of the tax. A bill (H. R. 
77) to fix the liability of common carriers re- 
ceiving property for transportation was in- 
definitely postponed in committee of the 
whole; House Roll 254, to require railroads 
in Nebraska to "pro rate" with one another, 
was safely buried in the commitee on rail- 
roads of which Loren Clark, whom the 
Omaha Bee afterward made famous or in- 
famous by its attacks upon him for corpora- 
tion subserviency, was chairman. This com- 
mittee recommended the indefinite postpone- 
ment of a house resolution directing the com- 
mittee to inquire into the expediency of regu- 
lating freight and passenger rates, for the 
reason, as stated, that the committee was in- 
formed that the senate was about to report 
a bill of that nature. Such a bill was intro- 
duced into the senate, where it was indefinitely 
postponed in committe of the whole by a vote 
of 18 to 8. 

The most important bills passed at the ses- 
sion were as follows : An act prohibiting the 
sale of intoxicating liquors within three miles 
of a place where any religious society was as- 
sembled for religious worship in a field or 
woodland ; providing that the principal and 
interest of the grasshopper bonds of 1875 
should be paid out of the state sinking fund : 
repealing the act of 1875 creating a state 
board of immigration ; regulating the manner 
of proposing amendments to the constitution 
and submitting them to electors ; providing 
for township organization ; creating a com- 
mission for three members to revise the gen- 
eral laws of the state ; authorizing the super- 
x'isors of each road district and supervisors 
to be appointed b\' mayors of cities to require 



590 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



each able-bodied male resident between the 
ages of sixteen and sixty years to perform two 
days' labor, at such time and place and in such 
manner as should be deemed most eiiflcient 
in the destruction of grasshoppers. If it 
should appear that two days' labor would be 
insufficient, the supervisors might require a 
greater number of days, not exceeding ten. 
No compensation was provided for such 
work, and any person refusing to perform 
it was liable to a fine of $10 with costs of 
suit. Further enactments were, for estab- 
lishing the board of public lands and build- 
ings and defining its duties ; offering a bounty 
of $1 for every wolf, wildcat, and coyote 
killed, to be paid by warrants drawn by the 
auditor upon the state treasurer. A joint 
resolution was passed requesting members of 
Congress from Nebraska to attempt to pro- 
cure such legislation as would provide for 
the appropriation of the proceeds of the sale 
of public lands in the several states devastated 
by grasshoppers to be used in payment of 
bounties for their destruction. A preamble 
and joint resolution was passed which recited 
that the state had materially suffered from 
frequent and continued invasions of hostile 
Indians for the past twelve years and asking 
that the control of Indian affairs be trans- 
ferred to the war department for more 
efficient and economical administration. An- 
other joint resolution recited that the federal 
census of Nebraska taken in 1870 failed to 
show the actual number of people in the 
state ; that there had been a rapid increase 
of population since that time, that the state 
census of 1875 showed a sufficient population 
to entitle the state to two members of Con- 
gress, and asking that an additional member 
be awarded. A joint resolution was passed 
reciting, "That the records of the impeach- 
ment and removal from office of David But- 
ler, late governor, be and the same are hereby 
expunged from the Journals of the Senate 
and House of Representatives of the 8th ses- 
sion of the legislature of Nebraska." 

J. Sterling Morton and Dr. George L. Mil- 
ler worked together in politics during the 
greater part of their long political activity : 
but during the decade of 1880-1890 and until 



the new leader, Bryan, with his new, or, 
rather, more vitalized, doctrines conveniently 
but superficially called Bryanism, arose in the 
early part of the next decade, when they 
made common cause against him, they were 
the leaders of two mutually hostile factions of 
the democratic party. Their differences were 
mainly due to the overweening ambition for 
leadership and the domineering personal tem- 
I^er or temperament of both, though Miller was 
inclined to Randall protectionism while Mor- 
ton was a radical free trader, and their rail- 
road affiliations were not always identical. 
Morton, moreover, after his recovery from his 
greenback lapse, grew more "sound" on the 
money question than Miller. As early as 
1877 a quarrel between them was noticed, os- 
tensibly over a puff' in the Herald of Dan. 
Voorhees, whom Governor "Blue Jeans" 
Williams had recently appointed to succeed 
Oliver P. Morton, deceased, as United States 
senator. Morton pointed out that the Herald 
had formerly called the budding statesman 
a wind-bag and other impolite names which 
Miller always freely drew for editorial use 
from his full-stocked vocabulary. Morton 
himself had been alike impolite to "the tall 
sycamore of the Wabash," who was too much 
bent on "doing something for silver," but 
stuck to it while Miller took it back. 

The republican state convention for 1877 
was held at Lincoln, October 10th. It was 
called to order by Charles H. Gere, chairman 
of the state committee; James W. Dawes of 
Saline, was temporary and permanent chair- 
man, George L. Brown of Butler, temporary 
secretary, and Daniel H. Wheeler of Cass, 
permanent secretary. George B. Lake of 
Douglas county, was nominated for chief 
justice of the supreme court on the second 
formal ballot. The convention, for some rea- 
son not apparent, did not want a platform, and 
the usual motion for the appointment of a 
committee on resolutions was defeated by a 
vote of 119 to 131. James W. Dawes was 
pitted against Edward Rosewater for member 
at large of the state committee and was vic- 
torious by a vote of 171 to 82. This inci- 
dent was indicative of the relative standpat 
and insurgent strength in the party. Self- 



LEGISLATION AND POLITICS, 1877-1883 



591 



contained and subservient reactionaries did 
not dream, much less see, that eventually they 
must bow to their ascendant Nemesis whom 
they now contumeliously spurned. Rosewater 
was to have his day, and a great day it would 
be. A delegate from Douglas county ofifered 
a resolution of sympathy with the laboring 
classes for their manly defense of their rights 
"during the recent attempt of capital to op- 
press labor." It was supported by Rosewater, 
opposed by Gere, and tabled by the convention 
of course. The standpat mouthpiece char- 
acterized it as "Rosewater's communistic 
resolution" and declared that the Douglas 
delegation was composed chiefly, if not entire- 
ly, of men who bolted the organization last 
fall, their chief object being to destroy Judge 
Briggs, "a man who for a time had got in 
bad company." 

On the 26th of October E. A. Allen, chair- 
man, and S. F. Burtch, secretary of the demo- 
cratic state committee, issued a statement that 
as "only a judge of the supreme court and 
two regents of the university were to be nomi- 
nated," they deemed it inexpedient to hold a 
.state convention. The committee had unani- 
mously passed a resolution urging the State 
Bar Association to nominate a candidate for 
the judgeship; but the association having de- 
clined to act on its suggestion, the committee 
urged all democratic county organizations to 
put the name of John D. Howe upon their 
tickets and support him at the polls. As a 
matter of course the lawyers, who were usually 
ambitious politicians and perforce, perhaps, 
members of the dominant party, could not 
afford to listen to a proposal to divide official 
honors and emoluments with the minority 
party so long as their own party was strong 
enough to safely monopolize them. Even 
recent repeated attempts, stimulated t.)y the 
present comparatively strong and growing in- 
dependence of partisanship, have failed to 
unhorse the pernicious custom of the partisan 
choice of judicial officers which was so firmly 
seated in those inauspicious times. 

Judge Lake had flirted too much with vari- 
ous parties to be wholly acceptable to the stal- 
v\'art republicanism of that day ; and so the 
State Journal was willing to quote from the 



free lance Lincoln Globe a severe stricture 
upon his candidacy. There was much com- 
plaint, the Globe declared, about Lake's nom- 
ination. Ten years of incumbency was enough 
and many wanted a new man. Besides, Briggs 
had probably missed the nomination by a mis- 
count in the convention and Lake's managers 
would not consent to a recount. He was not 
a man of decided ability, falling below Gantt 
in that respect, and his written opinions fell 
below the standard, "contributing for him his 
full share of much bad law confessedly con- 
tained in the Nebraska reports." This was 
the opinion of "the able members of the bar." 
While on the bench he had been a constant can- 
didate for the United States senatorship and 
for a seat in the lower house of Congress ; 
and in 1868, failing to get the nomination of 
the republican party, he accepted one from its 
political opponents and ran against the regular 
republican candidate, John Taffe. in the mean- 
time "remaining upon the bench against all 
precedent, so as to be sure of an office in 
any case." The Globe thought that the bar 
association would nominate Briggs or Wakeley. 

Lake received 25,569 votes against 15,639 
cast for Howe, his democratic opponent. 
That palpable republican dissatisfaction with 
Lake's nomination should not have been man- 
ifested in a greater defection in his support at 
the polls is explained by the unquestioning 
party loyalty which would still accept or tol- 
erate argument of this sort : "Politically the 
republicans of Lancaster county should vin- 
dicate the honor of the old flag. . . Repub- 
licans of Lancaster county, stand by your guns 
and vote straight as you shot, and let the cry 
of 'bloody shirt' dismay those only who got 
their shirts crimsoned in the ranks of disloy- 
alty and secession." .More directly vital to the 
interests of the party organs, there would be 
no danger of annoying inquiry into fat public 
printing subsidies or other public matters of 
jiractical import, so 'ong as public attention 
could be diverted by such inspiring appeals to 
a paramount patriotism. 

A large element of the republican party at 
this time favored the restoration of free coin- 
age of silver. The State Journal, which led 
in the movement, ardently supported the 



592 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Blaiul Ijill — vvliich had passed the House — 
"restoring the old dollar of 412^ grains as 
zin unconditional legal tender for debts, public 
and private," and insisted that it must pass the 
Senate without amendment. This was the 
same radical principle which all the leading 
republican newspapers of the state, including 
the Journal, violently asailed William J. Bry- 
an for promulgating about tifteen years later. 
On the 12th and 16th of January, 1878, mass 
meetings were held in Lincoln in the interest 
of free coinage. Harvey W. Hardy was presi- 
dent of the meetings and Allen W. Field sec- 
retary. Lorenzo W. Billingsley offered a set 
of drastic resolutions about the crime of '73, 
for restoring free silver coinage and declaring 
that if President Hayes should veto the Bland 
bill our representatives in Congress ought to 
endeavor to pass it over the veto. Turner 
M. Marquett, Oliver P. Mason, Charles H. 
Gere, S. B. Galey, John L. McConnel, John B. 
Wright, and President Hardy, all republicans, 
and comj^rising most of the party leaders of 
the capital city, favored the resolutions. Only 
Nathan S. Harwood and Genio M. Lambert- 
son opposed and favored a gold standard. 
Harwood advocated a resolution in favor of 
the coinage of silver dollars equal in value to 
gold dollars ; and he opposed the Bland bill be- 
cause it was not honorable to pay debts in de- 
preciated money. In reply to the assertions of 
the resolutions and the other speakers that the 
silver dollar was fraudulently demonetized in 
1873, he pointed out that the provision for its 
coinage had long been obsolete when it was 
formally dropped from the statutes. John I. 
Redick of Omaha, who in a few years won a 
reputation for changeful opportunism — not 
always or necessarily an unwise or discredit- 
able tendency — was for the resolutions, of 
course. An amendment declaring for the re- 
peal of the specie resumption act, presented 
by C. H. Gould and pressed by L. C. Pace, 
was defeated, it would seem inconsistently. 
Harwood and Lambertson were among the 
earliest and most positive advocates of the gold 
standard in the great struggle for free coinage 
of silver which began about 1890. 

The republican state convention for 1878 
was held at Lincoln, r)ctober 1st. It was 



called to order by James W. Dawes, chairman 
of the state committee, and Monroe L. Hay- 
ward of (jtoe county was temporary and per- 
manent chairman. There were contesting dele- 
gations from Custer, Douglas, Franklin, Gos- 
per, Lincoln, and Madison counties. Amasa 
Cobb, who had been appointed to fill the va- 
cancy caused by the death of Daniel Gantt, 
May 29, 1878, was nominated for judge of 
the supreme court by acclamation ; and Ed- 
ward K. Valentine was nominated for mem- 
ber of Congress on the fourth formal ballot. 
The informal ballot gave Lorenzo Crounse 
110 votes; Valentine, 90; Oliver P. Mason, 
25 ; and other scattering support ; the third 
formal, Crounse, 125; Valentine, 131 ; George 
F. Blanchard, 36 ; Joseph C. McBride, 6 ; Ma- 
son 1. Thomas J. Majors was nominated for 
the short term, to fill the vacancy left by the 
death of Mr. Welch in September. Albinus 
Nance of Polk county was nominated for gov- 
ernor on the third formal ballot. The plat- 
form declared that "elections shall be free in 
the south" ; with some deference to Presi- 
dent Hayes's inclination ; squinted toward re- 
form of the civil service; denounced a gratui- 
tous assumption that damages inflicted on the 
property of southern states by the war might 
be paid from the national treasury ; declared 
that the ample power of Congress must be 
exerted to guard against extortions of corpor- 
ate capital ; saw signs of reviving business ; in- 
sisted that the greenback should be made as 
good as honest coin ; approved the Bland bill 
for coining standard silver dollars and restor- 
ing their legal tender character, but declared 
that coinage should be free and that the thirtv 
million trade dollars then in circulation shoukl 
be made legal tender ; denounced the recent 
attempt of democrats to steal the presidency ; 
protested against a proposition to withdraw 
public lands west of the one hundredth meri- 
dian from homestead, preemption, and timber 
culture ; demanded that, as soon as practicable. 
Indians now within our border should be re- 
moved to the territory set apart for their use. 
Edward Rosewater characteristically con- 
vulsed the convention by introducing a resolu- 
tion which declared that the recent decision of 
the Supreme Court of the United States tha 



LEGISLATION AND POLITICS, 1877-1883 



593 



the Union Pacific bridge across the Missouri 
river was a part of the main Hue of the road 
impHed that the special bridge toll of ten dol- 
lars for each car of freight and fifty cents for 
each passenger was contrary to the spirit of 
the charter granted by the United States to 
the Union Pacific company, was unjust and 
oppressive, and that the question should be 
clearly defined by an act of Congress and the 
bridge rate reduced to that charged on the rest 
of the line. The resolution was hotly op- 
posed, John M. Thurston leading the attack, 
and S. B. Galey and W. H. Ashby assisting. 
James Laird, William J. Connell, and others 
supported it. But Nebraska politics was not 
yet ripe for definite, much less drastic, anti- 
corporation declaration such as this, and the 
resolution was defeated by a vote of 127 to 
84. Charles O. Whedon, following his pen- 
chant for sardonically marrying incongruities, 
offered an amendment as follows : "Resolved, 
that it is an outrage for the ferry companies 
at Plattsmouth, Nebraska City, and Brown- 
ville to charge $10 per car for transferring 
cars across the Missouri river." This was 
added to the Rosewater resolution as an 
amendment and fell with it. As reported in 
the Daily State Journal, October 4th, Mr. 
Whedon "argued that the Union Pacific rail- 
road had a right to fix the amount of the toll 
exactly as much as a man has a right to fix 
the price of a bushel of potatoes he has for 
sale." The radical change of attitude toward 
the relation of transportation companies and 
the state is illustrated by the fact that in the 
year 1911 Mr. Whedon is an "insurgent" or 
"La FoUette republican" ; which means that he 
holds to the right and duty of the public, 
through commissions or legislatures, to abso- 
lutely fix railroad rates. The irrelevancy of 
the Whedon resolution lay in the fact that the 
Union Pacific railroad was largely a giant 
creature of the people who, therefore, par- 
ticipated in its management through the agency 
of the federal government, while the ferries 
in question were at that time regarded as 
simply private concerns. 

The democratic state convention was held 
at Lincoln, September 25th. A majority of 
the convention was chiefly bent on efifecting 



fusion with the greenback party and of emu- 
lating the republican devotion to unstable 
money. A majority of the committee on reso- 
lutions, comprising Frank P. Ireland, James 
C. Crawford, James E. North, George E. 
Pritchett, James R. Gilkeson, and A. J. Smith, 
reported a conservative plank in favor of car- 
rying out the resumption act and of a cur- 
rency convertible into coin at the will of the 
holder. Their platform included, almost of 
course, a declaration against the protective 
tariff. The two dissenters — James G. Me- 
geath and Nat. W. Smails — offered a minor- 
ity plank demanding the postponement of re- 
sumption until the needs of the country admit 
it, the restoration of silver to the position it 
occupied before it was fraudulently demone- 
tized, the abolition of the national bank sys- 
tem, and the substitution of greenbacks for 
the bank notes, opposing any further sale of 
bonds for resumption purposes and insisting 
that the public debt should be paid according 
to the original contract. This report was 
adopted in preference to that of the majority 
by a vote of 69 to 53. The platform also 
denounced republicans for defrauding the 
nation of a president justly elected, and be- 
cause they had "squandered the public lands, 
robbed the school funds, wasted the public 
money in rotten contracts for rotten public 
buildings, and levied a tax of half a million 
dollars a year for ten years to enrich favorites 
and feed imbeciles in office." It declared for 
"the liberty of individuals unvexed by sump- 
tuary laws" and "against any and all pro- 
tective tariffs." The convention nominated 
candidates as follows : For member of Con- 
gress, long term, J. W. Davis ; short term. Dr. 
Alexander Bear; governor, W. H. Webster of 
Merrick county; lieutenant-governor, F. J. 
Mead : secretary of state, Benjamin Palmer- 
ton ; auditor, E. H. Benton ; treasurer, S. H. 
Cummins ; superintendent of public instruc- 
tion. S. L. Barrett ; attorney-general, Stephen 
H. Calhoun ; superintendent of public lands 
and buildings, Joseph McCreedy ; judge of 
the supreme court, John D. Howe. Dr. 
George L. Miller was named in the conven- 
tion for governor and J. Sterling Morton for 
member of Congress, but it was inclined to a 



594 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



new deal, and the monetary principles of these 
two veterans had become rather too hard to 
yield to greenback fusion. 

A state greenback convention held at Lin- 
coln on the 14th of August nominated a ticket 
of which the candidates for member of Con- 
gress, auditor, treasurer, attorney-general, 
commissioner of public lands and buildings, 
and judge of the supreme court were the same 
as those of the democrats. There was no es- 
sential difiference between the democratic and 
greenback money planks, and the only appre- 
ciable difference in the republican plank was 
its friendliness to national bank currency as 
well as greenbacks and a demand for the con- 
vertibility of greenbacks into coin ; but the 
virtue of the demand for a coin basis was re- 
pudiated by the radical demand for unlimited 
free coinage of debased silver. 

The fusion of democrats and greenbackers 
was effective enough to alarm the dominant 
party and did not fall far short of defeating it. 
Cobb, candidate for judge of the supreme 
court, received 28,956 votes against 23,191 
cast for Howe. Nance, republican candidate 
for governor, received 29,469 votes while the 
opposition divided its support, giving Web- 
ster, democrat, 13,473, and Todd, greenback, 
9,475. All of the other opposition candidates 
for state offices received the fusion vote. Val- 
entine, republican candidate for member of 
Congress, received 28,341 votes; Davis, demo- 
crat and greenback, 21,752; Dr. Alexander 
Bear, national, 110. 

The eighth legislature convened in the fif- 
teenth session and the sixth regular session, 
January 7th, and finally adjourned February 
25, 1879. The senate comprised eighteen re- 
])ublicans, five democrats, two greenbackers, 
and five nationals. The democrats w-ere 
Charles H. Brown and C. V. Gallagher of 
Douglas county, D. T. Hayden of Otoe, 
Lewis Ley of Stanton, (^leorge A. Stone of 
Richardson ; the greenbackers, P. W. Birk- 
hauser of Richardson, J. H. Grimm of Sa- 
line ; the nationals, William B. Beck of Burt, 
T. A. Buimell of Saunders, John A. Cuff'y of 
Washington, J. A. AIcMeans of Jefferson, O. 
P. Sullenberger of Dixon. Of the fifty-five 
members of the house thirty-six were repub- 



licans, nine democarts, six greenbackers, two 
independent republicans ; not designated, two. 
Charles P. Mathewson, republican, of Madi- 
son county, was elected speaker. 

Among the enactments of this legislature 
was a provision that "all impeachments of 
state ofificers shall be tried before the supreme 
court." except that judges of the supreme 
court should be tried by all the district judges. 
Nance county was formed. Us territory com- 
prising the Pawnee reservation. Saline lands 
described as follows were set apart for the 
use of a Nebraska hospital for the insane: 
n. e. 34 sec. 4, t. 9 n., r. 6 east 6 p. m. ; s. w. 
34 sec. 34, t. 10, r. 6. The excess of the state 
moneys on hand over $100,000 was to be in- 
vested in United States four per cent bonds. 
The sum of $100,000 was appropriated out of 
the sinking fund to pay off that amount of 
the state funding bonds. A fish commission 
was created to consist of three members whose 
term of- office should be three years. No sal- 
ary was provided for the commissioners, but 
their expenses should be paid to an amount 
not exceeding $500. A bounty of $2 was pro- 
vided for the taking of wolves, wildcats, and 
coyotes whenever any county should vote to 
give such bounty. By the law of 1877 $1 was 
to be paid by the state for each animal killed. 
By the law of 1879, $7,500 was provided for 
payment of bounties under the law of 1877. 
The contract for leasing convict labor at the 
state penitentiary to W. H. B. Stout, made 
September 22, 1877, was extended six years 
from C)ctober 1, 1883. Under the conditions 
of this law Stout was to build for the state 
240 stone cells before October 1, 1883. He 
was to receive forty-five cents a day for each 
convict for the first three years of his lease, 
and forty cents a day for the second three 
years. .\11 that part of the ( )maha and Win- 
nebago reservation not included in Cuming or 
Burt counties was attached to Dakota county 
for judicial and revenue purposes. It was 
provided that counties must pay $3.33 an 
acre for six rows of trees planted along half 
section or north section lines east and west 
and cared for not less than five years. A gen- 
eral election law provided that one judge of 
the supreme court and two regents of the 



LEGISLATION AND POLITICS, 1877-1883 



595 



university should be elected in 1879 and every 
two years thereafter, for a term of six years. 
Judges of district courts should be elected in 
1879 and every four years thereafter; state 
officers and members of Congress, in 1880 
and every two years thereafter ; county offi- 
cers, in 1879 and every two years thereafter; 
one county commissioner in 1879 and one an- 
nually thereafter. At the general election 
immediately preceding the expiration of the 
term of a LTnited States senator, electors 
might express by ballot their preference for 
his successor. It was provided that county 
treasurers should be eligible to office for only 
two consecutive terms. The sum of $75,000 
was provided for building the west wing of a 
new capitol. The sum of $10,000 was appro- 
priated for establishing and maintaining a re- 
form school at Kearney, provided that the 
city should donate to the state a site for the 
same comprising not less than 320 acres. 

Memorials and joint resolutions were passed 
asking Congress to extend the provisions of 
the acts of 1850 and 1855, relative to swamp 
and overflowed lands, to Nebraska and other 
new states ; to transfer the Indian bureau to 
the war department, "believing it will give 
greater protection to our exposed settlers," 
and be less expensive ; to place the Santee 
Sioux Indians on the old Ponca reserve re- 
cently vacated by the Spotted Tail band, only 
six miles distant from the lands held by the 
Santee in Knox county, which were seized 
by the interior department after being settled 
upon and cultivated by citizens of that county. 
A memorial set forth that incursions of hos- 
tile Indians east of Fort Robinson had re- 
cently resulted in the loss of several lives and 
much damage to property ; and senators and 
representatives from Nebraska were asked to 
urge upon the war department the establish- 
ment of a military post in that part of the 
state. Congress was asked to repeal that part 
of section 640, revised statutes of the United 
States, 1873-1874, under which railroad cor- 
porations operating within the state removed 
cases between such corporations and citizens 
from state to federal courts. Application was 
made for indemnity for school land sections in 
the Otoe and Pawnee reservations. The mem- 



bers of Congress from Nebraska were asked 
to oppose the payment of southern war claims. 
The attorney-general of the state was instruct- 
ed to proceed by suit or otherwise to collect 
moneys loaned out of the permanent school 
fund in 1870 and 1871 and to report to the 
next legislature the condition of each case. 

In his message Governor Garber reported 
as outstanding ten per cent, ten years grass- 
hopper bonds of 1875 to the amount of $50,- 
000 and eight per cent funding bonds of April, 
1877, to the amount of $549,267.35. Of these 
bonds $123,000 had been sold to the highest 
bidder at $1.07, and the balance was invested 
in the permanent school fund. The governor 
reported that "for some time past the outer 
walls of the capitol have been considered un- 
safe. Last October architects were em- 
ployed to examine the building, and they 
pronounced the north wall in danger of fall- 
ing." It was rebuilt at a cost of $777.98. The 
time was not far distant when a new building 
must be erected. The governor recommended 
that citizens of Lincoln should be reimbursed 
for their expense in replacing the foundation 
of the university, but this just request was 
ignored. 

The commission appointed under the law of 
1877 to revise the statutes of the state re- 
ported to the legislature of 1879 that they had 
prepared a new school law, a new revenue 
law, and a new railroad law. According to a 
statement made by John H. Ames, a member 
of the commission, the legislature, fearing 
that a comprehensive report might not be up- 
held by the courts, adopted only a small part 
of the work. The legislature of 1877 not 
comprehending the magnitude of the work 
involved expected a full report of it the fol- 
lowing fall. The members of the committee 
worked two years, each receiving compensa- 
tion of only $1,500. 

The republican state convention for 1879 
was held at Omaha October 1st. The conven- 
tion was called to order by James W. Dawes. 
chairman of the state committee. Monroe L. 
Hayward of C)toe county was temporary and 
permanent chairman. Amasa Cobb of Lan- 
caster county was nominated for judge of the 
supreme court by acclamation. In present- 



596 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ing- his r.ame John A I. Thurston said tliat 
Hayward's friends had pressed his candidacy 
for the office against his wishes. John L. 
Carson of Nemaha county and Joseph W. 
Gannett of Douglas, were nominated for re- 
gents of the State University. Charles H. 
Gere was a strong competitor of these nomi- 
nees. William M. Robertson of Madison 
county was chairman of the committee on 
resolutions. The platform omitted reference 
to silver and congratulated the country on the 
successful resumption of specie payment, in- 
sisting that its credit and promises must be 
kept as good as gold. A ruby "bloody shirt" 
plank was inserted. There must be no con- 
cessions to unrepentant rebels, and fear of 
the treasonable utterances of rebel brigadiers 
in Congress was expressed, and protection of 
votes in the South was demanded. There 
were pleasing signs of returning prosperity — 
which had been waited for since 1873. 

The greenback convention was held in Lin- 
coln October 2d. Allen Root of Douglas 
county was chairman of the convention and 
L. C. Pace of Lancaster county was an active 
member. John Saxon of Jefferson county 
was nominated for judge of the supreme 
court, and Thomas Gibson of Douglas and 
J. H. Woodward of Seward, for regents of 
the State University. Delegates were present 
from fifteen counties. Captain W. H. Ashby 
of Gage county, at one time or another an 
ardent member of every one of the parties, 
was chanticleer of this convention. 

The democratic state convention, held in 
Lincoln, September 9th, nominated Eleazer 
Wakeley of Omaha, for judge of the supreme 
court and Alexander Bear of Madison coun- 
ty and Andrew J. Sawyer of Lancaster, for 
regents of the LTniversity. Stephen H. Cal- 
houn of Nebraska City was chairman of the 
committee on resolutions, which complained 
that the republican administration made treat- 
ies with the Indians only to violate them, thus 
turning the enraged savages loose on unpro- 
tected settlers. They denounced, also, the re- 
publican policy of keeping a standing army 
to intimidate voters in the South. The plat- 
form lacked specific declarations as to state 
affairs. The Daily State Democrat — Sep- 



tember 12th, approved the policy of leaving 
a declaration on the money question to the 
next national convention — not a sound precept. 

The democratic convention for electing dele- 
gates to the national convention was held at 
Columbus, April 1, 1880. Dr. George L. Mil- 
ler still adhered to the fortunes of Samuel J. 
Tilden and strongly favored his remoination. 
(leneral Victor Vifquain, editor of the Dailx 
State Democrat, was opposed to this course 
and had a strong following. At the Lancaster 
county convention, held March 30th, to choose 
delegates to the state convention, the support- 
ers of Tilden were defeated. It was estimated 
that about three-quarters of the delegates at 
Columbus favored the Miller-Tilden combina- 
tion. The 257 votes in the convention were 
divided among the leading aspirants for dele- 
gates to the national convention as follows : 
J. Sterling Morton, 211 ; Dr. George L. Miller, 
200; J. W. Pollock, 188: James E. North, 
157; F. A. Harmon, 127; Richard S. Molony, 
131, and they were declared to be the choice 
of the convention. From motives of policy, 
instructions for Tilden were not forced, as 
J. Sterling Morton and some others of the 
delegates were not primarily for him. The 
fact that a special train for carrying delegates 
to this convention left Lincoln at 8 o'clock in 
the morning, March 31st, and ran to the ter- 
minus of the Lincoln & Northwestern rail- 
road, from which passengers were taken in 
carriages the remainder of the distance to 
Columbus — eight miles — illustrates the in- 
complete condition of the capital city's rail- 
way connection at this time. 

The republican convention for electing dele- 
gates to the national convention was held at 
Columbus, May 19, 1880. There was a very 
heated controversy in the convention between 
the Blaine and Grant factions, which in the 
election for delegates divided, nearly two- 
thirds being against Grant. 

Though the preponderating sentiment prob- 
ably favored Blaine and was certainly decid- 
edly anti-Grant, the convention formally re- 
fused to instruct delegates to support the 
favorite. Though the progressive and reac- 
tionary cleavage between the two factions was 
not uniform, yet the Blaine partisans as a rule 



LEGISLATION AND POLITICS, 1877-1883 



597 



represented a progressive element — as will 
appear by an inspection of the names of the 
candidates. Senator Paddock was, quite 
strangely, for Grant. When Garfield became 
president there was rather a petty controversy 
between Senator Paddock and Senator Saun- 
ders along this line. Saunders supported Gar- 
field in the row with Conkling over the New 
York appointments and thereby won an ad- 
vantage over Paddock in Nebraska appoint- 
ments. When, however, Saunders procured 
the appointment of St. A. D. Balconibe for 
United States marshal. Paddock retaliated by 
defeating his confirmation. 

The republican state convention was held at 
Lincoln, September 1st. Charles A. Holmes 
of Johnson county was temporary and perma- 
nent chairman. George W. Collins of Paw- 
nee, John M. Thurston of Douglas, and James 
Laird of Adams, were nominated for presi- 
dential electors. Edward K. Valentine of 
Cuming was nominated for Congress by accla- 
mation, and Thomas J. Majors of Nemaha, 
was nominated for contingent member of 
Congress. All of the state officers excepting 
the auditor, commissioner of public lands and 
buildings, and superintendent of public in- 
struction, were renominated by acclamation. 
The commissioner and the superintendent of 
public instruction were dropped because they 
had been in the customary two terms, and 
Leidtke, the auditor, was defeated on account 
of charges against him for retaining insurance 
fees. John \\'allichs was nominated in his 
place, A. G. Kendall for commissioner, and 
\\'. W. W. Jones for superintendent of public 
instruction. James W. Dawes was retained 
as chairman of the state committee. The jjlat- 
form declared that national sovereignty is the 
fundamental principle upon which the per- 
petuitv of the nation rests ; that the princijile 
of home rule as enunciated by the democratic 
party was but the cautious expression of the 
Calhoun doctrine of state's rights ; denounced 
the seizure of the polls by democratic officers 
in Alabama ; congratulated the state in its gen- 
eral prosperity and rapid increase of popula- 
tion and wealth ; pledged the party to the 
support of such legislation by Congress and 
the state legislature as might be necessary to 



effect a correction of the abuses and prevent 
extortion and discrimination in charges by 
railroad corporations ; and appealed to war 
democrats to join with republicans "in defense 
of national integrity and the nation's purse." 
There was an incipient recognition of the now 
rather obtrusive railroad issue but expressed 
onlv in glittering generahties. The alarmist 
part of the declaration was still depended 
upon as a blind to real home issues. William 
McAllister of Platte county innocently intro- 
duced a set of resolutions favoring an expres- 
sion of the preference of voters for candidates 
for the office of United States senator, in ac- 
cordance with the provisions of the constitu- 
tion and the law of 1879 applicable thereto. 
The resolution was laid on the table by a vote 
of 294 to 77. 

The democratic state convention was held at 
Hastings, September 29, 1880. Frank P. Ire- 
land of Otoe county was elected temporary 
chairman and Nat. W. Smails of Dodge, tem- 
porary secretary. The temporary organiza- 
tion was made permanent. James E. Boyd of 
Douglas county, Victor Vifquain of Saline, 
and Beach I. Hinman of Lincoln, were chosen 
as candidates for presidential electors, Boyd 
receiving 219 votes ; Vifquain, 180 ; Hinman, 
133. Robert R. I,ivingston of Cass county 
was nominated for member of Congress and 
Thomas W. Tipton of Nemaha, for governor, 
receiving 190 votes against 40 for Robert A. 
Battv, of Adams. Stephen H. Calhoun of 
' )toe was nominated for heutenant-governor ; 
Dr. George W-. Johnston of Fillmore, for sec- 
retary of state ; D. C. Patterson of Wayne, for 
auditor; Frank Folda of Colfax, for treasur- 
er; E. H. Andrus of Buffalo, for commis- 
sioner of public lands and buildings ; Dr. 
Alexander Bear of Madison, for superinten- 
dent of public instruction ; and George E. 
Prichett of Douglas, for attorney-generaL In 
the mutations of local factions which peculiarly 
affected the two most prominent democratic 
leaders. Dr. George L. Miller was left at home 
this time but J. Sterling Morton was promi- 
nent in the convention. Charles PI. Brown 
and James Creighton of r)maha, vigorously 
opposed the nomination of Tipton for govern- 
or because he was not a full-fledged demo- 



598 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



crat, but the}- were overwhelmingly overruled. 

At the election of 1880 Valentine, repub- 
lican candidate for member of Congress, re- 
ceived 52,647 votes ; James E. North, demo- 
cratic candidate, 23,634; Allen Root, green- 
back. 4,059. For governor, Nance, republi- 
can, received 55,237 ; Tipton, democrat or 
fusion, 28,167; O. T. B. Williams, greenback, 
3,898. Thomas J. Majors, candidate for con- 
tingent member of Congress, had no opposi- 
tion and received 52,985. The republican 
candidates for district attorney in all of the 
six districts were elected. It was a republi- 
can clean sweep of about two to one. 

The ninth legislature convened in the six- 
teenth session and the seventh regular session 
January 4, 1881, and finally adjourned Febru- 
ary 26th, the fortieth day of the session. By 
a provision of the new constitution the house 
of representatives comprised eighty- four mem- 
bers and the senate thirty until the year 1880, 
when the legislature was authorized to fix the 
number, which should not exceed one hundred 
in the house and thirty-three in the senate. 
The senate comprised twenty-seven republi- 
cans and three democrats, the latter being 
John D. Howe and George W. Doane of Doug- 
las county and Thomas Graham of Seward. 
Edmund C. Cams, lieutenant-governor, was 
president of the senate, and John B. Dins- 
more of Clay, temporary president. The 
members of the house comprised seventy-five 
republicans, eight democrats, and one inde- 
pendent. H. H. Shedd, of Saunders county, 
was speaker. The legislature at this session 
adopted the maximum number for each house. 

The struggle for the United States senator- 
ship, though significant, was not sanguinary 
like the last against Hitchcock ; but it was like 
the last in having the field, including the Bee. 
against the incumbent. While Beatrice was 
Senator Paddock's actual or nominal resi- 
dence, he was for business and political pur- 
poses regarded as the son of Omaha, and so 
as a Union Pacific rather than a Burlington 
man ; Van Wyck, according to his territorial 
location, was counted pro-Burlington. Not- 
withstanding that the Burlington had become 
more important and politically stronger since 
the last senatorial election when the Journal 



favored Hitchcock, yet its interest and habit 
lay in the support of the powers that were. 
so it mildly upheld Paddock. Evidently the 
South Platte organ did not then apprehend 
what an anti-monopoly archangel was being 
entertained unawares in Van Wyck. The 
first joint ballot yielded Paddock, 39; Archi- 
bald J. Weaver of Richardson county, 15; 
Van Wyck, 13 ; Judge Elmer S. Dundy of 
Richardson, 12; Oliver P. Mason of Lancas- 
ter, 9; George W. Post of York, 8; John F. 
Kinney of Otoe, democrat, 8. There was no 
material change in the result of the ballots 
until the seventeenth, by which Van Wyck was 
elected with 68 votes. Paddock holding 36, 
Kinney 4, and 4 going to Governor Albinus 
Nance. The total membership of the legisla- 
ture was 114 — the senate containing 30 mem- 
bers, the house 84 — -and 112 voted, so that 
57 were necessary to a choice. Sixty-three 
of Van Wyck's supporters were republicans, 
so he was not dependent for success upon the 
four democrats and one independent who 
voted for him on the last ballot. Franse of 
Cuming and Lehman of Platte voted for 
Paddock on the last ballot. The contest 
being the usual Nebraska spectacle of the 
field against the incumbent, Van Wyck, par- 
tially because he was the most positive politi- 
cal figure of the field, and partially because 
he was in closest touch with the incipient in- 
surgency of the time, was the most practicable 
instrument for the main operation. Besides, 
Burlington politics had the advantage of 
LTnion Pacific in its more homespun quality. 
This was victory number two for the Bee. 

Van Wyck brought ripe political experience 
to his highest office. He was a member of the 
House of Representatives from the tenth dis- 
trict of New York in the 35th, 36th, 40th, and 
41st congresses — from 1859 to 1863, and 
from 1869 to 1871. He came to Nebraska in 
1874 and settled in Otoe county as a putative 
fanner. He at once plunged into politics in 
the new field, and was a member of the con- 
stitutional convention of 1875, and of the 
state senates of 1877 and 1879. He did not 
long survive his political end, dying at Wash- 
ington October 24, 1895. He was at least the 
most conspicuous, and one of the most useful 



LEGISLATION AND LOLITICS, 1877-1883 



599 



of all Nebraska's federal senators, and, up to 
that time, in practical statesmanship the 
ablest. As his term progressed he became 
obtrusively aggressive on behalf of tariff re- 
form and corporation control. While he 
could not make much practical impression on 
the stone wall which capitalism in Congress 
then presented against assaults on its preroga- 
tive, yet he effectually stirred up an aggres- 
sive antimonopoly temper, especially in his 
adopted state. Of course, in the circum- 
stances, opprobious epithet was the principal 
weapon used against him, demagogue being 
the common name and "Crazy Horse" the 
less polite specific one. But what moving 
appeal to the masses is not demagogic? De- 
mand governs supply in politics as in all or- 
dinary business ; and until intelligent think- 
ing, sincerity, and hoiiesty have spread apace 
demagogy will be an important attribute of 
statesmanship. The Gladstones, McKinleys, 
Roosevelts, Bryans. La Follettes are master- 
ful leaders chiefly because they are masters 
of the art of demagogic appeal, though they 
may be more sincere and especially more 
chaste and gentlemanly about it than was Van 
Wyck. For he was uncomely in every aspect. 
His body was ill-proportioned, his movements 
awkward, his voice raucous, his smile disen- 
chanting ; yet unusual physical and mental 
force, a firm grasp of the vital issue and 
aggressive courage in its presentation were 
perhaps advantageously manifested through 
those unlovely media to the peculiar con- 
stituency he must aft'ect. In short, his prin- 
ciples, arguments, and methods anticipated 
those of our present "progressive" leaders ; 
and since he persistently and consistently pre- 
sented them, and at first out of season, the 
charge of insincerity or demagogy is secon- 
dary if not inconsequential. That Van Wyck 
and Rosewater were wise in preferring to 
achieve reform through the overhauled ma- 
chinery of the old party rather than risk it to 
a necessarily very crude new machine, at 
least cannot be disproved. A considerate 
view of political cause and effect discloses 
that, whatever his insincerity and inconsis- 
tency, on the whole. Van Wyck deserved 
well of his Nebraska constituency. 



An appropriation of $1,000 was made to 
furnish a block of Nebraska stone to be 
placed in the Washington monument at the 
city of Washington, the stone to bear a coat 
of arms of the state and such other inscrip- 
tions as the board of public lands and build- 
ings might consider appropriate. Extension 
of time to September 1, 1882, for the con- 
struction of the west wing of the capitol was 
granted. One hundred thousand dollars was 
appropriated for building the east wing, and 
an option for furnishing plans and specifica- 
tions at one and one-half per cent of the 
contract price was given to William H. Wil- 
cox, architect of the west wing. 

The Slocumb act was perhaps a more pro- 
gressive and effective license law than any 
that had preceded it. The legislature of 1877 
appropriated $10,000 to be expended on a re- 
vision of the general laws of the state, and 
John H. Ames of Lincoln, Alexander H. 
Conner of Kearney, and Stephen H. Calhoun 
of Nebraska City, were appointed commis- 
sioners to do the work. The time allowed 
for completing the revision — to January 1, 
1878 — was too short. They began the work 
May 15, 1877, and reported it to the legisla- 
ture of 1879. The task of revising the license 
law was allotted to Mr. Ames, so that he was 
the author of the Slocumb act which was 
passed substantially as he drafted it. The 
most important departures from preceding 
laws of its class consisted in giving licensing 
boards discretionary power to grant license 
"if deemed expedient," thus explicitly recog- 
nizing and establishing the local option prin- 
ciple, and the increase of the license fee which 
tended to greatly reduce the number of sa- 
loons. The Slocumb law required a minimum 
fee of $300 except for cities with a population 
of over ten thousand in which the minimum 
is $1,000; whereas the old law required a 
minimum fee of $25 and a maximum of $500 
except for incorporated cities and towns 
which might require an additional sum of not 
more than $1,000. By the Slocumb law there 
is no restraint as to the maximum amount of 
the fee which is left to the option of the 
several municipalities. Under the high mini- 
mum license it has been impracticable to es- 



600 



HISTORY OF XEP3RASKA 



tablish saloons outside of incorporated towns 
where they are under direct pohce surveil- 
lance. The hi^h degree of adaptability of the 
law is illustrated by the fact that no impor- 
tant changes were ever made in it. In 1897 
a law was passed giving incorporated villages 
and towns the right to direct popular local 
option. The only important addition to the 
Slocumb law is the act of the legislature of 
1909 limiting the open hours of saloons from 
seven o'clock in the morning until eight 
o'clock in the evening. 

The republican state convention for 1881 
met at Lincoln, October 5th. It was called to 
order by James W. Dawes, chairman of the 
state committee. George H. Thummel of 
Hall county, was temporary and permanent 
chairman, and Datus C. Brooks, editor of the 
Omaha Republican, was chairman of the plat- 
form committee. Samuel Maxwell was nom- 
inated for judge of the supreme court on the 
first ballot, receiving 253'/ votes, against 
my. for C. J. Dilworth, 39 for O. B. Hewitt, 
and 15 for Uriah Bruner. L. B. Fifield and 
Isaac Powers were nominated for regents of 
the State University, and James W. Dawes 
was chosen for chairman of the state com- 
mittee, receiving 275 votes against 136 cast 
for Charles O. Whedon. Though this was 
the off year in national politics the platform 
wholly ignored state questions but eulogized 
Garfield and Arthur. 

The democratic state convention for 1881 
was held at Omaha, October 13th. William 
H. Munger of Dodge county was nominated 
for judge of the supreme court, and S. D. 
Brass of Adams and Dr. Alexander Bear of 
Madison for regents of the State University. 
The platform declared for free trade, honest 
money, economical and efficient administra- 
tion of state and national affairs, and for the 
amendment of the so-called Slocumb law or 
else its unconditional repeal. 

The ninth legislature convened in the tenth 
special session May 2, 1882. It finally ad- 
journed May 24th, the thirteenth day. 

Governor Nance, in his message to the legis- 
lature, stated that the session had been called 
for the purpose of apportioning the state into 
three congressional districts ; to amend the 



act of March 1, 1881, regulating the duties 
and powers of cities of the first class; to as- 
sign the county of Custer to some judicial 
district ; to amend the law entitled "Cities of 
the second class and villages" ; to provide for 
the payment of expenses incurred in suppress- 
ing the recent riots at Omaha and protecting 
the citizens of the state from domestic vio- 
lence ; to give the assent of the state to the 
provisions of the act of Congress to extend 
the northern boundary of the state of Ne- 
braska; to provide for the expense of the 
sjiecial session. There was legislation upon 
all of these propositions. 

The governor said that the act of Congress 
approved February 25, 1882, authorized the 
election of two additional representatives in 
Congress, to which the state was entitled 
under the census of 18.80. He recited that on 
the 9th day of March he was officially notified 
by Mayor James E. Boyd, of Omaha, that a 
formidable riot was in progress in that city 
and he was requested by the mayor to fur- 
nish a military force to protect the people of 
( jmaha from mob violence, the civil authorities 
being powerless. On the same day he re- 
ceived a telegram signed jointly by the mayor 
and sheriff of Douglas county alleging that 
the civil authorities were powerless to pro- 
tect peaceful laborers and that United States 
troops were absolutely necessary to restore 
order. Another despatch of the same purport 
was signed by a large number of business men 
of (Jmaha, Thereupon the governor at once 
placed the Nebraska National Guards under 
orders to be held in readiness for duty, and he 
made a formal rec|uisition upon the president 
of the United States for troops to aid in sup- 
pressing domestic violence. The president re- 
sponded to the requisition of the governor 
and, on the morning of the 11th of March, 
a force of United States troops and state 
militia, numbering about 600 men, reached 
Omaha and were placed under the mayor's or- 
ders. On the arrival of the troops, laborers 
who had been compelled by an infuriated mob 
to abandon work, resumed it. "The rioters 
were overawed by the unexpected display of 
military force but were not subdued. For 
several days their riotous demonstrations con- 



OMAHA LABOR RIOT OF 1882 



601 



tinned and the troops, both state and national, 
were subjected to every form of insnlt and 
abuse. The final restoration without great loss 
of life was largely due to the forebearance 
of the soldiers under the most exasperating 
circumstances. Gradually the violence of the 
mob subsided and the troops, being no longer 
required, were withdrawn." The governor 
highly commended the soldierly conduct of the 
Nebraska National Guard which was under 
the command of General L. W. Colby. Moore 
of York offered a resolution declaring that 
it was dangerous to the peace and wel- 
fare of the state to establish the precedent 
of making appropriations to pay the expense 
of calling out troops without making careful 
inquiries as to its necessity and instructing 
the committee on ways and means to make 
careful inquiry as to the cause of the late 
labor riot in Omaha and the necessity of 
calling out troops to establish peace. The 
resolution was adopted. The committee on 
claims, to whom the resolution was referred. 
reported that the riot was of a dangerous 
character and required military interference. 
A communication from Mayor Boyd stated 
that in his opinion 500 policemen could not 
have protected men at their work and the 
result showed that 500 militia could scarcely 
more than maintain their ground, and unless 
the regular federal troops had been present 
there would have been a bloody collision be- 
tween the rioters and the militia. In a com- 
munication to the committee, Governor Nance 
said that the mob had driven laboring men 
from their work on the Burlington & Missouri 
railroad grounds, severely injuring some of 
them, and laborers at the smelting works had 
been compelled to join the rioters. Many 
business men in the city were terrorized by 
threats of a boycott, and the city was in sub- 
jection to the will of the mob. The governor 
insisted that it was necessary to employ mili- 
tary force to stop lawless proceedings and to 
enforce the right of every individual to work. 
The trouble centered in a strike for better 
wages by laborers on a large grading enter- 
prise in the grounds of the Burlington & Mis- 
souri railroad company at Omaha, but it sym- 
pathetically extended to other industries. All 



reasonably conducted attempts to improve 
labor conditions by methods of this kind are 
now regarded as legitimate, the vexatious 
question turning on the distinction between 
fair and unfair methods. It is significant that 
the Omaha papers excepting the Bee, the 
Lincoln Journal, and the state government 
were distinctly biased in favor of the rail- 
road company, the Bee alone giving the other 
side a hearing. That the labor side was prob- 
ably guilty of improper violence is another 
phase of this very grave and perplexing ques- 
tion. 

The committee of the house appointed at 
the regular session to investigate charges of 
bribery and corruption, found that in regard 
to the charge against J. C. Roberts, member 
of the house from Butler county, there was a 
conflict of testimony, Lieutenant-Governor 
Cams testifying that during the sixteenth 
session, Roberts, who was chairman of the 
house committee on railroads, made demand 
upon him [Cams] for the sum of $5,000 to 
procure his [Roberts's] influence upon the sub- 
ject of railroad legislation. Roberts, on the 
other hand, testified that Cams, approached 
him and offered him $5,000 if he would use 
his influence as a member of the house to as- 
sist the railroad companies. The testimony 
of both men was partially corroborated, but 
the committee was unable to decide which of 
the two was telling the truth. The committee 
said that if the allegation of Cams was true, 
then Roberts was guilty of a criminal offense 
against the laws of the state, and that if the 
allegation of Roberts was true then Cams had 
been guilty of gross impropriety in neglect- 
ing to report the whole transaction to the 
house, at the time of its occurrence and there- 
fore deserved the censure of the house. 

The testimony adduced was voluminous and 
tended to incriminate both the accused men as 
well as others incidentally. Franse of Cum- 
ing county, offered a resolution declaring that 
the charges against Roberts were not sus- 
tained. McShane of Douglas offered a sub- 
stitute as follows : 

Whereas, From said testimony it appears 
that Honorable E. C. Cams, Lieutenant Gover- 
nor of the state of Nebraska, acted in the ca- 



602 



HISTORY OF NEI'.RASKA 



pacity of hearer of a proposition between the 
high contracting parties ; and, 

Whereas, Said J. C. Roberts, according to 
his own testimony, did not indignantly resent 
the said proposition and report to the house ; 
therefore be it 

Resolved, That the said Hon. E. C. Cams, 
Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska, and Hon. 
J. C. Roberts, member of the House of Repre- 



sentatives, have merited the solemn censure of 
this House. 

McShane's substitute was lost by a bare ma- 
jority of 31 to 32. After many dilatory mo- 
tions had been disposed of the report of the 
committee as amended by Franse, finding that 
the charges were not sustained, was agreed to. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

Political History 1882-1890 — The Period of Mainly Unsuccessful Attempts to Pro- 
cuRE Reform Legislation Culminating in the Populist Revolution — First Rail- 
road Commission — Three Cent Passenger Rate 



AN anti-prohibition convention was held 
at Omaha, September 11, 1882. James 
Creighton of Omaha was president of the 
convention and C. A. Baldwin of Omaha, 
Peter Carberg of Lincoln, James Donnelly 
of Ashland, Gus Kirkow of Fremont, 
James E. North of Columbus, constituted 
the committee on resolutions. Letters were 
read from General Charles F. Mander- 
son and J. Sterling Morton expressing sym- 
pathy with the objects of the convention. A 
set of the old time, perfunctory resolutions 
were adopted, including a declaration that, 
"We will not support any man for any office 
who will not satisfactorily pledge himself to 
oppose any and all attempts to force upon the 
people a prohibitory law." 

A greenback convention was held in Lin- 
coln, September 7, 1882. Levi Todd of Cass 
county was chairman. The platform declared 
that class legislation had exempted from tax- 
ation a large amount of the wealth of the 
county in the hands of the rich ; denounced 
national b mks, including the well worn com- 
plaint th;.t t'ley drew double interest under 
the law ; aemanded that the government 
should issue all money, and that it should all 
be legal tender ; that freight tariffs should be 
regulated by law ; denounced the appropria- 
tion of public lands to ]irivate corporations : 
declared that all important offices should be 
filled by direct vote of the people; for equal 
pay for equal labor for both sexes ; con- 
demned the action of the last legislature for 
preventing the people from expressing them- 
selves on the temperance question. L. C. 
Pace was chosen chairman of the central com- 
mittee. A committee of thirty-five was ap- 



pointed to meet at Hastings September 27th. 
This committee conferred with the antimo- 
nopolist state convention, and the two par- 
ties united on a ticket and a platform. E. 
P. Ingersoll of Johnson county, president of 
the State Farmers' Alliance, was nominated for 
governor ; D. B. Reynolds of Hamilton, for 
lieutenant-governor; Thomas J. Kirtley of 
Franklin, for secretary of state ; Phelps D. 
Sturdevant of FiHmore, for state treasurer ; 
John Beatty of Wheeler, for auditor ; John 
Bamd of Buffalo, for attorney-general ; J. J. 
Points of Douglas, superintendent of public 
instruction; Charles H. Madeley of Adams, 
commissioner of public lands and buildings ; 
Thomas Bell of Otoe, regent. Dr. S. V. 
Moore of York county, and Moses K. Turner 
of Platte, were nominated for members of 
Congress in the second and third districts re- 
spectively. Jay Burrows and Edward Rose- 
water were members of the resoltuions com- 
mittee. 

The Omaha Bee of September 29th was de- 
fiant against the corporation control of the 
republican party. 

The republican state convention for 1882 
was held at Omaha, September 20th. Nathan 
K. Griggs of Gage county was temporary and 
permanent chairman and Charles H. Gere 
was chairman of the committee on resolutions. 
The platform indulged only in glittering gen- 
eralities, covering nothing specifically. On the 
first ballot to nominate a governor, James W. 
Dawes of Saline county received 121 votes; 
George W. E. Dorsey, 108; Samuel J. Alex- 
ander, 88 ; John B. Dinsmore, 48 ; Henry T. 
Clark, 22; W. J. Irwin. 18; Champion S. 
Cliase, 9; Milton T- Hull, 5. Dawes was 



604 



HISTORY OF NEP.RASKA 



nominated in a break-up on the third bal- 
lot, and Charles H. Gere for regent of the 
University. CTeorge W. E. Dorsey was 
chosen chairman of the state committee. 
There was an open break at this time against 
Senator Van Wyck by the regulars, includ- 
ing the State Journal. The prohibition con- 
vention met at Lincoln, September 13, 1882. 
Ex-Senator Thomas \V. Tipton was a mem- 
ber of the committee on resolutions. They 
declared in favor of the submission of a pro- 
hibition amendment and against voting for 
any candidate of either party who did not 
favor it. The democratic state convention for 
1882 was held at Omaha, September 14th. J. 
Sterling Morton was nominated for governor ; 
Jesse F. Warner for lieutenant-governor ; 
Charles J. Bowlby, secretary of state ; Phelps 
D. Sturdevant, treasurer ; James C. Craw- 
ford, attorney-general ; Henry Grebe, com- 
missioner of public lands and buildings ; C. 
A. Speice, superintendent of public instruc- 
tion : John M. Burks, regent of the State Uni- 
versity. The platform denounced the issue of 
free passes to public officers and demanded 
legislation against it, and denounced railroad 
interference with political conventions. 

The republican ticket was successful again 
as a matter of course. Dawes received 43,495 
votes against 28,562 for J. Sterling Morton, 
although the latter ran al)out 2,000 votes 
ahead of the general ticket. Ingersoll, the 
antimonopoly candidate, received 16,991 votes, 
and Phelps D. Sturdevant, candidate for treas- 
urer on the democratic and antimonopoly 
tickets, was elected, receiving 46,132 votes 
against 42,021 for Loren Clark, his republi- 
can opponent. It seems probable that a gen- 
erally successful combination of progressives, 
such as that of 1894, might have been made, 
though perhaps the ( )maha Bee's aggressive 
opposition to Clark caused his defeat. Suc- 
cessful insurgency then would have hastened 
reform and avoided the revolutionary radi- 
calism caused by inconsistent delay. The 
woman suffrage amendment was defeated by 
a large majority, the vote being 25,756 for 
and 50,693 against. In the first congressional 
district, Archibald J. Weaver, republican, re- 
ceived 17,022 votes; lohn I. Redick. demo- 



crat, 12,690 ; 



Gilbert, antimonopolist, 



3,707. In the second district, James Laird, 
republican, received 12,983; S. V. Moore, 
antimonopolist, 10,012; Harman, democrat, 
3,060. In the third district, Edward K. Val- 
entine, republican, 11,284; Moses K. Turner, 
antimonopolist, 7,342; William H. Munger, 
democrat, 9,932. 

The tenth legislature convened in the eigh- 
teenth session and the eighth regular session, 
January 2, 1883, and finally adjourned Feb- 
ruary 26th, the forty-second day. Alfred N. 
Agee, lieutenant-governor, was president of 
the senate, and Alexander H. Conner of Buf- 
falo county was temporary president. George 
M. Humphrey of Pawnee county was speaker 
of the house of representatives. The senate 
comprised fifteen republicans, eleven demo- 
crats, five antimonoplists, one greenback, one 
republican-antimonopolist. The house com- 
prised nftv-two republicans, twenty-nine dem- 
ocrats, eleven antimonopolists, four republi- 
can-antimonopolists, one independent republi- 
can, two independents, one greenback-antimo- 
nopolist. This remarkable variation illustrat- 
ed a somewhat blind rebellion against the old 
party allegiance which was to assume effective 
form seven years later. 

On the first joint ballot for United States 
senator Charles F. Manderson received 6 
votes; Alvin Saunders, 14; Alexander H. 
Conner, 6; J. Sterling Morton, 16; Joseph H. 
Millard, 13; John AI. Thayer, 11; John C. 
Cowin, 10; j. H. Stickel, 9; Charles H. 
Brown, 7 ; James W. Savage, 5 ; James E. 
Boyd, 5. Cowin and Millard each command- 
ed one of the two republican votes of Doug- 
las county. Charles F. Manderson was 
elected on the seventeenth ballot, receiving 
75 votes against 17 cast for James E. Boyd, 
democrat ; 14 for J. Sterling Morton, demo- 
crat ; 5 for Charles II Brown, democrat ; 20 
for J. H. Stickel, antimonopolist. Stickel — 
of Thayer county — received all antimonop- 
oly, greenback, and independent votes except 
fivt. The democrats who ought then to hav-e 
been making hay, as the antimonopoly or pro- 
gressive sun was just beginning to shine, by 
developing a consistent and persistent pro- 
gressive policy, blind to the signs of the times. 



POLITICAL HISTORY, 1882-1890 



605 



gave their principal support to two strong. Init 
ultra-conservative or reactionary men — J. 
Sterling Alorton and James E. Boyd ; and so 
permitted or forced the over-radical and un- 
stable populists a few years later to reap the 
ripened progressive harvest which they them- 
selves might have garnered. On the repub- 
lican side Douglas county had the call from 
the first. In the seventeen successive assaults 
its four strongest aspirants killed off one an- 
other so that the weakest took the prize. In 
sixteen ballots Cowin, Millard, Saunders, and 
Thayer held remarkably uniform and nearly 
equal support, Millard slightly leading and 
Cowin slightly at the rear. Eight was Man- 
derson's favorite figure and highest, until in- 
creased to ten on the next to the last ballot. 
In point of deportment, at least, he was the 
fittest among the republican rivals and at least 
their peer in ability. As to the political prin- 
ciples and social temperament, he was precise- 
ly antipodal to the rising spirit of democracy 
which already presented an almost formidable 
front and an ominous menace to the dominant 
bourbonism of both of the old parties. While 
Stickel was not the equal of his principal op- 
ponents in ability, he was either more consci- 
entious or more sociall}' sympathetic, or both, 
than any of them. Strong leaders are more 
often prompted by and led into progressive 
social movements than they are initiators of 
them. 

Inasmuch as the east and west wings of the 
Capitol were completed, the legislature author- 
ized the board of public lands and buildings 
to take bids for razing and removing the old 
capitol from the grounds. The construction 
of the main part of the new capitol, according 
to plans already submitted by William H. Wil- 
cox, at a cost not exceeding $450,000, was 
authorized. The State Historical Society was 
recognized "as a state institution" and $500 
was appropriated .for its maintenance. The 
counties of Brown, Cherry, Custer, Hayes, 
Wheeler, Sioux, and Loup were constituted. 
All voted in 1884, except Hayes, which fol- 
lowed in 1885. The old Ponca reserve — be- 
tween the Niobrara and Missouri rivers west 
to the extension of the line between range 8 
and range 9, west — was added to Knox coun- 



ty, the act to take effect when the president 
should declare the Indian title extinguished 
and the voters of the county should accept the 
addition. An act was passed authorizing 
counties to adopt township organization by a 
majority vote. The number of judicial dis- 
tricts was increased from six — the number 
fixed by the constitution and not to be changed 
before 1880 — to ten. The old third district, 
comprising Douglas, Sarpy, Washington, and 
Burt counties, was not changed. Five hun- 
dred dollars was appropriated toward erecting 
the monument to Abraham Lincoln at Spring- 
field, Illinois, in place of the appropriation of 
1869, which had not been drawn against be- 
cause the monument was not yet completed. 
The sum of $13,640.50 was appropriated to 
reimburse the Nebraska City National bank 
on account of a judgment "unjustly collected" 
by the state for a sum of money received by 
Acting Governor William H. James in behalf 
of the state and converted to his own use. 
Here the legislature arbitrarily and doubtless 
improperly overruled the court : now a com- 
mon complaint is heard against the courts for 
overruling the legislatures, state and national. 
A grant of three thousand dollars was made 
to John W. Pearman for "military services," 
presumably in campaigning against Indians as 
a major in the Second regiment, Nebraska 
cavalry, in 1862. The appropriation was to 
be paid from a balance of $7,077.55 remain- 
ing of the amount paid to the state by the 
United States for expenses incurred in re- 
pelling Indian hostilities. The sum of 
$6,824.14 was appropriated toward the ex- 
pense of prosecuting "I. P. Olive and others 
for murder, and William Lee for assault with 
intent to murder, and Tip Larue, John Kin- 
ney, and Henry Hargraves for murder." Joint 
resolutions were passed to amend section 4, 
article 3, of the constitution so as to fix the 
salary of each member of the legislature at 
$300 for the full term of two years in place 
of $3 a day, and increasing the length of the 
session from forty to sixty days ; also to 
amend section 1, article 5, so as to provide for 
an elective board of railway commissioners ; 
asking members of Congress from Nebraska 
to procure the passage of bills abolishing all 



606 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



tolls on railroad bridges across the Missouri 
river, so that products might reach consumers 
as cheaply as possible ; demanding such action 
by heads of departments or legislation by Con- 
gress as would compel railroad companies to 
take out patents on land grants so that they 
might be taxed ; demanding settlement of the 
"Kneeval's Land Claims" against patentee 
settlers. The claims arose through a grant to 
the St. Joseph & Denver railroad company 
and many had been rejected. Congress was 
urged to repeal the duty on barbed wire for 
fencing and the material from which it was 
made. The request passed the house by a 
vote of 65 to 2 — and the two were farmers. 
The vote in the senate for free trade was 28 
to 2. That these two farmers and the other 
two direct dependents upon farming in Ne- 
braska should have voted to continue the en- 
forced payment by the people of Nebraska 
of an enormous gratuity to the manufacturers 
of this necessity of Nebraska life, will now 
seem strange to almost all Nebraskans alike, 
who have come to resent the payment of such 
))Ounties to any manufacturer whatever. 

Governor Nance, in his message, made the 
statement that the railroad commission system 
had been adopted in about twenty states. He 
referred especially to the progress in regula- 
tion of railroads in the states of Illinois and 
Iowa. It apiieared from the report of the 
commissioners of Illinois for 1881 that "the 
right to fix reasonable maximum rates for the 
transporta:tion of freight and passengers by 
railroads, either by direct statutes or by offi- 
cers created by law, is no longer seriously 
questioned." But these hints, even, were in- 
congruous and premature. 

A bill to create a board of railroad commis- 
sioners passed the house by a vote of 62 to 
31. The senate refused to take it from the 
general file by a vote of 12 to 12. The act pro- 
vided that three of the executive officers of 
the state should be commissioners, but they 
should employ secretaries to do the actual 
work. The commissioners were authorized to 
fix maximum freight rates. Lyman H. Tower, 
a democrat and banker at Hastings, made a 
minority report which included all the now 
familiar archaisms against the constitutional- 



ity of the bill. Four bills jirohibiting the use 
of free railroad passes were introduced in the 
senate and two in the house. Four of these 
six bills sought to confine the prohibition to 
officeholders. Five bills for the regulation of 
rates were introduced into the senate and four- 
teen into the house. One of these was aimed 
at sleeping car rates. In addition, a bill de- 
fining the liabilities of common carriers, three 
memorials to Congress affecting railroads, 
and one to Colorado and another to Kansas, 
seeking cooperation in procuring railroad re- 
form, were introduced. All this heroic en- 
deavor resulted in the passage of only three 
memorials to Congress. 

According to the message, the bids for the 
east wing of the capitol were submitted July 
12, 1881, as follows: Butler and Krone, $98,- 
490; Robert D. Silver, $86,400; W. H. B. 
Stout, $96,800. The total cost of the west 
wing was $83,178.81; of the east wing, 
$108,247.92. That the contract was let to 
Stout — in July, 1881 — though far from the 
lowest bidder, was a matter of course and is 
explicable only on the ground of corrupt po- 
litical preference. The west wing was begun 
in 1879 and finished by the close of 1881. 
The east wing was accepted by the board of 
public lands and buildings, December 1, 1882. 

The republican state convention for 1883 
was held at Lincoln September 26th. Church 
Llowe was both temporary and permanent 
chairman. Manoah B. Reese was nominated 
for judge of the supreme court on the ninth 
ballot ; Francis G. Hamer was his principal op- 
ponent. Hascall of Douglas county an- 
nounced at the beginning of the balloting that 
Lake was not a candidate for renomination 
unless it should occur that the convention 
could not agree upon any of the candidates 
who had been presented. This string of 
Lake's pulled out mischief for Hamer. On 
the first ballot Reese had 83 votes, Hamer 97, 
Edwin F .Warren, of Nebraska City, 79. The 
third ballot gave Hamer 121, Reese, 92, War- 
ren, 80: the sixth, Hamer 142j/, Reese, 103 K' ; 
Warren, 103. On the ninth ballot, it being 
apparent that Lake had absorbed Warren's 
strength, Hamer turned the delegates of his 
own county to Reese, whereupon a stampede 



POLITICAL HISTORY, 1882-1890 



607 



followed and Reese's nomination was made 
unanimous. Milton J. Hull of Clay covmty 
and John T. Mallaieu of Buffalo, were nom- 
inated for regents of the University for the 
long term, and for the short term, Jesse M. 
Hiatt of Harlan county and Edward P. 
Holmes of Pierce, in place of Isaac Powers 
and L. B. Fifield, who had resigned. 

The platform favored a constitutional 
amendment providing for a railroad and tele- 
graph commission without stating the method 
of choosing it; demanded that all railroad land 
grants not strictly earned be forfeited ; de- 
clared that public lands must not be monopo- 
lized for cattle ranges, but left open for set- 
tlers ; for a tariff so adjusted as to favor and 
protect domestic industries and encourage im- 
migration of laborers to perform the services 
we need on our own soil, paying tribute to our 
own government, rather than the importation 
of products of labor that is tributary to a for- 
eign and perhaps hostile government. This 
tariff plank probably stands unique among 
creations of its kind. George W. E. Dorsey 
was continued as chairman of the state com- 
mittee. 

The democratic convention for 1883 was 
held at Omaha August 29th. James W. Sav- 
age was nominated for judge of the supreme 
court; James M. Woolworth of Douglas and 
E. R. Daniels of Madison, regents for the long 
term. The platform was characteristically J. 
Sterling Morton's. It declared that all tariff 
taxes except to support the government 
"ought to be utterly abolished" ; approved the 
regulation of the sale of intoxicating drinks 
in the interest of good order, "but the prohi- 
bition of the manufacture and sale of such 
drinks within the state is contrary to the fun- 
damental rights of the individual and to the 
fundamental principles of social and moral 
conduct." Such interference would be neu- 
tralized by interstate commerce sanctioned by 
the United States constitution. The platform 
declared further: "Democrats of Nebraska 
denounce all railroads within the state which 
elect or attempt to elect, influence or attempt 
to influence delegates to political conventions, 
members of the legislature and senators or 
members of Congress. . . We assert the 



right of the legislature to control the railroads 
but we deny the right of railroads to control 
the legislature. We demand the enactment 
of a law which shall, under severe penalties, 
forbid the issuance of passes or free trans- 
portation of any kind whatsoever by any rail- 
road in Nebraska to any person holding either 
an elective or appointive office or any other of- 
ficial position under the constitution or 
laws." It commended Sturdevant, the dem- 
ocratic treasurer, for voting to let the capitol 
contract to the lowest instead of the highest 
bidder and condemned letting it to Stout, be- 
cause his leased convict labor competed with 
free, honest labor. The bid of Robert D. Sil- 
ver, a responsible builder, was $41,187.25 
under Stout's. 

Judge Savage, with the support of the dem- 
ocrats and antimonopolists and of the Omaha 
Bee, received 47,795 votes against 52,305 cast 
for Reese. The republican regents were elect- 
ed by far larger majorities. 

The first republican convention of 1884, 
held at Lincoln May 1st, was called to order 
by George W. E. Dorsey, chairman of the 
state committee, and Edward K. Valentine of 
Cuming county was temporary chairman and 
Ray Nye of Dodge, temporary secretary. The 
temporary organization was made permanent. 
John M. Thurston of Douglas county ; Nathan 
S. Harwood, Lancaster; John Jensen, Fill- 
more ; George A. Brooks, Knox, were elected 
delegates at large to the national convention 
— Thurston by acclamation. George W. Post 
of York county was chairman of the platform 
committee. The resolutions declared for a 
tariff so adjusted as to encourage home in- 
dustries without being burdensome to the peo- 
ple and denounced attempts of the democratic 
house of representatives to make indiscrimi- 
nate reductions. The resolutions were char- 
acteristically lacking in specific statement and 
state questions were ignored. A motion to 
declare a preference for James G. Blaine as 
a candidate for president was tabled by a 
vote of 220 to 207. The Omaha Republican 
was the only prominent newspaper in the state 
that stood for Blaine instructions. 

The democratic convention for choosing 
delegates to the national convention of 1884 



608 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



was held at Lincoln May 22d. John AlcMani- 
gal ot Lancaster county called the convention 
to order, but, in the great confusion which 
arose in choosing between Miles Zentmeyer of 
Colfax county and Beach L Hinman of Lin- 
coln county, for temporary chairman of the 
convention, McManigal lost control and An- 
drew J. Poppleton of Omaha was obliged to 
mount a chair in the midst of the assembly 
and restore order. Zentmeyer represented the 
Miller-Boyd faction and Hinman the Morton 
faction. McManigal decided that Zentmeyer 
was elected by the first vote, taken viva voce. 
Hinman was elected by a vote of 182 to 96. 
Poppleton was chairman of the committee on 
resolutions which demanded vigorous frugal- 
ity in every department of the government, a 
tariflf limited to the production of necessary 
revenues and to bear upon articles of luxury 
and prevent unequal burdens upon labor; and 
they declared that a fundamental change in 
the policy of federal administration was im- 
perative. If united, the party would reelect 
Samuel J. Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks. 
The platform ignored state issues. The four 
delegates at large were elected by the follow- 
ing vote: James E. Boyd, 259; J. Sterling 
Morton, 241; W. H. Munger, 179; Tobias 
Castor, 141. James E. North received 103 
votes and George W. Johnston, 114. Dele- 
gates from the first district elected George 
P. Marvin and John A. Creighton as delegates 
to the national convention ; second district, 
Robert A. Batty, A. J. Rittenhouse ; third dis- 
trict, Patrick Fahy, John G. Higgiiis. There 
was sharp division between the two factions, 
Morton's home delegates — from Otoe coun- 
ty — refusing to vote for Boyd and Boyd re- 
turning the compliment. The majority of the 
delegates were hostile to Morton, as they were 
again in 1888, when they shut him out from 
his usual place as a member of the platform 
committee in the national convention. 

The republican state convention was held at 
Omaha August 27th, with Charles H. Gere 
chairman. There was opposition, amounting 
to "revolt," to the renomination of Dawes for 
governor, but it was easily overcome before 
the convention met — illustrating incidentally 
the prime advantage for boss rule of the con- 



vention over its successor, the primary election 
plan. The platform declared that "we recog- 
nize as a prime necessity for the unification of 
our party in Nebraska ... a statute 
regulating our railroads according to a fixed 
principle" ; and it pointed with satisfaction to 
"efl^orts of our party" during the last meeting 
of the legislature to accomplish this result. 
This, however, was typical bourbon procrasti- 
nation which, like French bourbonism before, 
waited until the inevitable reform came 
through the shock of inevitable political revo- 
lution. The platform commended the eflforts 
of senators and representatives in Congress 
from Nebraska to secure immediate issue of 
patents to lands earned by railroads in the 
state under the national land grants, with the 
intent that they should be subject to taxation. 
There was no declaration about money. 

The democratic state convention was held at 
C)maha, September 11th, James E. Boyd, chair- 
man. The convention united with the antimo- 
nopolist party in the distribution of the offices, 
candidates for secretary of state, attorney-gen- 
eral, treasurer, and two presidential electors 
being conceded to the democrats and the rest 
to their partners. J. Sterling Morton was for 
the third lime nominated for governor. This 
unequal yoking together of factions, to each 
other so notoriously unbelievers, returned to 
plague Morton when he assailed democratic 
and populist fusion "on principle" in 1894. 

Dawes received 72,835 votes ; Morton, 57,- 
634 ; James G. Miller, prohibition, 3,075. The 
republican candidates for the offices of district 
attorney were elected in all of the ten judicial 
districts. Among all the monopolies the re- 
publican party monopoly was still supreme. 
The legislative amendment to the constitution 
was approved by a vote of 51,959 to 17,766. 
The executive amendment — for establishing a 
railroad commission — was defeated by a vote 
of 22.297 to 44,488. The contrast between 
the treatment of these two amendments illus- 
trates the still backward state of interest and 
intelligence touching the railroad question. 
The proposition for a railroad commission was 
at least equally as important as that to extend 
the session of the legislature. Both amend- 
ments lacked a constitutional majority. The 



POLITICAL HISTORY, 1882-1890 



609 



republican candidates for presidential electors 
received 76,912 votes ; the democratic candi- 
dates, 54,391 ; prohibition, 2,889. 

The progressive forces united in all of the 
three congressional districts and by nominat- 
ing progressive men gained a moral victory. 
In the first district Weaver, republican, held 
his place only by the slender margin of 22,644 
votes over 21,669 for Charles H. Brown of 
Omaha. In the second district James Laird's 
prestige was crippled and the standard ma- 
jority alarmingly reduced by John H. Stickel's 
great vote of 17,650 to 21,182 for Laird; and 
in the third district George W. E. Dorsey was 
maimed for life by the vote of 20,671 cast for 
William Neville of North Platte, to 25,985 
for himself. 

The eleventh legislature convened in the 
ninth regular session January 6, 1885. It 
finally adjourned March 5th, the forty-third 
day of the session. Lieutenant-Governor 
Shedd was president of the senate and Church 
Howe temporary president. The senate com- 
prised twenty-five republicans and eight demo- 
crats ; the house of representatives, seventy- 
nine republicans, twenty democrats, and one 
independent — William A. Poynter, after- 
ward governor of the state. Allen W. Field 
of Lancaster county was speaker of this body. 
The governor's message disclosed that the in- 
debtedness of the state was $499,267.35 — 
$449,267.35 in the form of funding bonds due 
April 1, 1897, and $50,000 in grasshopper re- 
lief bonds due March 1, 1885. It appears 
from the message that the number of students 
at the State University during the last term 
was 282 — at the newly established college of 
medicine, 54 ; that a contract had been let to 
W. H. B. Stout for the erection of the main 
building of the capitol for the consideration 
of $439,187.25; that a draft for $500, repre- 
senting the appropriation by the last legisla- 
ture toward the Lincoln monument fund, had 
been sent to Springfield ; that in September, 
1883, $11,746.67 was received on account of 
the five per cent sale of federal lands in Ne- 
braska ; in June, 1884, $17,495.95, five per cent 
of the proceeds of the sale of the Pawnee 
reservation ; in November, 1884, $485 on ac- 
count of expenses incurred in suppressing In- 



dian hostilities. In September, 1882, $6,- 
275.89 had been received from Pawnee sales, 
making a total of $23,770.42. A bill passed 
both houses of the legislature of 1883 appro- 
priating a half of the sum of $6,275.89 to 
Thomas P. Kennard, as a fee for collecting 
the same under an alleged agreement with 
Governor Furnas ; but it failed to become a 
law because the officers of the two houses 
neglected to sign it. 

The republican state convention for 1885 
was held in Lincoln October 14th. Lorenzo 
Crounse pressed the election of John M. 
Thayer for temporary chairman of the con- 
vention ; but Thayer insisted that he did not 
desire the office, and Monroe L. Hayward of 
Otoe county was chosen over him by a vote 
of 318 to 143. Hayward was retained as per- 
manent chairman. Amasa Cobb was renomi- 
nated for judge of the supreme court without 
opposition and Charles H. Gere of Lancaster 
and Leavitt Burnham of Douglas, were nomi- 
nated for regents of the University by accla- 
mation. James L. Caldwell of Lancaster was 
chairman of the committee on resolutions, 
which were devoted to national questions, ex- 
cept the single declaration that if the act of 
the last legislature creating a railroad com- 
mission with advisory powers for regulation 
should be found inadequate, then the party 
stood pledged to sufficiently amend it. A 
resolution for a prohibition amendment which 
was innocently introduced was "rejected by 
an overwhelming vote." A resolution declar- 
ing that the tarift" on imports ought to be re- 
duced, temerariously introduced by Dominic 
G. Courtney, "was voted down enthusiasti- 
cally," in the State Journal's parlance. 

The democratic convention was held in Lin- 
coln October 15th. In the struggle between 
the Morton and Miller factions, now become 
chronic and acute, Albert W. Crites of Cass 
county and of the Miller clan, was elected 
chairman over Alfred W. Hazlett of Gage, by 
a vote of 230 to 148. Thomas O'Day of An- 
telope county introduced a resolution declar- 
ing that every democrat had a right to apply 
for an office and the state committee had no 
right to dictate or control federal appoint- 
ments. This was intended as a knock-out for 



610 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Morton, who was chairman of the state com- 
mittee and who had been accused of using his 
official influence in procuring offices for his 
friends. But Morton executed a great coup 
by himself seconding the resolution. 

The republican state convention for 1886 
was held at Lincoln September 29th. James 
Laird of Adams county was temporary chair- 
man and Archibald J. Weaver of Richardson, 
permanent chairman. On the informal ballot 
for governor, John M. Thayer received 306 
votes; H. T. Clarke, 123; J. B. Dinsmore, Z7 \ 
Leander Gerrard, 27; John H. MacColl, 47; 
Thomas Appleget, 13. After this ballot John 
M. Thurston withdrew the name of Clarke, 
and Thayer was nominated by acclamation. 
There had been a general movement in favor 
of Thayer's nomination, partially due to the 
sympathy and the friendship of the old sol- 
dier element and in part due to the partiality 
of the corporations for Thayer, who was 
known to be at least innocuous. 

The platform avoided state issues and was 
a studied and specious condemnation of the 
democratic national administration. A mi- 
nority report by Charles H. Van Wyck, con- 
demning the state railroad commission and 
demanding its abolition, was rejected by a ma- 
jority of over a hundred and fifty. A resolu- 
tion condemning the commission, offered by 
Edward Rosewater, was safely referred to 
the committee of which Charles H. Gere was 
chairman. The then usual plank in praise of 
Irish home rule, Gladstone, and Pamell was 
inserted in the platform. A resolution favor- 
ing the submission to the people of an amend- 
ment to the constitution prohibiting the manu- 
facture, sale, or importation of spirituous, 
malt, or vinous liquors was adopted, after a 
very hot debate, by a vote of 341 to 189. 

The democratic convention was held at 
Hastings October 7th. It was called to order 
by James E. North, chairman of the state 
committee. General Milton M. Montgomery 
of Lancaster county was temporary chairman 
and Frank Martin of Richardson, permanent 
chairman. The convention was completely in 
the hands of the Boyd-Miller faction. G. E. 
Pritchett of Douglas county was chairman of 
the committee on resolutions which denounced 



prohibition and sumptuary laws ; insisted that 
the next legislature should pass laws abolish- 
ing the present oppressive freight rates and 
unjust discrimination, and that . Congress 
should give the interstate commerce commis- 
sion such power as to "relieve the people of 
the agricultural states from the thralldom of 
railroad monopoly." The expression of sym- 
pathy for Gladstone, Parnell, and the Irish 
people in the struggle for home rule which was 
to be inserted in many subsequent plat f onus 
of both parties was begun in this one. James 
E. North, of Columlnis, was nominated for 
governor by acclamation. There was a fac- 
tional fight in the convention over the manner 
of choosing a state committee and a mild 
obeisance to the Cleveland admonition against 
offensive partisanship in a letter sent by 
Stephen H. Calhoun. He had been appointed 
collector of internal revenue, and so, out of 
respect to the president's views, he had re- 
frained from attending the convention. 

The twelfth legislature met in the tenth 
regular session January 4, 1887, and finally 
adjourned March 31st, the sixty-second day 
of the session. The senate comprised twenty- 
five republicans and eight democrats; the 
house, seventy-one republicans, twenty-eight 
democrats, and one independent. George D. 
Meiklejohn of Nance county was elected 
temporary president of the senate and N. V. 
Harlan of York was speaker of the house. 

Governor Dawes stated in his message that 
the $50,000 relief bonds which matured 
March 1, 1885, had been paid from the sink- 
ing fund, leaving a state indebtedness of 
$449,267.35 in the form of twenty-year eight 
per cent bonds maturing April 1, 1897, and 
incurred before the restriction of the indebt- 
edness to $100,000 in the constitution of 1875. 
One hundred thousand dollars of the original 
amount of these bonds had been paid. The 
assessed value of the state in 1885 was $133,- 
418,699.83, an increase of $9,802,812.98 since 
1884. In 1886 it had increased to $143.- 
932,570.51. The rate of taxation for state 
purposes for 1885 was seven and twenty-nine 
fortieths mills and in 1886 seven and five- 
eighths mills on each dollar of valuation. A 
census was provided for in the act of Febru- 



POLITICAL HISTORY, 1882-1890 



611 



ary 9, 1885, which appropriated the sum of 
$50,000 therefor. The work had been done 
under the superintendency of George B. Lane, 
the total cost being $39,774.35, of which the 
federal government paid $34,759.12 for 
prompt and accurate reports, leaving $5,015.23 
as the actual cost to the state. There is irony 
in the statement of the governor that, "The 
original returns of enumeration and other 
original reports have been deposited for safe 
keeping in the office of the secretary of state 
as required by law." These reports were sub- 
sequently burned by carelessness or otherwise, 
so that there is no record of their important 
data available except fragmentary statements 
in the newspapers. 

The legislature authorized a recount of the 
vote on the legislative amendment to the con- 
stitution which resulted in counting it in. The 
counties of Arthur, Grant, McPherson, and 
Thomas were constituted. The act providing 
a charter for metropolitan cities, meaning 
Omaha, flouted the important principle of 
home rule by giving to the governor the ap- 
pointment of four members of the fire and 
police board, the mayor being the fifth mem- 
ber, ex officio. The "Nebraska Industrial 
Home" was authorized, the government to be 
under trustees of the "Woman's Associate 
Charities of the State of Nebraska," and $15,- 
000 was appropriated for the site and build- 
ings. A "Bureau of Labor, Census and In- 
dustrial Statistics" was established, the com- 
missioner to receive a salary of $1,500 a year. 
"An Asylum for the Incurable Insane of Ne- 
braska" was established at Hastings on con- 
dition that not less than 160 acres of land 
should be donated for the purpose ; and $75,- 
000 was appropriated for buildings. "The 
Nebraska State Board of Pharmacy" was es- 
tablished to consist of the attorney-general, 
secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, and com- 
missioner of public lands and buildings. The 
office of the state inspector of oils was estab- 
lished, carrying a salary of $2,000. 

The act of 1885 fixing classified passenger 
rates at three cents, three and one-half cents, 
and four cents per mile was amended by es- 
tablishing a general rate of three cents a mile. 
This was an important manifestation of a vital 



public opinion touching railroad legislation. 
An act was passed abolishing the board of 
railroad commissioners and establishing a 
"board of transportation." The Hatch bill, a 
law of Congress which appropriated $15,000 
a year for carrying on experiment stations, 
was accepted on behalf of the State Univer- 
sity ; and the organization of the university 
battalion was styled "University Cadets." 

The republican state convention for 1887 
was held at Lincoln October 5th. Luther W. 
Osbom of Washington county was tempo- 
rary chairman and George D. Meiklejohn of 
Nance county, permanent chairman. Judge 
Oliver P. Mason, in his characteristic vein, 
presented Samuel Maxwell for judge of the 
supreme court and he was nominated on the 
first ballot. Dr. B. B. Davis of Red Willow 
county and Dr. George Roberts of Knox, were 
nominated for regents of the University. H. 
C. Andrews of Buffalo county was chairman 
of the committee on resolutions. The plat- 
form expressed confidence in the existing 
board of transportation, but favored an elect- 
ive commission. It declared that it was gross- 
ly unjust that Nebraska should pay higher 
rates of transportation than Iowa, Minnesota, 
and Dakota. There were no other declara- 
tions on state questions. The usual approval 
of the struggle for Irish home rule was ex- 
pressed and Omaha was favored for the next 
republican national convention. A resolution 
introduced by Oliver P. Mason declaring that 
if the state supreme court should decide that 
the legislature had not conferred upon the 
board of transportation power to fix maximum 
freight charges the governor ought to call a 
special session for the purpose of doing so 
was debated fiercely until daylight when it 
was defeated by a vote of 280 to 244. A pro- 
hibition submission resolution was rejected 
also. 

The democratic convention was held at 
Omaha October 11th. Miles Zentmeyer of 
Colfax county was temporary and permanent 
chairman. Thomas O'Day of Antelope coun- 
ty was nominated for judge of the supreme 
court and Fred L. Harris of Valley and J. M. 
Slicker of Hitchcock, regents of the Univer- 
sity. The platform approved Cleveland's ad- 



612 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ministration ; made a somewhat hazy declara- 
tion in favor of tariff reform ; called for strin- 
gent legislation against railroad discrimina- 
tion, demanding that "higher rates for freight 
and passengers must not be tolerated in Ne- 
braska than are charged in other states simi- 
larly situated." As in the republican plat- 
form, there was a sympathetic declaration for 
Gladstone, Parnell, and Irish home rule. The 
last prison contract bill passed by the legisla- 
ture was condemned, as also Governor Thayer 
for signing it. The platfonn was drafted by 
O'Day of the committee and George E. 
Pritchett of Omaha. The republican ticket 
was successful at the election. Maxwell re- 
ceived 86,725 votes; O'Day, 56,548; Joseph 
W. Edgerton, labor candidate, 2,653 ; E. S. 
Abbott, prohibitionist, 7,359. Republican 
candidates in the twelve judicial districts were 
all successful except two in the third — George 
W. Doane and Eleazer Wakeley, democrats, 
being elected. 

The republican state convention for 1888 
was held at Lincoln August 23d. Judge Aaron 
Wall of Sherman county was elected tempo- 
rary chairman, receiving 395 votes against 
273 cast for A. E. Cady of Howard county. 
The temporary organization was made per- 
manent. Governor Thayer was renominated 
without opposition, and a resolution favoring 
the submission of a prohibition amendment to 
the constitution was carried by a vote of 378 
to 197. Lucius D. Richards of Dodge county 
succeeded Meiklejohn as chairman of the 
state committee. The declarations of the plat- 
form were almost all devoted to national ques- 
tions, among them a denunciation of capital 
organized in trusts — but it professed to ap- 
prove the acts of the railway commission and 
promised to carry out the correction of all 
evils. The repeated approval of the railroad 
commission by republicans was self-stultify- 
ing because the general want of public confi- 
dence which was soon to result in its aboli- 
tion was all along apparent. The democratic 
national administration was denounced "for 
its effort to destroy the bimetallic system of 
currency and restore the single gold standard 
for the sole benefit of importers and money 
lenders." 



The democratic convention was held at Lin- 
coln August 29th. Matt Miller of Butler 
county was temporary and permanent chair- 
man. John A. McShane was nominated for 
governor by acclamation and was pressed into 
acceptance much against his own wishes. A 
large element of the convention preferred that 
he should become a candidate for Congress 
again. Andrew J. Sawyer of Lancaster 
county was chairman of the committee on 
resolutions. The platform declared that the 
state was overrun by a band of Pinkerton de- 
tectives who intimidated peaceful citizens ; 
that republicans were responsible for this 
abuse and laws preventing it were demanded. 
The Mills tariff bill was approved, and Laird 
and Dorsey, members of Congress, were de- 
nounced for voting against free lumber and 
free salt. The regular Parnell and Gladstone 
plank was inserted. In the Herald's phrase, 
"The anti-prohibition plank elicited a roar of 
approval that made several republican audi- 
tors perceptibly shiver." The platform de- 
manded reform of railroad rates ; attacked the 
republican creature known as a "trust" ; fa- 
vored an elective railroad commission and 
arbitration of labor disputes. In the cam- 
paign the Omaha Herald made the most of 
the temporary lapse of the republicans to pro- 
hibition. It declared that "there are twenty- 
five thousand people in Nebraska driven here 
by the prohibition which threw a pall over the 
prosperity of Iowa. There are five thousand 
of these people in Omaha alone." These were 
of the thriftiest and most law-abiding class. 
"In the hope of catching the prohibition vote 
the republicans of Nebraska have consented to 
the exact course which was the initial step in 
Iowa. . . They think there is no danger 
that a sumptuary law will result, but there is." 
The vote for republican candidates for presi- 
dential electors was about 108,000 ; for demo- 
cratic candidates about 80,500. John M. 
Thayer, republican candidate for governor, re- 
ceived 103,983 ; John A. McShane. democrat. 
85,420; George E. Bigelow, prohibitionist, 
9,511; and David Butler, labor candidate, 
3,941. 

The thirteenth legislature met in the elev- 
enth regular session January 1, 1889, and 



POLITICAL HISTORY, 1882-1890 



613 



finally adjourned March 30th, the sixty- 
seventh day. The senate contained twenty- 
seven republicans and six democrats. Politics 
was nominally clean-cut in this legislature, 
there being no hybrid factions ; but it was the 
result of a calm which preceded the storm 
soon to break. A diminishing number of 
democrats was ominous of the real alignment 
of 1890. George D. Meiklejohn, lieutenant- 
governor, was president of the senate, and 
Church Howe, temporary president. The 
house contained seventy-nine republicans, 
twenty democrats, and one union laborite. 
John C. Watson of Otoe county was speaker. 

Governor Thayer, in his message, alluded 
to the opposition, expressed by Attorney-Gen- 
eral Leese in his report, to the passage of the 
pending bill in Congress to extend the time 
for the payment of the debt of the Union Pa- 
cific railroad to the United States. The only 
fair method was to declare the company in- 
solvent and sell the road, and the state of Ne- 
braska should control it. The governor of 
course opposed this view in a long argument. 
He recommended the adoption of a constitu- 
tional amendment for an elective railroad com- 
mission, declaring that rates in Nebraska must 
be no higher than in Kansas, Iowa, and other 
states, and that the commission should have 
full power over the question of rates. He had 
appointed two democrats and two republicans 
as members of the Omaha fire and police com- 
mission. A great hue and cry had been raised 
against them by bad elements and the city, 
council but they had given the city the best 
force and police government it had ever had. 
The supreme court had sustained the law. 
The counties of Box Butte, Grant, Perkins, 
Rock, and Thomas had been organized dur- 
ing the last two years. Banner, Deuel, Scott's 
Bluff, and Kimball would complete their or- 
ganization by January 15th. The reactionary 
spirit of this legislature as well as the omi- 
nous fact that there was a strong minority in 
it determined upon effective railroad legisla- 
tion, is illustrated by the tone of a resolution 
offered by Senator Isaac M. Raymond and its 
fate at the hands of the senate. 

Laws were passed constituting Hooker and 
Thurston counties ; changing the liquor license 



law so as to give the board of fire and police 
commissioners of cities of the metropolitan 
class and an excise board in cities of the first 
class — more than 25,000 and less than 80,000 
— power to grant licenses instead of "corpor- 
ate authorities" imder the old law ; interpolat- 
ing section 20, chapter 50, making the posses- 
sion of liquors without license a presumption 
that they are kept to be sold against the law ; 
and section 21 providing that at a hearing the 
magistrate might order the destruction of the 
liquors. Section 22 provided that after the 
defendant should be acquitted on a hearing 
the liquor should be returned to him, but if 
found guilty he should pay a fine and costs 
and a reasonable attorney's fee. Other laws 
were to compel trains to stop at crossings ; 
for a bounty of one cent a pound for sugar 
manufactured in the state from beets, sor- 
ghum, or other sugar canes or plants grown 
within the state ; taxing sleeping and dining 
cars used within the state but not owned by 
corporations within the state; appropriating 
$5,000 for beautifying the capitol grounds, to 
be expended under a landscape gardener ; con- 
stituting the first Monday in September a holi- 
day known as "Labor Day." Three amend- 
ments to the constitution were submitted ; one 
providing for the prohibition of the manufac- 
ture and sale of intoxicating liquor, another to 
increase the number of judges of the supreme 
court from three to five, and the third fixing 
the salary of the judges at $3,500 and of dis- 
trict judges at $3,000. Senate File 9, submit- 
ting an amendment providing for an elective 
board of railroad commissioners, and Senate 
File 238, for an appointed board, were merged, 
the merger — S. F. 238 — providing for three 
commissioners to be appointed by the govern- 
or and confirmed by the senate, for a term of 
two years. It passed the senate by a vote of 
28 to 1, but it got no farther than the second 
reading in the house, where it was indefinitely 
postponed with all senate files on the last day 
of the session. 

The prohibition amendment was as follows : 
"The manufacture, sale and keeping for sale 
of intoxicating liquors as a beverage are for- 
ever prohibited in this state, and the legisla- 
ture shall provide by law for the enforcement 



614 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



of this provision." It passed the senate by a 
vote of 21 to 11, and the house by 60 to 38. 
Thus democrats were solidly on the negative 
side and republicans were seriously divided — 
which portended defeat. Cady offered an ad- 
ditional proposition as follows : "The manu- 
facture and sale and keeping for sale of in- 
toxicating liquors as a beverage shall be li- 
censed and regulated by law." This was car- 
ried by a vote of 58 to 40; and in the senate 
by 23 to 10: substantially the same members 
who had voted for the original proposition 
sustaining it. Whichever part of the dual 
amendment might be adopted would be section 
27, article I of the constitution. 

Charles F. Manderson was elected United 
States senator on the first separate ballot, re- 
ceiving 76 votes in the house against 21 for 
John A. McShane and one for J. Sterling 
Morton ; and 27 in the senate against 6 for 
McShane. 

The republican convention for 1889 was 
held at Hastings October 8th. J. W. Bixler 
of Lincoln county was temporary and per- 
manent chairman. The question whether in- 
structions of a county convention that its 
delegates should fill vacancies should overrule 
a proxy — shutting out Patrick O. Hawes of 
Douglas — raised pandemonium in which 
Bixler collapsed. Church Howe taking his 
place. T. L,. Norval of Seward county was 
nominated for judge of the supreme court 
over Manoah B. Reese by a vote of 545 to 
269. Charles H. Morrill of Polk and J. L. 
H. Knight of Custer, were nominated for 



regents of the University. Lucius D. Rich- 
ards was retained as chairman of the state 
committee. The platform contained no ref- 
erence to state issues and was composed of 
glittering generalities referring to corporations. 

The democratic convention was held at 
Omaha October 15th. Andrew J. Poppleton 
was temporary and permanent chairman. John 
H. Ames of Lancaster county was nominated 
for judge of the supreme court and W. S. 
McKenna of Adams and E. W. Hess of 
Platte, for regents. Dr. Luther J. Abbott of 
Fremont unjustly attacked Senator Manderson 
for drawing a pension and yet being able to 
get a nice insurance policy from a leading com- 
pany. J. Sterling Morton was chairman of 
the platform committee and William J. Bryan 
was also a member of it. The resolutions de- 
nounced the protective policy of the republican 
party as hostile to the interests of a purely 
agricultural commonwealth ; protested against 
appropriations to irrigate desert lands, there 
being already enough arable land to glut the 
home market for nearly all farm products ; de- 
nounced the sugar bounty law of the last ses- 
sion of the legislature; declared that there 
should be no substitution of land or money for 
private corporations and declared that a well 
regulated license law was the best solution of 
the liquor question. 

A union labor convention endorsed John H. 
Ames, democratic candidate, for judge of the 
supreme court, and nominated William Blakely 
and Omer M. Kem for regents of the Univer- 
sity. 



CHAPTER XXX 

The Populist Revolution — The Strangled State Election Contest oe 1890-1891 — De- 
feat OF THE Prohibition Amendment — Political Conventions and Elections, 
1890 to 1892 — Legislatures of 1891 and 1893 — Election of William V. 
Allen, Populist, for United States Senator- — ^ Impeachment of 

State Officers 



THE populist revolution broke out with 
great force in 1890. The Alliance, a 
weekly paper published in Lincoln and the 
organ of the new movement, printed a mani- 
festo signed by J. M. Thompson, secretary of 
the State Alliance, and also signed by the sec- 
retary of the State Assembly of the Knights 
of Labor, urging preliminary arrangements for 
the calling of a convention and for fixing the 
ratio of representation. 

On the 28th of June, 1890, John H. Powers, 
president, and J. M. Thompson, secretary, and 
Jay Burrows, chairman of the state executive 
committee, issued a statement that "originally 
a call was issued by the Alliance men of 
several counties for a distinctively Alliance 
convention. This not being thought in ac- 
cordance with the constitution and it being 
feared that such a convention might disrupt 
the Alliance, its promoters thought it best to 
withdraw their call, and a declaration of prin- 
ciples and petition for the People's Indepen- 
dent convention was sent out." The new 
manifesto stated that "while the state Alliance 
is not a political party, its objects are political 
reform." It stated that the Alliance had 70,- 
000 members in Nebraska, and that 20,000 
men had pledged themselves to support the 
ticket. 

The Alliance of July 12th pointed out that 
the Omaha Republican had suddenly flopped 
to prohibition ; so that between that organ and 
the Bee, which was violently opposed to pro- 
hibition, voters might be caught coming and 
going. The railroads were straining every 



nerve to make prohibition the main issue to 
divert attention from themselves. In th e 
same issue was published a set of typical reso- 
lutions adopted fjy the South Platte Alliance. 
They demanded the immediate restoration of 
silver to its legal tender function and its free 
and unlimited coinage ; government ownership 
of railroads to be operated at actual cost for 
the benefit of the people; endorsed the pro- 
posal of Senator Stanford to loan money on 
real estate at one per cent or two per cent per 
annum ; declared that the government should 
issue paper money direct to the people ; pledged 
themselves to support for any legislative or 
congressional office only members of their 
order and whose record showed them faithful 
to the cause of labor; demanded that trans- 
portation rates be immediately reduced to cor- 
respond with lov/a rates ; favored the adop- 
tion of the Australian ballot and the pro- 
HTbitTon a mendment ; and declared that under 
the existing license system farmers were 
taxed to support the cities. This last com- 
plaint was loudly repeated in the county op- 
tion campaign of 1910; but it could not bear 
logical analysis. 

The people's independent congressional con- 
vention for the third district was made up of 
one delegate for every twenty members or 
major fraction of the Alliance, Knights of 
Labor assemblies, trades unions, and labor 
clubs, every organization or sub-organization 
of such classes being entitled to at least one 
delegate. The call for the Lancaster county 
convention specified the representation from 



616 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



every precinct, but it had been calculated on 
the strength of the farmers', trades, and labor 
organizations. The president and secretary 
of the Beulah Alliance stated that J. F. Dietz, 
an extensive dealer in lumber, had tried to 
stop Alliance agents at Clarks from buying it 
at wholesale rates and he appealed to the Ne- 
braska Lumber Dealers' Association for pro- 
tection. The independent convention of Fill- 
more county declared that license moneys 
should go to counties instead of cities or 
towns ; that all property should be assessed at 
its full value and that the mortgage or note 
indebtedness should be subtracted from the 

(assessed value. The Alliance of July 26th ad- 
vised, as a matter of policy, against inserting 
a prohibition plank in the state platform ; and 
! thus earl}- the imperious and doughty, but 
' faithful editor — Burrows — was obliged to 
I castigate Craddock for recreancy in making a 
! row about unfair apportionment in the call for 
the convention, though he had joined Burrows 
in signing it. 

The people's independent state convention 
met at Lincoln July 29, 1890. It was called to 
order by John H. Powers of Hitchcock county, 
president of the State Farmers' Alliance. Allen 
Root of Douglas county was temporary and 
permanent chairman, and Charles M. May- 
bern,' of Pawnee was temporary and perma- 
nent secretary of the convention. John H. 
Powers was nominated for governor ; Wilham 
H. Dech of Saunders, lieutenant-governor; 
Charles M. Mayberry, Pawnee, secretary of 
state; Jacob V. Wolfe, Lancaster, treasurer; 
Joseph W. Edgerton, Douglas, attorney-gen- 
eral ; John Batie, Wheeler, auditor ; W. F. 
Wright, Nemaha, commissioner of public lands 
and buildings ; A. D'Allemand, Furnas, super- 
intendent of public instruction. Charles H. 
Van Wyck was the principal competitor of 
Powers for the governorship, receiving 390 
votes to 474 for Powers. At the close of the 
state convention Van Wyck was nominated 
unanimously for candidate for Congress in the 
first district, but he declined the secondary 
honor. 

The platform declared that our financial 
system should be reformed by the restoration 
of silver to its old time place in our currency 



and its free and unlimited coinage on an 
equality with gold, and by increasing money 
circulation until it reaches the sum of $50 
per capita. All paper issues necessary to se- 
cure that amount should be made by the gov- 
ernment alone and be full legal tender. Land 
monopolies should be stopped either by limi- 
tation of ownership or graduated taxation. 
Public ownership and operation of railroads 
and telegraphs and the reduction of freight 
rates in Nebraska to the Iowa level ; reform 
of the tariff; eight hours a day for labor ex- 
cept in agriculture, and the Australian ballot 
were demanded. The temperance question 
was jiidiciously dodged in accordance with the 
admonition of the, party organ, which held 
that it was not a practicable issue at that time. 
Prompted partly by fear of the populist up- 
rising and partly by an independent reform 
spirit, a group of republicans assembled at 
the Capital Hotel in Lincoln on the 27th of 
March to consider ways and means of action. 
A committee, consisting of Daniel M. Nettle- 
ton of Clay county, Charles K. Keckley of 
York, William Leese (attorney-general) of 
Lancaster, J. R. Sutherland of Burt, and J. R. 
Ballard of Fillmore, reported an address which 
asseverated that "the time has come when an 
earnest protest should be made against the 
domination of corporate power in the repub- 
lican party" and, in support of this bold 
avowal, that in the convention of 1889 "the 
railroad managers, by the aid of 286 proxies, 
made good their threat and defeated Judge 
Reese for renomination as a judge of the su- 
preme court, and the treasurer of the Bur- 
lington & Missouri railroad company and the 
railroad attorneys, division superintendents, 
roadmasters and section bosses, by passes and 
other means, induced many county delegations 
to violate the instructions of their county con- 
ventions in favor of Judge Reese" ; that "a part 
of the earnings of the railroads are being used 
to subsidize the public press" ; and that there 
were many more outrages of the sort well 
known to the people of the state. The ad- 
dress called a mass convention to meet in Lin- 
coln on the 20th of May. The convention 
duly assembled and seventy republicans signed 
a test of good faith. 



THE POPULIST REVOLUTION 



617 



The resolutions adopted by the convention 
viewed "with alarm the intense discontent 
among republican voters of the state, chiefly 
due to the mischievous and demoralizing inter- 
ference of corporations," and demanded that 
they should go out of politics ; denounced rail- 
road passes distributed for political purposes 
as a species of bribery and demanded their 
prohibition under severe penalties ; demanded 
the enactment of a maximum railroad rate bill, 
inasmuch as the state board of transportation 
had failed to exercise the authority vested in 
it ; the national convention of 1888 having 
pledged the republican party to a reduction of 
import duties, "as republicans we request our 
delegates in congress to oppose the McKinley 
bill in its present form." The last resolution 
provided for a committee of fifteen to draft an 
address and to urge the republican state com- 
mittee to fix the date of the state convention 
not later than July 8th and from which prox- 
ies should be excluded. The call for the con- 
vention yielded to the anti-proxy demand, but 
conserved its dignity by fixing the date of the 
convention at July 23d, thus disregarding the 
letter but yielding to the spirit of the specific 
demand for an early convention. Mr. Rich- 
ards, chairman of the state committee, was 
also to be the convention's nominee for gov- 
ernor. In the meantime the insurgent com- 
mittee of fifteen had attended a meeting of the 
regular state committee where differences 
were formally adjusted. 

On the 24th of May Governor Thayer cre- 
ated great consternation in the republican 
party and general disapproval by issuing a call 
for an extra session of the legislature to con- 
vene on the 5th of June. The objects of the 
session were to pass a maximum railroad rate 
law and abolish the board of transportation, 
to adopt the Australian ballot, and to consider 
and give expression in favor of an increase 
in the volume of currency and of the free coin- 
age of silver. It was rather vociferously al- 
leged in some quarters that this surprising 
coup was due to Church Howe's cunning and 
his influence over the governor exercised with 
some ulterior personal motive. But the blame 
— for the move was generally condemned — 
was probably placed at Howe's door because, 



on general principles, that was at least an ap- 
propriate or natural place for it. The gov- 
ernor had shown symptoms of senility before 
he was fixed upon for his office, and it is not 
improbable that this condition was an impor- 
tant, if not the governing test of eligibility ap- 
plied by the astute party managers. The prev- 
alent political disquietude excited in him a 
childlike desire to make a master stroke; and 
it would be a natural impulse or part of the 
game to keep his project a secret until it was 
suddenly sprung. As a sensation-monger the 
call must have fully met the governor's fond- 
est expectations ; but a prompt and positive 
outburst of public disapproval, and especially 
from men and interests whom he could not 
disregard, obscured his brilliant rocket in its 
upward flight and forced from him a recall 
before the end of a week which brought it 
down truly like a stick. The miscarriage did 
not, however, change the governor's status ; 
for the public saw that he had merely slipped 
his leading strings. The question was deri- 
sively asked by the opposition why the legisla- 
ture, which so lately had conspicuously refused 
to enact the proposed laws in a regular ses- 
sion, could be expected to pass them in a spe- 
cial session. The governor chose to assign as 
reasons for his act of revocation, which was 
issued May 31st, that many members had be- 
come disqualified and that several vacancies 
had actually occurred which, according to the 
statute, would have to be filled by special elec- 
tions before a special session could be lawfully 
held. The Omaha Republican insisted that 
the party could not properly be blamed for 
the governor's "exhibition of puerility," and 
more than hinted that he had not given the 
real reasons for the recall which ought not to 
have been issued. The Bee feared that the 
governor had made a very serious mistake ; but 
it commended his wisdom in rectifying the 
mistake, alleging that public sentiment was 
"overwhelmingly opposed to an extra session." 
It declared that "the jubilation exhibited by 
the leading democratic organ over the prospect 
of a costly legislative fizzle and its frantic ef- 
fort to counteract the sentiment in favor of 
revocation was in itself a very tangible reason 
for the governor's action." This journal did 



618 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



not oppose the proposal of the call that the leg- 
islature should urge Congress to provide more 
money and for free coinage of silver or for 
the enactment of a maximum freight rate law, 
but it contended that, confronted with full 
local and national tickets and three amend- 
ments to the constitution, voters ought not to 
be further puzzled by a new imported ballot. 

The republican state convention was held at 
Lincoln July 23d. Lucius D. Richards of 
Dodge county was nominated for governor on 
the third formal ballot, receiving 447 votes 
against 219 for John H. MacColl of Dawson 
county, and 143 for Dr. Samuel D. Mercer of 
Douglas. On the informal ballot John M. 
Thayer received 139 votes; Manoah B. Reese, 
29; Thomas J. Majors, 41; Samuel D. Mer- 
cer, 47. Charles E. Magoon of Lancaster 
county was chairman of the committee on reso- 
lutions. The railroad plank in demanding a 
reduction of freight and passenger rates to 
correspond with rates now prevailing in ad- 
jacent states in the Mississippi valley, thereby 
virtuallv repudiating its innocuous commis- 
sion policy, indicated an awakening to real 
conditions in the old party. But it preserved 
its fatuous bourbonism in the tabling, by a 
vote of 486 to 330. of a resolution declaring 
that the state board of transportation had ig- 
nored the just demands of the people for re- 
lief from extortion and demanding their cen- 
sure. The old party did leap forward to de- 
mand the Australian ballot and the abolition 
of free passes by proper legislation. On the 
monev question it incHned its ear to a rapidly 
growing popular sentiment in the state rather 
than to sound, long-run financial principles by 
demanding that efforts to fully remonetize 
silver should be continued tmtil it was put 
upon a perfect equality with gold as a money 
metal. The tariff plank was inane. A vital- 
ized offering by Edward Rosewater, which de- 
manded a free list, including lumber, sugar, 
wool, woolen goods in common use, salt, coal, 
and iron was, according to the report of the 
State Journal, "overwhelmingly rejected. "_5^ 
resolution favoring the prohibition amend- 
ment, the .submission of which the preceding 
convention had favored, was sidetracked in 
the committee. In the complication of issues 



it may not be doginatically asserted that this 
timid hesitancy was fatal to the fortunes of 
Mr. Richards in the election ; but it is prob- 
ably true. Though, according to opposing 
newspapers, including the Bee. he was "a rail- 
road man," he was of larger parts than the 
average governor of Nebraska. 

The democratic convention was held at 
Omaha August 14th, and William G. Hastings 
of Saline county was its temporary and per- 
manent chairman. James E. Boyd was nom- 
inated for governor on the first ballot, receiv- 
ing 440 votes to 109 for John E. Shervin of 
Dodge county, a strong "Morton man." The 
platform was mainly devoted to national ques- 
tions. It declared for free coinage of silver 
on its former footing with gold ; against sump- 
tuary legislation — but inconsistently ap- 
proved high license ; taunted the republicans 
for dodging the prohibition issue in its late 
convention after having brought about its sub- 
mission ; declared for the election of United 
States senators by the people and for the 
Australian ballot ; and denounced the mainte- 
nance of a state militia and demanded its 
abolition. 

The campaign was signalized and, needless 
to say, enlivened by the nomination of William 
J. Bryan for member of Congress in the first 
district. The congressional convention was 
held at Lincoln July ^Oth and Mr. Bryan was 
nominated on the first formal ballot, receiving 
137 votes to 21 for M. V. Gannon of Douglas 
county. Mr. Bryan's platform declared for 
the "free coinage of silver on equal terms with 
gold," and for the election of United States 
senators by the people. Gilbert L. Laws was 
elbowed out of the nomination for the long 
term in the second district, owing largely if not 
mainly to the persistent opposition of the 
Omaha Bee, which was an ardent supporter of 
Harlan of York. The Bee strenuously ap- 
pealed to Nebraska farmers to keep out of the 
independent movement, which it declared was 
only a conspiracy of ambitious politicians 
against the old party. In its issue of October 
20, 1890, it published an impassioned letter 
from General Van Wyck, addressed to George 
W'. Blake, chairman, and C. H. Pirtle, secre- 
tary of the people's independent state commit- 



STATE ELECTION, 1890 



619 



tee. They had sent out a letter saying that 
"it having- been evident that Mr. Van Wyck 
has turned squarely against the independent 
movement, we recommend that he be not in- 
vited to address independent meetings nor 
given any opportunity to use his unfriendly in- 
fluence." In his reply, General Van Wyck at- 
tacked Burrows as a malicious dictator and 
charged that a shameful gerrymander had been 
made in the southwest counties in the interest 
of Powers and the rest of the cabal. He also 
pointed out that he himself was the first to de- 
clare for independent action by the Alliance 
and that Burrows was driven into it only after 
the people had held county and congressional 
conventions. In its next issue the Bee de- 
fends and applauds Van Wyck. Owing to 
the "state of his health, the demands of of- 
ficial duties and the condition of his private 
alTairs" Senator Paddock was unable to per- 
sonally participate in the campaign, but con- 
fined his activities to correspondence. His 
pronunciamento was especially untimely — ■ 
characteristically slipshod and evasive. 

The virgin campaign of the populists dis- 
closed a fresh phase of American political 
temperament. It was a composite of Hugo's 
pictures of the French Revolution and a wes- 
tern religious revival. The popular emotion 
more nearly approached obsession than it had 
theretofore seemed possible for the American 
temperament to permit it to do. The public 
meetings, while less sanguinary, were in tem- 
per reminders of those of the great Revolution. 
"These unequal events, seriously threatening 
all benefits at once, outburst of mad progress, 
boundless and unintelligible improvement." 
There was among them a French, rather than 
an American comradery. "They no longer 
said gentleman and lady, but citizen and 
citizeness." The sudden attitude of scornful 
irreverence toward the old "God and Moral- 
ity" party, till then held sacred, was startling. 
"They danced in ruined cloisters with church 
lamps on the altar . . . ; they tilled the 
public gardens ; they ploughed up the gardens 
of the Tuileries. . . Playing cards too were 
in a state of revolution. Kings were replaced 
by genii; Queens by the Goddess of Liberty; 
Knaves by Equality personified ; and aces by 



characters representing law." To express and 
stimulate their spirit the French populists had 
"liberty caps" ; the American, a "liberty build- 
ing." Their great political gatherings had the 
air and ardor of old-time camp meetings. 
Their favorite orators spoke with religious 
unction, sometimes supplemented by the lay- 
ing on of hands. At a Wymore mass meeting 
in September there were ten hundred and fif- 
teen teams in line "by actual count," and nine 
thousand people ; at Hastings the same week, 
sixteen hundred teams and twelve thousand 
people. A demonstration in Lincoln, the 
enemy's country, in crowds and pageantry 
rivaled a circus parade and in enthusiasm a 
Bryan homecoming. Though the temper of 
the movement was overheated and the public 
speeches were more or less irrational and 
visionary, yet, as a whole and in general, it was 
not ill-tempered ; it knew what it wanted and 
went to the mark ; and within twenty years its 
demands — ■ except as to the money policy — 
were substantially complied with so far as the 
forms of law could grant them. Relative to 
conditions, the populist revolution was as fruit- 
ful as its French prototvpe. 

The Bee's efforts in the campaign were de- 
voted more to defeating the prohibition amend- 
ment than to any other question. The elections 
were all but a clean sweep against the republi- 
cans, democrats and populists dividing the re- 
sults of the victory. Boyd, democratic candi- 
date for governor, received 71,331 votes: 
Powers, people's independent, 70,187; Rich- 
ards, republican, 68,878 ; B. L. Paine, prohibi- 
tionist, 3,676. The rest of the republican state 
ticket was successful by small majorities, rang- 
ing from 3,000 to 4,000. The republican can- 
didates were defeated in every congressional 
district. The vote in the first district was, 
Bryan, democrat. 32,376; William J. Connell, 
republican, 25,663 ; Allen Root, people's inde- 
pendent, 13,066 ; E. H. Chapman, prohibition- 
ist, 1,670. In the second district William A. 
McKeighan, democrat and independent, 36,- 
104; N. V. Harlan, republican, 21,776; and L. 
B. Palmer, prohibitionist, 1,220. In the third 
district, Omer M. Kem, 31,831 ; George W. E. 
Dorsey, republican, 25,440; William H. 



620 



HISTORY OF NEl'RASKA 



Thompson, democrat, 22,353 ; VV. L. Pierce, 
prohibitionist, 961. 

It was generally charged and believed that 
the vote of Douglas county was corruptly 
swollen to insure the defeat of the prohibition 
amendment. Comparison of votes cast at the 
election of 1890 with those for two years pre- 
ceding and two years following seems to sus- 
tain the belief. In 1888 the total vote cast for 
state officers was 202,855, of which Douglas 
county cast 10.6 per cent. In 1889 the total 
vote was 169,733, Douglas county casting 7.5 
per cent. In 1890 the total vote was 214,072, 
of which Douglas cast 12.2 per cent. In 1891 
the total vote was 156,080; Douglas county, 
11.8 per cent. In 1892 the total vote was 197,- 
473 ; Douglas county, 11.2 per cent. The total 
vote cast in 1890 was 8.4 per cent in excess of 
the total vote in 1892. The vote cast in Doug- 
las county in 1890 was 17.5 per cent in excess 
of the vote of the county in 1892. The vote on 
the prohibition amendment for the whole state 
was 82,292 for and 111,728 against. The vote 
of Douglas county was 1,555 for and 23,918 
against. 

The fourteenth legislature convened in the 
twelfth regular session on the 6th of January, 
1891, and finally adjourned April 4th, the sev- 
enty-first day. The senate comprised eighteen 
independents, eight democrats, and seven re- 
publicans, the independents having a majority 
of three. In the house there were fifty-four 
independents, twenty-five democrats, and 
twenty-one republicans, yielding the inde- 
pendents a clear majority of eight. Samuel 
M. Elder, independent, of Clay county, was 
elected speaker, receiving 54 votes to 25 cast 
for Frank E. White, democrat, of Cass coun- 
ty, and 20 for J. O. Cramb, republican, of 
Jefferson county. The independents took all 
the offices of both houses for themselves. 

On the request of the joint convention for 
the opinion of the attorney-general as to the 
legal power of the convention to proceed to 
open, publish, and canvass the election re- 
turns, that officer expressed the belief that it 
would be better for the legislature to submit 
to the order of the supreme court until a bet- 
ter remedy could be obtained ; that the court 
has stated as law that the first duty of the 



legislature is to open, publish, and canvass 
the returns ; and that the speaker is the pre- 
siding officer. To the Cjuery of Senator Ste- 
vens as to whether tlie supreme court had de- 
cided that the speaker of the house is the pre- 
siding officer at this time, the attorney-gen- 
eral replied: "I understand that it is the judg- 
ment of the Supreme Court that no other officer 
is recognized — that the speaker of the House 
is the presiding officer." Whereupon the con- 
vention took a recess until half past two 
o'clock in the afternoon. On reassembling the 
secretary of the senate read a communication 
from the attorney-general in which he said 
that his former statement that the supreme 
court had decided that the speaker of the 
house should preside at the joint session was 
Ijased upon misinformation and that the court 
had not passed upon that question. Where- 
upon the returns of the election were brought 
by the secretary of state and delivered to the 
speaker. The lieutenant-governor insisting 
ui)on presiding over the proceedings. Senator 
Stevens offered a formal protest declaring 
that the assumption of the lieutenant-governor 
was in violation of section 67, chapter 26, of 
the compiled statutes of Nebraska for 1887. 
The speaker then canvassed the returns from 
the several counties and after delivering them 
to the secretary, declared as follows : : 

By virtue of my position as speaker of the 
House of Representatives of the state of Ne- 
braska and in accordance with a resolution of 
this joint convention I have opened the returns 
of the general election held on the 4th day of 
November, 1890, within and for the state of 
Nebraska and to me directed and now publish 
and declare that James E. Boyd for governor; 
T. J. Majors for lieutenant governor ; John C. 
Allen, for secretary of state ; T. H. Benton for 
auditor of public accounts ; J. E. Hill for 
treasurer ; C H. Hastings for attorney gener- 
al : A. R. Humphrey for commissioner of pub- 
lic lands and buildings ; A. K. Goudy for 
superintendent of public instruction ; W. J. 
Bryan for congressman from the first district ; 
W. A. McKeighan for congressman from the 
second district; O. M. Kem for congressman 
from the tliird district, all having received the 
highest numl)cr of votes cast were duly elect- 
ed. 

On the 26th of January the senate passed a 
resolution, by a \ote of 23 to 8, recognizing 



STATE ELECTION CONTEST 



621 



James E. Boyd as governor and asking for the 
appointment of a committee of two to wait 
upon him and ascertain whether he had a mes- 
sage to deliver and to appoint a time to hear 
it and asking that the house appoint a similar 
committee. 

On the 28th the house, by a vote of 52 to 
42, tabled a resolution to appoint a committee 
to act with the senate committee, on the ground 
that Boyd was not rightfully governor ; but, 
after further consideration, on the 4th of Feb- 
ruary it agreed to such an arrangement by a 
vote of 55 to 42, and February 6th was fixed 
upon for the function. An arrangement to 
hear the outgoing governor's customary fare- 
well message was easily made, because, at the 
time, he was content to be called ex-governor, 
while there was stout rebellion against recog- 
nizing Boyd. 

The attempt of the supreme court to coerce 
or interfere with the action of a coordinate 
body in commanding the legislature to canvass 
the votes was probably usurpation, as Shra- 
der's resolution characterized it. The persis- 
tent attempt of Meiklejohn to preside over the 
joint convention united specious bravado with 
usurpation which due courage and ability on 
the part of the speaker might have prevented 
and properly rebuked. The result of this un- 
warrantable interference on the part of the 
court and president of the senate did a great 
injustice to the independent contestants, as 
there was certainly good ground for a very 
general belief that an investigation of the elec- 
tion in Douglas county would have seated 
them. 

It is at least doubtful that the decision that 
a resolution fixing a day for hearing the con- 
test required executive signature was sound : 
and the consideration that an affirmative inter- 
pretation handed over to a party to the con- 
test power to block it by refusing to sign the 
resolution it seems should have constrained 
the court to give the reasonable side, in ef- 
fect, the benefit of the doubt. But courts 
elected on partisan tickets naturally respond 
to party exigencies. In the first instance, the 
feeling of the court, for obvious reasons, pre- 
ferred the democratic Boyd to the populist 
Powers ; and so it had the courage of its feel- 



ings and Boyd went up. In the second in- 
stance, the court preferred the republican 
Thayer to the democratic Boyd and again it 
had the courage of its feelings and Boyd was 
down — until the federal Supreme Court, too 
remote for small partisanship, picked him up 
again. The plain moral is that in pure politi- 
cal procedure like this the court should be 
kept out altogether, as in all states with mod- 
ern constitutions. 

While the independents were disconcerted, 
they were not deterred by the interference of 
the court ; and so on the 30th of January the 
house, by a vote of 74 to 18, passed a concur- 
rent resolution designating February 17th as 
the day for hearing the contest ; but the fine 
and final work was done in the senate when, 
on the 11th of February, it was rejected, 11 
to 14, three independent senators — Collins of 
Gage, Turner of Saline, and Thayer of Loup 
— being the recreants. Even though in parti- 
san war it was fair for democratic and re- 
publican members to deny the contestants a 
hearing of their cause, which it might be diffi- 
cult to maintain, yet the independents who 
voted to deny that constitutional right clearly 
deserved the accusations of treachery and cor- 
ruption which their fellow partisans heaped 
upon them. The testimony taken had at least 
colorably sustained the independent charges 
of fraud at the elections. Mr. Powers issued 
a dignified remonstrance against the denial of 
the forms of justice. "Every citizen has a 
sacred right to be heard before the judicial 
tribunal provided for his relief. . . The 
secretary of state said that James E. Bovd 
received 1,114 more votes than I did. I have 
proved that over 2,000 persons were bribed 
in Douglas county to vote for Boyd, and that 
over 1,300 of them voted in Omaha." Whether 
a trial of the cause would have sustained this 
contention or changed the practical result may 
always remain an open question, but that there 
was a scandalous miscarriage of justice in de- 
nying the trial there can be no doubt. The 
Farmers' Alliance naturally emptied most of 
its vials of wrath on the three recreant inde- 
pendents ; 

Rarely does it happen when the interests 
of the corporations and the money power are 



622 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



pitted against the interests of the people that 
traitors are not found to betray the latter. The 
Judas who took the thirty pieces of silver and 
by kisses betrayed the Savior of mankind — 
betrayed the divine man who by his teachings 
has always stood by the great plain people — 
has found his vile counterpart throughout all 
the ages. He has been here in Lincoln through 
the contest. He had three doubles in the Sen- 
ate. . . We dislike to defile our pages with 
their names. 

Collins made a weak attempt to justify his 
course, but it placed him in a worse plight 
than Turner's silence left him ; and Taylor 
shirked the ordeal altogether by flight. The 
full force of conventional cunning and all the 
arts of scared capitalism were turned against 
the all but untutored populists. The World- 
Herald openly, and the Bcc really were for 
Boyd, while the State Journal, if not warmly 
for Thayer, was hotly against the populists. 
Of the larger dailies, the Lincoln Daily Call 
alone battled for a fair and square deal. 
For effect the independents were constantly 
called prohibitionists by their allied op- 
ponents. 

On the 6th of February Governor Boyd de- 
livered a business-like message to the legisla- 
ture. He counseled acceptance of the decision 
of the people against prohibition of the liquor 
traffic and gave cautionary advice as to rail- 
road legislation. "The people," he said, "ap- 
pear to regard the present board of transpor- 
tation as having accomplished little or nothing 
in their behalf. Their interests might, and 
doubtless would, be better subserved by the 
creation of such a commission as exists in the 
neighboring state of Iowa. Your right to es- 
tablish maximum tariff rates is not denied. 
Such legislation, however, is deemed to rest 
on delicate ground, because of the vast diver- 
sity of commodities and the many peculiar 
and distinguishing features which enter into 
the carrying trade. The present board of 
transportation has the right to establish rea- 
sonable maximum rates though it has never 
exercised its authority. If your honorable 
body, however, should decide to take this 
matter in hand, I would respectfully suggest 
that your work in that direction be confined 
to a limited number of commodities in carload 



lots such as coal, grain, live stock, lumber and 
others." 

He recommended the passage of an Aus- 
tralian ballot law and strongly argued that 
presidential electors should be chosen by con- 
gressional districts. Deprecating the fact that 
a proposed amendment to the constitution to 
provide for two more judges of the supreme 
court had been defeated, he advised calling a 
convention for a general revision of the con- 
stitution. 

The governor congratulated the people over 
the fact that peace with the Indians had been 
restored, after the ill-starred Wounded Knee 
campaign, without the loss of a man killed in 
battle. It had not been his intention to recall 
the Nebraska National Guards until the In- 
dians had been disarmed, and he had sent a 
telegram to that effect to Brigadier-General 
Colby January 13th ; but it was received after 
Major-General Miles had informed Colby 
that he could safely withdraw his troops and 
he had already ordered the Nebraska National 
Guards to their homes. 

The legislature promptly repealed the sugar 
bounty law of 1889, the measure passing the 
house by a vote of 78 to 16 and the senate by 
25 to 6. The nays in the house comprised 
five democrats, eight republicans, and three 
independents ; in the senate, one democrat and 
five republicans, thus the repeal was mainly a 
party measure. Boyd county was constituted 
out of unorganized territory. The most im- 
portant measure of the session, probably, was 
the Australian ballot act which both of the 
old parties also had promised. The bill was 
introduced by W. F. Porter of Merrick 
county, as house roll 141. It passed the house 
by a vote of 80 to 20 and in the senate it re- 
ceived 32 ayes and no nays. Of the 20 nays 
in the house thirteen were independents, four 
tlemocrats, and three republicans. Fifteen of 
these were farmers. Congressional districts 
were apportioned, the number being raised 
from three to six on account of the increase 
in population as shown by the census of 1890. 
Judicial districts were increased from twelve 
to fifteen. An act was passed requiring that 
railroad stations .should be given the same 
names as towns in which they are situated. 



LEGISLATURE OF 1891 



623 



The state board of health was established, 
consisting of the governor, attorney-general, 
and superintendent of public instruction ; and 
the act provided that the board should have 
four physicians as secretaries to assist and ad- 
vise it. A "Girls' Industrial School for Juve- 
nile Delinquents" was established at Geneva, 
on condition that forty acres of land should 
be donated therefor : and an appropriation 
was made of $40,000 for the erection of build- 
ings and maintenance. The sum of $100,000 
was appropriated from the state treasury "for 
the immediate relief of the drouth stricken 
counties of the state of Nebraska." A "relief 
commission" was created by the same act, con- 
sisting of Samuel AI. Elder, Luther P. Lud- 
den, R. R. Greer, Louis Meyer, George W. 
Martin, John Fitzgerald, Andrew J. Sawyer, 
Charles W. Mosher, J. W. Hartley, W. N. 
Nason. The act provided that county com- 
missioners, county clerks, and sheriffs should 
distribute supplies furnished by the relief 
commission. Bonds to the amount of $100,- 
000, to run five years at four per cent interest, 
were authorized ; and the governor was em- 
powered to appoint, with the consent of the 
senate, a "board of relief" of nine members, 
who should sell the bonds and deposit the pro- 
ceeds in the state treasury for the use of the 
relief commission. A tax of one-eighth of a 
mill was levied, for the interest and principal 
of the relief bonds. County boards were au- 
thorized to use the surplus general funds of 
the county to buy food, fuel, seed grain, and 
food for teams and sell them to the needy 
families at cost, taking promissory notes run- 
ning three years with interest payable an- 
nually. County boards were also authorized 
to issue bonds, not to exceed in amount three 
per cent of the assessed valuation of the county 
or $20,000 in the aggregate, for providing seed 
and feeding teams for raising crops in 1891. 
This authority required a majority vote, and 
the bonds were to be payable in ten years and 
draw interest at a rate not over seven per cent. 
A depository law which was destined to cause 
much loss and trouble was passed. It autho- 
rized state and county treasurers to deposit 
current funds in state or national banks, three 
per cent interest to be paid therefor on daily 



balances. Personal bonds approved by the 
governor, secretary of state, and attorney-gen- 
eral were required. It was bad policy on 
general principles to loan public money upon 
personal bonds, but the conjunction of drouth 
and panic illustrated this truth in an unex- 
pected and harmful manner. The sum of 
$50,000 was appropriated for an exhibit at the 
World's Columbian Exposition, and the gov- 
ernor was authorized to appoint six commis- 
sioners, two from each congressional district 
and two of them from each of three par- 
ties, with compensation of $5 a day for actual 
time devoted to duties, and traveling expenses. 
The sum of $24,000 was appropriated to pay 
the militia and its maintenance, and $13,200 
for railroad transportation on account of the 
Wounded Knee Indian campaign. The sum 
of $300 was allowed to each executive officer 
for attorney's fees in the election contest, 
Majors getting $125 for witness and sheriiT's 
fees also ; to John H. Powers $300 for at- 
torney fees and $250 for witness and sheriff's 
fees; to Boyd $100 and Dech $125 for wit- 
ness and sheriff's fees ; and from $250 to $350 
each to eleven notaries public and lesser sums 
to two others ; also $5,000 for reporting and 
transcribing testimony. 

It was left to the so-called revolutionary 
populist movement to respond in a material or 
practical way to the long continued popular 
demand for railroad legislation ; and, notwith- 
standing the doubtful propriety of reform by 
this necessarily somewhat crude method, the 
measure at least deserves that credit. The 
Newberry bill (H. R. 12), so called because it 
was introduced by Representative Newberry, 
was passed in the house by a vote of 78 to 17 
and in the senate by 23 to 7. 

Boyd belonged to the class, distinctive at 
the time, known as railroad men ; so that his 
veto of the bill was not a surprise but, on the 
contrary, was expected. Notwithstanding that 
the bill was necessarily crude in form and that 
it might be unfair to the railroads, yet it was 
the deliberate response to the explicit demand 
of the majority party represented in the legis- 
lature, and also to the republican platform. 
The veto, therefore, was in derogation of the 
spirit of modern representative government. 



624 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



and it was rightfully resented as such. Ac- 
cordingly it was an act of political suicide on 
the part of the governor, and it emasculated 
his party besides. Disapproval of the veto 
was so strong that J. Sterling Morton, in spite 
of his fixed opposition to legislation of that 
sort, could, as he did, publicly denounce it, as 
bad oarty policy, at once thereby getting re- 
venge out of his political enemy and gaining 
such popular approval as to be unanimously 
nominated as Boyd's successor. 

The republican convention for 1891 was held 
at Lincoln September 24th. George H. Thum- 
mel of Hall county was temporary and perma- 
nent chairman. Alfred M. Post of Platte 
county was nominated for judge of the su- 
preme court on the fourth formal ballot, re- 
ceiving 294 votes to 135 for M. B. Reese, 126 
for Amasa Cobb, the incumbent of the office, 
and 17 for Judge William H. Morris of Sa- 
line county. The platform was devoted espe- 
cially to national questions. It approved the 
silver coinage law of the administration "by 
which the entire product of the silver mines 
of the United States is added to the currency 
of the people," but denounced the democratic 
doctrine of free and unlimited coinage, and it 
repeated the usual generalities about railroad 
control. John L. Webster of Douglas county 
was chairman of the committee on resolutions 
and Charles H. Gere was also a member of the 
committee. H. B. Shumway of Dixon county 
and C. H. Marple of Douglas were nominated 
for regents of the University. 

The democratic convention was held at 
Grand Island September 17th. Frank P. Ire- 
land was president of the convention. Judge 
Jeliferson H. Broady was nominated for judge 
of the supreme court and F. A. Brogan and 
S. F. Henniger for regents of the University — 
all by acclamation. Judge Broady resolutely 
declined to accept the nomination, and the 
democratic organization favored giving the 
support of the party to Edgerton, the people's 
party candidate. The platform condemned 
the state board of transportation for "refusing 
in the face of overwhelming demands to fix 
reasonable freight rates and give the people 
relief from exorbitant transportation charges" 
and declared in favor of a constitutional 



amendment providing for three elective rail- 
road commissioners. It declared for a tariff 
for revenue limited to the necessities of the 
government economically administered and 
tlie election of United States senators by popu- 
lar vote. It favored "a law establishing rea- 
sonable maximum freight rates." The friends 
of Governor Boyd in the convention wished to 
endorse his recent veto of the Newberry 
maximum freight bill, notwithstanding that it 
had been denounced by nearly all the demo- 
cratic newspapers of the state; but, largely 
through Bryan's influence, the question was 
left without action. The World-Herald, 
which disapproved the veto, sharply and just- 
ly criticised the convention for dodging the 
issue. The first sharp contest between the 
gold democrats and Mr. Bryan and his follow- 
ing upon the money question occurred at this 
convention. He proposed a plank advocating 
the free and unlimited coinage of silver; but 
most of the Lancaster delegates stood stoutly 
against the proposal, and a compromise was 
agreed upon to strike out "and unlimited" so 
that the plank read: "We favor the free 
coinage of silver." 

The people's independent convention was 
held at Hastings August 18, 1891, seventy- 
eight counties being represented by over six 
hundred delegates. William A. Poynter, then 
a state senator from Boone county, was chair- 
man, and C. H. Pirtle secretary of the conven- 
tion. Joseph W. Edgerton was nominated for 
judge of the supreme court, without opposi- 
tion, and A. D'Allemand of Furnas, and E. A. 
Hadley of Greeley, for regents of the Univer- 
sity. The platform contained the now recog- 
nized orthodox planks of the populist faith — • 
all money to be issued by the government ; 
abolition of national bank currency ; free and 
unlimited coinage of silver; no alien owner- 
ship of land ; graduated taxation of incomes ; 
government ownership of all means of public 
communication and transportation ; election of 
president, vice president, and United States 
senators directly by the people. It denounced 
the veto of the maximum freight rate bill and 
expressed sympathy for laborers in their ef- 
forts to enforce the eight-hour law. .\fter a 
■iirulent campaign in which the IVorld-Hcrald 



POLITICAL CONVENTIONS, 1892 



625 



insisted that the judicial contest was a sharply 
defined railroad issue and, in particular, in- 
dulged in violent personal attacks upon Judge 
Post, he was elected, receiving 76,447 votes 
against 72,311 cast for Edgerton. If the inde- 
pendents had nominated a stronger lawyer 
than Edgerton fusion would have been suc- 
cessful. Mrs. Ida M. Bittenbender, the pro- 
hibition candidate, received 7,322 votes. 

The national convention of the jjeople's in- 
dependent party for 1892 was held at Omaha 
July 2d. 

The republican state convention to elect 
delegates to the national convention was held 
at Kearney April 27, 1892. Bradner D. 
Slaughter of Nance county was temporary 
and penuanent chairman. John L. Webster 
of Douglas, Edward D. Webster of Hitch- 
cock — who was a delegate from Nebraska to 
the national republican convention of 1860 — 
Lucius D. Richards of Dodge, and Amasa 
Cobb of Lancaster, were elected delegates at 
large. A motion that Edward Rosewater be 
made national committeeman was carried 
after a spectacular fight. Opposition raised 
in the convention to choosing John L. Web- 
ster as a delegate, on account of doubt of his 
fealty to President Harrison, compelled him 
to come before the convention and spell the 
name of the president in staccato fashion. 
The platform endorsed the McKinley bill, 
Blaine's reciprocity scheme, and Senator Pad- 
dock for reelection. The delegates were in- 
structed to support President Harrison for re- 
nomination. 

The first democratic convention for 1892 
was held at Omaha April 13th and 14th. It 
was one of the most exciting and spectacular 
political conventions ever held in the state. 
By this time Mr. Bryan had become character- 
istically positive and aggressive in the advo- 
cacy of the free coinage of silver, while a 
majority of the democrats were loyal to Cleve- 
land and approved his conservatism with 
reference to the silver question. At the Lan- 
caster county convention, held for the pur- 
pose of choosing delegates to the state conven- 
tion, there was a very heated contest between 
the Cleveland democrats and the followers of 
Mr. Bryan. The former were in the major- 



ity but, being vmwilling to deal too harshly 
with so promising and popular an acquisition 
to the party as Mr. Bryan had become, and, 
moreover, not appreciating at that time the 
length to which his audacity might hurl itself, 
they magnanimously put him upon the delega- 
tion. Robert A. Batty of Adams county was 
chairman of the convention. The first contro- 
versy was between the Boyd and anti-Boyd 
factions for representation. At the county 
convention of Douglas county there had been 
a breakup, and a double set of delegates asked 
for admission to the state convention. Charles 
' )ffut and Charles Ogden were the leaders of 
the Boyd faction and Euclid Martin, Timothy 
]. Mahoney, and Michael V. Gannon of the 
anti-Boyd faction. The contest resulted in 
the seating of Boyd's friends. The Lancaster 
delegation elected Andrew J. Sawyer, a gold 
democrat, as its representative upon the com- 
mittee on resolutions ; but the convention 
added Bryan as a member at large of the com- 
mittee. The platform as reported by the com- 
mittee merely emphatically endorsed the na- 
tional platform of 1884, saying nothing spe- 
cific about the money question. Mr. Bryan in 
a minority report introduced the additional 
resolution that, "We declare ourselves in favor 
of the free coinage of silver." 

Half an hour was allowed each side for dis- 
cussing the minority silver plank. Bryan's 
friends conceded all the time to him for the 
aifirmative, and the negative time was divided 
between Robert A. Batty of Adams county, 
Nathan S. Harwood, Andrew J. Sawyer, and 
Albert Watkins of Lancaster, Charles Ofifut 
of Douglas, and Judge James C. Crawford of 
Cuming. Immediately after the temporary 
organization was made permanent (by general 
consent as the writer remembers for the 
move was not strictly in order) Albert Wat- 
kins offered a resolution favoring Cleveland. 
As the Cleveland resolution was read, "it was 
wildly cheered and unanimously passed." As 
first offered the resolution contained instruc- 
tions for Cleveland ; but, on hearing a goodly 
number of objections to that part of it, the 
mover promptly withdrew it and the remain- 
der was adopted without opposition and with 
great enthusiasm. Mr. Bryan's speech upon 



626 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



his silver plank was the first taste that a gen- 
eral assemblage of the democrats of the state 
had of his magnetic eloquence ; and, though 
at the beginning the convention was over- 
whelmingly for Cleveland, after he disclosed 
the fact, which he had theretofore kept secret, 
that he favored Horace E. Boies of Iowa, for 
president, it seemed as if the convention was 
almost willing to follow him. This part of 
the proceedings was very exciting. Mr. 
Oftut, who was a dramatic Kentuckian, while 
speaking on the stage against the resolution, 
turned around and facing Mr. Bryan, who sat 
near, thinking to surely catch him in an incon- 
sistency, demanded, "You are for Cleveland, 
are you not ?" But Bryan promptly and unex- 
pectedly answered loudly enough to be heard 
by the audience and with the utmost dra- 
matic fervor, "I am for Horace E. Boies." 
The free silver part of the convention was 
very boisterous and unwilling to give the anti- 
silver speakers a hearing. After the first roll 
call the chairman announced that Bryan's 
amendment was defeated by 237 to 267. 

And then ! it was like the hot chamber of 
hell. Men climbed over the tables and yelled 
in angry denunciation. . . And that con- 
vention went mad — absolutely insane. Men 
could not do things crazy enough. Batty was 
hooted at and sworn at. Bryan tried to soothe 
things. It was impossible. . . Governor 
Boyd and three reliable gentlemen on the stage 
had kept tab. . . At last in the sheol of 
noise it was decided to take another vote. 
The recount was taken amid much excitement, 
and Chairman Batty finally announced its re- 
sult — 229 yes ; 247 no ! . . . The major- 
ity report was then adopted. 

In the midst of the collective brainstorm 
Bryan's livid face, compressed lips, and defiant 
eyes were a vivid reminder of Edwin Booth in 
his most dramatic moments. In after years 
Bryan could not have repeated that remark- 
able theatrical role because only the impetu- 
ous abandon and daring, the freshness and 
fire of youth, unhampered by knowledge and 
unrestrained by experience could accomplish, 
or would imdertake it. The master actor had 
been nurtured in the low tariff or free trade 
school, and his speeches on the tariff question 
at that time were inimitably apt and taking; 



but he had given little attention to the deeper 
and more difficult principles of money, so that 
his sympathy and his ambition fell easy cap- 
tive to the superficial shibboleth, "free silver." 
That great turbulent body of men, representa- 
tives of the state's sufferings, hopes and fears, 
was of course less schooled than the ambitious 
leader, and a majority of them, perhaps, were 
ready to give him the benefit of every doubt. 
It was from the first apparent to the maturely 
thoughtful that this captivating issue was 
destined to be short-lived, and it was dis- 
credited by the sober second thought of 
the people. F.conomic privation was an 
inevitable, if not legitimate source and 
stimulus of its strength in Nebraska. On the 
eve of winter in 1890 there were from 1,500 
to 2,000 families in destitute condition in the 
western part of the state, and soulless rail- 
roads were hauling coal to them without com- 
pensation. It was even argued that the al- 
leged gross election frauds of that year should 
be condoned lest investigation might delay 
relief by the legislature. "What does our 
legislature mean by this unseemly wrangle 
when 20,000 of our citizens are now starv- 
ing?" This was not the temper to learn to 
labor and to wait before venturing, for pos- 
siljle immediate relief, to dislocate a vast na- 
tional financial system. Under the influence 
of the Miller-Boyd faction President Cleve- 
land had made the mistake of going to J. 
Sterling Morton's home town to select a reve- 
nue collector — in the person of Morton's im- 
memorial political and personal enemy, Ste- 
phen H. Calhoun. 

It was the opinion of the most acute politi- 
cians upon the Nebraska delegation to the na- 
tional con\ention that but for the aggressive 
fight made against Bryan in the Lancaster 
county convention and which was carried on 
in the state convention, the enemies of Cleve- 
land would have defeated him. It will be re- 
membered that the delegation from his own 
state was aggressively against him and with- 
out the sixteen delegates from Nebraska he 
could not have sustained his strength long 
enough to obtain a two-thirds vote under the 
rule of the national convention. 

The people's independent convention was 



POLITICAL CONVENTIONS, 1892 



627 



held at Bohannan's Hall, in Lincoln, June 
30th. Jacob V. Wolf of Lancaster county was 
temporary and permanent chairman. All of 
the counties except ten participated in the con- 
vention with a representation of 722 delegates. 
The welcome return of Van Wyck to favor 
and the passing of Burrows was the principal 
incident of the proceedings. Though the 
name of the late imperious leader was present- 
ed as a candidate for delegate at large it was 
passed with apparently unanimous tacit assent, 
while Van Wyck received almost as many 
votes as John H. Powers, the high man. The 
independents proudly pointed out that where- 
as sixteen delegates to the republican national 
convention comprised seven lawyers, six 
bankers, and not one farmer, their own delega- 
tion of thirty-two contained twenty-four farm- 
ers, three lawyers, and three editors. 

The republican state convention for 1892 
was held at Lincoln August 4th and 5th. John 
R. Hayes of Madison county was temporary 
chairman and A. E. Cady of Howard county, 
permanent chairman. Samuel D. Mercer of 
Douglas, chairman of the state committee, 
called the convention to order. Church Howe 
seconded the nomination of his immemorial 
political rival, Thomas J. Majors, for govern- 
or. On the first ballot, he received 344 votes ; 
Lorenzo Crounse, 376; A. E. Cady, 82. On 
the second day Crounse was nominated on the 
fifth ballot, receiving 446 votes to 327 for 
Majors. The platform declared in favor of 
an elective railroad commission, empowered 
to fix local freight and passenger rates, and 
for postal telegraph and savings banks, besides 
approving the national platform. 

The state convention of the people's inde- 
pendent party was held at Kearney August 
4th. The platform demanded reduction of 
freight rates to the Iowa level ; declared 
against the restoration of the sugar bounty, 
and that all obligations payable in money 
should be payable in money authorized by the 
United States government — stipulations to 
the contrary notwithstanding: favored a con- 
stitutional amendment authorizing the loan of 
the school fund to citizens on first mortgage 
real estate security at an interest rate of not 
more than five per cent ; the settling of labor 



differences by arbitration, and equal pay for 
equal work to both men and women ; de- 
nounced convict labor; demanded the election 
of president, vice president, and United States 
senators by direct vote of the people; de- 
nounced the state militia as an expensive orna- 
ment. A plank in favor of woman suffrage 
was laid on the table. Charles H. Van Wyck 
was nominated for governor on the first bal- 
lot, receiving 552 votes to 147 for Williami 
Leese and six for William A. Poynter. John 
H. Powers, the first candidate of the party 
for governor, refused to be a candidate for 
the office before the convention and also re- 
fused to take the nomination for state auditor. 
With a fickleness characteristic of politics the 
convention showed a continuing reaction 
against the late "Dictator Burrows" and in 
favor of Van Wyck. 

The democratic state convention was held 
at Lincoln August 30th. Matthew W. Ger- 
ing of Cass county was temporary chairman 
and William H. Thompson of Hall, perma- 
nent chairman. A reaction of sentiment 
against Governor Boyd had taken place, due 
largely to his veto of the Newberry maximum 
freight rate bill. Even Morton himself, re- 
garded as an ultra conservative on the ques- 
tion of railroad legislation, thought it expe- 
dient to publicly denounce the veto. In the 
convention there was a decided sentiment in 
favor of Morton's coming back — ^explicable 
largely by the feeling in the party and espe- 
cially on the part of the Morton faction of it, 
that Cleveland would be reelected and that to 
strengthen Morton's leadership would be of 
material aid in the resulting division of fed- 
eral spoils ; and so the old leader of many 
campaigns and as many defeats was enthusi- 
astically nominated by acclamation. The name 
of Samuel N. Wolbach of Hall county was 
presented to the convention by Constantine V. 
Gallagher of Omaha, and Frank P. Ireland of 
Otoe was also named, but both withdrew. 
Charles H. Brown of Omaha, a bitter oppo- 
nent of Miller and Boyd, presented Morton's 
name to the convention. 

All three of the candidates for governor 
made aggressive speaking campaigns, Crounse 
and Van Wyck engaging in joint discussions 



628 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



all over the state. Toward the end of the 
campaign Morton displeased many of his old 
time friends by directing most of his energies 
to lampooning Van Wyck, thus apparently 
playing the role of tail to Croimse's kite. The 
nomination of Crounse was a recognition by 
republicans of the serious antimonopoly in- 
roads into their party, this present help in time 
of need having been long and consistently op- 
posed to the aggression of railroads. Though, 
measured by present standards, Crounse was 
a conservative, yet his appreciably progressive 
attitude toward the paramount railroad ques- 
tion and Van Wyck's radical advocacy of free 
silver coinage gave the Bee sufficient excuse 
for abandoning its old ally. It went so far as 
to charge him with degeneracy because in the 
joint debate with Crounse at Beatrice he de- 
clared that the republican Congress of 1873, 
in abrogating free coinage of silver, benefited 
the "shylocks of Europe" at the expense of 
the "toilers" of the United States. Crounse 
was elected by a vote of 78,426 ; Van Wyck 
receiving 68, 617; Morton, 44,195 ; C. E. Bent- 
ley, prohibitionist, 6,235. On account of his 
aggressive hostility to Van Wyck, the anti- 
monopolist candidate, Morton's vote was about 
2,500 behind the average of his ticket. The 
republicans lost three of the congressional dis- 
tricts. William J. Bryan, democrat, was 
elected over Allen W. Field, republican, in the 
first district : William A. McKeighan, people's 
independent and democrat, over William E. 
Andrews, in the fifth district; and Omer M. 
Kem. people's independent, over James White- 
head, republican, in the sixth district. By ra- 
tional cooperation among those voters who 
stood substantially upon the same ground all 
of the republicans would have been defeated. 
Americans, long inured to the two-party 
habit, are slowly — but surely — learning to 
vote for present issues regardless of past 
names. 

The fifteenth legislature met in the twenty- 
third session and the thirteenth regular ses- 
sion January 3, 1893, and finally adjourned 
April 8th, the sixty-eighth day. The senate 
comprised fourteen republicans, thirteen in- 
dependents, and six democrats : the house 
forty-eight republicans, forty independents, 



and twelve democrats. The republicans of 
the senate took the honorary office by electing 
Erasmus M. Correll of Thayer county, tempo- 
rary president, and the democrats and inde- 
pendents evenly divided the substantial spoils 
Three democrats, Babcock of Douglas, Mattes 
of C)toe, and North of Platte, voted with the 
republicans, making Correll's total 17. Two 
democrats, McCarthy of Howard, and Thom- 
sen of Dodge, voted with the independents for 
William Dysart of Nuckolls county. Hale of 
Madison, democrat, voted for Mattes. There 
were three ballots to choose the officer in 
question, on three successive days. J. A. 
Sheridan, independent, of Red Willow county, 
was elected temporary speaker over Church 
Howe by a vote of 51 to 48. J. N. Gaftin, in- 
dependent, of Saunders, was elected speaker 
over Jensen, republican, of Fillmore, by a 
vote of 53 to 47. The independents took the 
chief clerkship, also, for Eric Johnson. They 
allowed the democrats six minor places. 

For eight days beyond his term, pending the 
revolutionary proceedings of the legislature of 
1891 over the contested election case. Govern- 
or Thayer held to the executive office at the 
capitol which, under his orders, was guarded 
by armed militia. After the canvass of the 
returns, on the 9th of January, 1891, he ap- 
plied to the supreme court for a writ of quo 
■zvan-anto to oust Boyd. On granting leave on 
the 13th, the court intimated to Thayer that in 
the meantime he had better yield the office to 
Boyd, whom the legislature had recognized as 
governor, and on that hint on the 15th Thayer 
complied with an order of the commissioner of 
public lands and buildings to vacate the execu- 
tive office, whereupon Governor Boyd took 
possession of it. On the 5th of May the court 
entered a judgment of ouster against Boyd, on 
the ground that he was not a citizen of the 
United States and was therefore ineligible, 
and Thayer was reinstated. 

It appeared at the trial that Governor Boyd's 
father, who had come to Ohio from Ireland, 
took out his first naturalization papers in 1890, 
after the governor had arrived at legal age. 
The attainment of citizenship by the father, 
therefore, did not apply to the son, and the 
supreme court of the state decided that his 



LEGISLATURE OF 1893 



629 



election was invalid ; but an appeal was taken 
to the Supreme Court of the United States 
which decided, February I, 1892, that when 
Nebraska was admitted as a state, Boyd was 
a resident and therefore became a citizen by 
adoption. Justice Maxwell had dissented from 
the decision of the state court on this ground. 
On the 6th of February, John L. Webster, 
Thayer's attorney, sent him a letter which 
convincingly assured him that he had been 
actuated by the highest patriotic motives in 
holding over until it had been established that 
his prospective successor was constitutionally 
eligible to fill his official shoes, and that he 
might now, with safety to the commonwealth, 
relinquish the post he had so faithfully and 
conscientiously guarded. In turn, the hold- 
over governor wrote a letter to Boyd recount- 
ing the information he had received and pro- 
posing to relinquish the office on the following 
day; whereupon Boyd again became governor 
on the 8th of February, 1892. 

During nine months of his administration 
there had been a saving in expenses at the hos- 
pital for insane of $15,637.48 over expenses 
of the previous nine months, a difference of 
nearly twenty per cent. He claimed a large 
saving for other state institutions and that 
they could be conducted on an expenditure of 
sixty-six per cent of the prevailing expenses, 
exclusive of salaries. He recommended an 
investigation of all the state institutions. The 
sum of $38,000 had been expended in the 
Wounded Knee affair — in January, 1891, and 
a bill for reimbursing the state for this ex- 
penditure had passed the Senate of the United 
States and was pending in the House. A year 
after the vote of the Newberry freight rate 
bill he had queried members of the legislature 
to find out whether they would pass such a 
reasonable measure as he had recommended in 
his first message if he should call a special 
session of the legislature; but he found them 
still radical, from his point of view. The 
present board of transportation, he said, had 
the same right to fix and regulate rates of 
freight as the Iowa commission, but seldom if 
ever exercised it. If the board were directly 
responsible to the people there would be bet- 
ter results. He recommended a choice of 



presidential electors, except two at large, by 
the people. Michigan had adopted that plan 
and the Supreme Court of the United States 
had sustained it. According to the report of 
the relief commission, aid had been given in 
about ten counties and to approximately 8,000 
families, averaging five in number, and during 
four to six weeks. Already $30,000 of the 
$50,000 appropriated on account of the world's 
fair at Chicago had been expended — $16,- 
332.43 for the building — and he recommend- 
ed an appropriation of $50,000 more. 

By the act of Congress of March 2, 1891 
(Stat. 26, p. 822), all direct taxes levied by 
the United States under the act of August 15, 
1861 [Stat. 12, p. 294), were to be refunded. 
It appeared from this refunding act that only 
one tax had been levied, the aggregate for all 
the states and territories being $20,000,000, 
and Nebraska's quota thereof, $19,312. The 
usual allowance of $20,000 for the expenses 
of the legislative session of 1863 had been off- 
set against the tax and no session was held. 

Governor Crounse delivered his inaugural 
message January 13, 1893. He found the state 
enjoying a prosperity rarely equalled in its his- 
tory. Crops had been bountiful and prices in 
the main fairly satisfactory. There had been 
good crops in the former drouth stricken dis- 
tricts. Like his predecessor he made a strong 
appeal for economy in expenditures. Appro- 
priations for state institutions should be cut to 
the minimum. The other recommendation 
was for a firm but wise control of railroads. 
"Your authority to control these railroads is 
undisputed, and you will stop short of your 
duty if you fail ta do so, if occasion demands 
it." He remarked that nearly 70,000 votes 
had been cast for a ticket resting on a platform 
which declared that the roads were by unjust 
rates taking millions of dollars from the peo- 
ple annually. 

Another Newberry bill (H. R. 33), classify- 
ing freight and fixing maximum charges was 
passed at this session, and the board of trans- 
portation was authorized and directed to re- 
duce its rates on any class or commodity and 
to revise classification but not so as to increase 
rates. Railroad companies might bring suit 
in the supreme court to show that the rates 



630 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



were unjust and the court might order the 
board of transportation to pennit the roads to 
raise rates in amounts fixed by said board but 
not higher than those charged by any road on 
January 1, 1893. The bill passed the house, 
63 to 30, the nays all republican but three — 
Leidigh and Sinclair of Otoe, and Withnell of 
Douglas, democrats. All the members from 
Douglas and Lancaster voted no except Rick- 
etts of Douglas, who was absent. A phe- 
nomenally strong if not complete control of 
public sentiment by the railroads in the two 
large cities of the state seems to be indicated 
by this vote, which was typical up to this time. 
The bill passed the senate 18 to 14. The nays 
comprised three democrats — • Babcock of 
Douglas, Mattes of Otoe, North of Platte. 
The other eleven were republicans. The in- 
dependent members voted solidly in the af- 
firmative. Clarke of Douglas and Everett of 
Dodge, republicans ; and Hale of Madison, 
McCarty of Howard, and Thomsen of Dodge, 
democrats, voted aye. 

A bill (H. R. 138) was passed authorizing 
the supreme court to appoint three commis- 
sioners to assist the court under such rules as 
it should adopt. Their term of office was fixed 
at three years and no two of them should be 
members of the same political party. It was 
enacted that the professors of botany, geology, 
chemistry, and entomology, in the State Uni- 
versity, should be called state botanist, state 
geologist, etc. The sum of $35,000 was ap- 
propriated for the expense of a commissioner- 
general and employees for the World's Colum- 
bian Exposition with authority for the gov- 
ernor to appoint the comnpssioner-general at 
a salary of $2,000; combinations for fixing 
prices on commodities were prohibited ; the 
bringing of persons or associations into the 
state for police work was prohibited and every 
undersheriff or deputy was required to be a 
resident of the state. This much mooted law, 
directed against the Pinkerton system, which 
is still in force, passed the house by a vote of 
72 to 1, Van Duyn, republican, of Saline 
county, voting nay. It passed the senate 19 
to 12. 

There was an exciting contest over the sena- 
torial election, W illiam V^. Allen, independent. 



being chosen on the twenty-eighth day of the 
session and by the eighteenth joint ballot, re- 
ceiving 70 votes to 59 for Algernon S. Pad- 
dock. All of the 53 independents and all of 
the 18 democrats, except Farrell, who did not 
vote, supported Allen on the successful bal- 
lot. All of Paddock's supporters were repub- 
licans. Kyner of Douglas voted for Paul 
Vandervoort ; Ricketts of Douglas, for 
Crounse, and Clarke of Douglas did not vote. 
Allen received only one vote on the fourteenth 
ballot and one on the fifteenth. On the six- 
teenth he received 65 and the same number 
again on the seventeenth. Paddock had 32 
votes to begin with and for thirteen ballots his 
strength varied from 20, the lowest, to 33, the 
highest. His nearly full republican support 
on the last ballot was merely a compliment to 
incumbency, the die of defeat having already 
been cast by the opposition compromise on 
Allen. On the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, 
and seventeenth ballots John M. Thurston re- 
ceived 61 votes, within one of the total repub- 
lican strength and within three of victory. 
John H. Powers, candidate for governor on 
the independent ticket of 1890, received the 
full independent vote on most of the ballots up 
to the thirteenth, when for three ballots it was 
given to William L. Greene of Buffalo county. 
Powers had 1 additional vote on four ballots 
and Greene 3 — 56 in all — on one ballot. 
The highest votes received by other prominent 
candidates were, J. Sterling Morton, 6 ; James 
E. Boyd, 5 ; William J. Bryan, 8 ; Thomas J. 
Majors, 13. 

The disclosures of the impeachment pro- 
ceedings and kindred prosecutions showed 
that republicans would have chosen the wiser 
as well as the better part if they had volun- 
tarily undertaken their own neglected house 
cleaning instead of waiting for it to be forced 
upon them by their enemies. The Bee's in- 
surgency in the next state campaign was vir- 
tually an acknowledgment of this mistake. A 
resolution was passed to employ three lawyers, 
one of each political party, to be chosen by the 
members of the several parties in the house. 
The republicans selected Stephen B. Pound; 
the independents, William L. Greene ; the 
democrats, Eleazer Wakeley. Judge Wake- 



IMPEACHMENT OF STATE OFFICERS 



631 



ley declined to serve, and George W. Doane 
was appointed in his place. Barry, indepen- 
dent, of Greeley county ; Van Housen, demo- 
crat, Colfax ; Lockner, republican, Douglas, 
were appointed a committee on impeachments. 
A resolution for the impeachment of John C. 
Allen, secretary of state; Augustus R. Hum- 
phrey, commissioner of public lands and build- 
ings ; George H. Hastings, attorney -general, 
and John E. Hill, treasurer, passed the house 
unanimously. 

A resolution that articles of impeachment 
against the executive officers above named for 
misdemeanor in office be prepared and pre- 
sented to t!ie supreme court was passed by a 
vote of 127 to 4. Those voting nay were 
Cooley, republican, of Cass county ; Kyner, 
republican, Douglas; North, democrat, Platte; 
and Rhea, republican, Seward; the articles 
against Hastings were adopted by a vote of 
95 to 24 ; against Humphrey, 92 to 5 ; against 
Allen, 87 to 4 ; against Hill, 95 to 9. Barry, 
independent ; Colton, republican ; and Casper, 
democrat, were appointed a committee to em- 
ploy attorneys and prosecute the impeachment. 
The articles of impeachment against the four 
executive officers named, who constituted the 
board of public lands and buildings, were con- 
fined to charges of fraud which had been per- 
petrated at the state penitentiary and at the 
hospital for the insane at Lincoln. Article 
1st, against George H. Hastings, attorney-gen- 
eral, for example, recited that at the twenty- 
second session of the legislature $40,000 had 
been appropriated for the construction of a 
cell house at the penitentiarv'. The first speci- 
fication alleged that Charles W. Mosher con- 
trolled the labor and service of the convicts in 
the penitcntiar)^ under a contract with the 
state and during the year 1891 and until Feb- 
ruary 1, 1892, he ernployed William H. Dor- 
gan as his foreman and superintendent to take 
charge of said convicts ; that the board of pub- 
lic lands and buildings, well knowing that said 
Dorgan was the agent of Mosher, employed 
him as the agent and superintendent of the 
state to superintend on its behalf the construc- 
tion of said cell house ; that Dorgan in render- 
ing his accounts from time to time to the state 
board of public lands and buildings for the 



labor of said convicts charged the state with 
the sum of $1 a day for each convict whereas, 
in the contracts made by Dorgan in behalf of 
Mosher to individuals, firms, or corporations, 
he let the said convict labor at the rate of forty 
cents a day and that the board of public lands 
and buildings should have procured said labor 
for the construction of the cell house at the 
same rate of forty cents. Specification 2d 
charged that the board of public lands and 
buildings from time to time paid over to Dor- 
gan as the agent of the state large sums of 
money in advance of his procurement of ma- 
terial or expenditure of labor for which the 
money was to be paid. Specification 4th, 
charged Dorgan with having expended a part 
of said funds of the state for material which 
was not needed or used in the construction of 
the cell house. Specification 1st of article 3, 
charged that the board of public lands and 
buildings let the contract for a supply of coal 
required for the use of the hospital for the in- 
sane at Lincoln, for the quarter commencing 
April 1, 1890, to the firm of Betts, Weaver & 
Company; that said fimi furnished under the 
contract for the month of April, 1890, coal to 
the amount o.f 336,000 pounds and no more, 
but rendered an account for 438,000 pounds 
and that the board of public lands and build- 
ings approved the fraudulent account. Speci- 
fications 2d and 3d, made similar allegations 
of startling discrepancies between the amounts 
allowed to the same firm and the amounts 
actually furnished. Specification 4th, charged 
that in the month of July, 1890, the White- 
breast Coal Company of Lincoln actually fur- 
nished to the hospital for the insane 250,000 
pounds of coal and no more, but made an ac- 
count for 720,000 pounds, which the board al- 
lowed. 

There was a general investigation of the 
administration of the state institutions in re- 
sponse to charges of corruption and misman- 
agement. A committee of eight, four from 
the house and four from the senate, and com- 
prising members of all political parties, re- 
ported unanimously that the death of Powell, 
a convict at the penitentiary, ''was the direct 
and proximate result of cruel and inhuman 
punishment inflicted upon him." The com- 



632 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



mittee found from the evidence that "the pun- 
ishment in vogue in the Nebraska state peni- 
tentiary for many years has been inhuman, 
barbarous and cruel in many cases," and gave 
revolting details in illustration of this charge. 

A committee of seven members of the house, 
comprising three independents, two demo- 
crats, and two republicans, was appointed to 
investigate the administration of the peniten- 
tiary. The committee's unanimous report 
found gross corruption and mismanagement. 

A committee of the house, consisting of G. 
A. Felton and Austin Reiley, independents, 
and C. D. Casper, democrat, found a still 
worse state corruption, if possible, in the 
administration of the hospital for the insane 
at I^incoln. 

The committee of the house to whom the 
penitentiary contract between the state and 
William H. Dorgan and Charles W. Mosher 
was referred, requested the opinion of William 
Leese, attorney-general, as to its validity, and 
they were informed by that officer that the 
act of 1879, which undertook to extend the 
contract with W. H. B. Stout, and that of 
1887, to extend the contract to Mosher, assig- 
nee of Stout, were both invalid. Thereupon 
the committee reported unanimously that in its 
opinion the contract was null and void and 
recommended that the state take charge of the 
plant, prison, and grounds. The house 
adopted the report. A motion of Jensen of 
Fillmore county, that this action of the house 
be referred to the senate with the request that 
that body should concur was also adopted : 
but the senate appears to have smothered the 
report. The house committee appointed to 
investigate the management of the permanent 
school fund reported that "the state has lost 
large sums of money in the form of interest 
which would have accrued to the temporary 
school fund, the exact amount of which has 
not been computed by your committee." The 
committee recommended that action be brought 
against Hill, ex-state treasurer, to recover the 
money so lost. This report was signed by two 
of committee, the third member refusing to 
concur. 

Steven and Casper, of the committee "to 
investigate the charges of improper use of or 



offers of money to influence the votes of mem- 
fers of the legislature in the matter of the 
election of United States senators," reported 
that oft'ers of money were made to eight mem- 
bers for the alleged purpose of so influencing 
their votes, and in the opinion of the commit- 
tee the offers were made with corrupt intent. 
McKesson of Lancaster county made a mi- 
r.ority report in which he said that Krick and 
Soderman, members of the house, were guilty 
of soliciting corrupt offers of money for their 
votes ; that W. A. Dungan, sergeant-at-arms, 
was guilty of making false statements as to the 
corruption of members and 'ought to be re- 
moved from his office ; and that R. B. Thomp- 
■■^on, "who iniblushing tells of offers made by 
him, is deserving of the contempt of his fel- 
lowmen, and I only regret that suitable pun- 
ishment cannot be meted out to him." 

Goss of Douglas and Gerdes of Richardson, 
of the committee to investigate charges that 
money had been used in relation to insurance 
legislation, found that corrupt influence of 
members had been attempted, but unsuccess- 
fully. The committee appointed to investi- 
gate the bill presented by Shilling Brothers for 
merchandise furnished to the state of Ne- 
I;raska found that the firm had made a gross 
overcharge and recommended that the sum of 
$1,870.88 be allowed for the bill instead of 
$2,314.48, the amount claimed. The committee 
to investigate charges of the improper admin- 
istration of the institute for feeble-minded 
youth at Beatrice was able to make a report 
that was relatively unique, inasmuch as it gave 
Superintendent A. T. Armstrong of the insti- 
tute, a clean score for his management. 

Four of the accused men were indicted 
under the charge of corrupt dealing with the 
hospital for the insane. Nova Z. Snell had 
been elected county attorney of Lancaster 
county in 1890 on the democratic and inde- 
pendent ticket and the prosecutions were begun 
under his adiministration. In the meantime, 
at the beginning of 1893, he was succeeded by 
William H. Woodward ; but Governor Crounse 
appointed Mr. Snell and the law firm of Reese 
& Gilkeson — Judge M. B. Reese and J. R. 
( nlkeson — to assist in the prosecution of this 
class of cases. Gorham F. Betts was con- 



IMPEACHMENT OF STATE OFFICERS 



633 



victed and sentenced to two years in the peni- 
tentiary. He escaped, however, with a few 
months in the Lancaster county jail because the 
county attorney failed to make out in due time 
a bill of exceptions on the appeal of the case 
to the supreme court. The other per- 
sons indicted were tried and were acquitted, 
although the evidence against them was nearly 
the same as that upon which Betts was con- 
victed. The special attorneys for the state 
complained that the county attorney ham- 
pered them in the trial of these cases and that 
they were unable to procure proper jurymen. 
It happened that the Betts & Weaver business 
had been sold before Betts was tried, and their 
successors in the business furnished yard 
sheets which showed conclusively that car 
loads of coal which had been charged to the 
asylum and paid for were really run into the 
private yard of Betts & Weaver and sold as 
their private property. 

The impeachment case against John E. 
Hill, ex-treasurer, and Thomas H. Benton, ex- 
auditor, was dismissed on the ground that the 
defendants had retired from ofifice in January, 
1893, the power of impeachment conferred by 
the constitution upon the legislature extend- 
ing only to civil officers of the state and could 
not be exercised after such officers had become 
private persons. The case against Attorney- 
General Leese was dismissed on the same 
ground, and also upon the ground that the 
managers of the impeachment had, without 
constitutional authority, changed the articles 
which had been presented by the legislature. 
The case against George H. Hastings, attor- 
ney-general, John C. Allen, secretary of state, 
and Augustus R. Humphrey, commissioner of 
public lands and buildings, was also decided 
rather upon a technicality than upon the gen- 
eral facts. Two of the judges, Norval and 
Post, held that where an official act for which 
an officer is impeached results from a mere 
error of judgment or oni^ission of duty with- 
out the element of fraudj^it is not impeachable 
although it may be highly prejudicial to the 
interests of the state. Impeachment, the ma- 
jority of the court held, is essentially a crim- 



inal prosecution, hence the guilt of the accused 
must be established beyond a reasonable doubt. 
Justice Maxwell dissented from the decision 
of the majority, holding that the duties of the 
members of the board of public lands and 
buildings in passing upon the accounts in ques- 
tion were not judicial. He held that, the rule 
of the majority in this case would have pro- 
tected the notorious Boss Tweed from prose- 
cution. 

Judge Maxwell also observed that Dr. W. 
M. Knapp, superintendent of the asylum, tes- 
tified that he did not believe the amount of coal 
charged had been delivered, and yet he ap- 
proved vouchers for the full amount. 

Judge Post, while agreeing with Judge Nor- 
val in the theory which protected the defend- 
ants from prosecution, was unsparing in his 
denunciation of the transactions which were 
the subject of the impeachment. He said in 
reference to the coal bills at the asylum : "The 
overcharge for the first three months of the 
respondents' term of office which the legisla- 
ture failed to detect was 2,020,000 pounds, 
while for the remaining nine months, accord- 
ing to the specification, it is less than twice 
that amount. It is not contended that negli- 
gence of the legislature, however gross, would 
excuse the wilful disregard of duty by the re- 
spondents. . ." 

He said again : "It appears further that 
Dorgan, the superintendent, rendered a bill for 
their (convicts') labor at $1 per day during 
all of said time (when they were laid off.) He 
attempts to justify his action by reference to a 
custom to charge subcontractors for the labor 
of convicts from the time of their assignment 
unless sick or disabled. This explanation 
merely proves the wisdom of the scriptural 
saying that one cannot serve two masters. 
Dorgan was appointed to employ laborers 
by the day and to make time contracts for 
labor." 

George W. Doane of Omaha, Stephen B. 
Pound of Lincoln, William L. Greene of Kear- 
ney, and Genio M. Lambertson of Lincoln, 
were counsel for the state in the impeachment 
proceedings. 



CHAPTER XXXI 



The Populist Probation — Return of the Republican Prodigal ■ 

Populism — A Period of Party Rotation 



His Conversion to 



THE DEMOCRATIC convention for 1893 
was held at Lincoln October 4th. Euclid 
Martin, chairman of the state committee, 
named T. J. Mahoney for temporary chair- 
man, and he appointed Carroll S. Montgomery 
as temporary secretary. The temporary or- 
ganization was made permanent. Under the 
ver)'- vigorous management of Tobias Castor. 
Nebraska member of the national democratic 
committee, the convention was composed of a 
compact majority of Cleveland, or gold, demo- 
crats. But William J. Bryan, then possessing 
unbounded faith in his personal influence, 
made almost as spectacular a fight to gain con- 
trol as he made in the famous convention of 
1892. He began the struggle by moving that 
Joseph E. Ong of Fillmore county be substi- 
tuted for Mahoney as chairman, urging that 
Judge Ong represented principles directly an- 
tagonistic to those of Mahoney. The motion 
was lost by a vote of 390 to 106. Mr. Ma- 
honey's speech to the convention was in a 
conciliatory strain and expressed a personally 
friendly feeling toward Bryan. On a second 
test of strength, the motion by Bryan was de- 
feated, 335 to 146. A motion by Falloon of 
Richardson county, that Bryan be made a 
member of the resolutions committee, on be- 
half of free silver, was defeated by 373 to 
122. Constantine J. Smythe, Edward P. 
Smith, and C. V. Gallagher of Omaha, pro- 
tested against the solid unit vote of the 103 
delegates from Omaha, but without avail. 

Bryan closed the unequal controversy in a 
notably impassioned and defiant speech. "If 
I am right," he said, "and so help me God, I 
believe I am, it matters not whether you en- 
dorse me or not. If I am right, I am right, 
and time will tell if I am right. If you rep- 



resent the democratic party in saying you are 
for the gold standard of Wall street, I want 
to tell you that if the democratic party rati- 
fies your action, I will go out and serve my 
party and my God under some other name than 
as a democrat. The democratic party was 
founded by Thomas Jefferson as the party of 
the masses. For twenty years the demo- 
cratic party has denounced the demonetization 
of silver. If you want to get down on your 
knees and apologize for what you have said 
you will go without me." The clarion tone of 
the keynote "right" as it rang emphasized 
from Bryan's lips will never be forgotten by 
his hearers. Though Bryan's impassioned 
proclamation that the free silver dogma was 
right and the gold standard wrong and that 
time would prove it, was dramatically fine and 
effective, yet, considering that within a few 
years "the gold standard of Wall street" was 
adopted, not only in this country, but through- 
out the civilized world, it but illustrated the 
remark of Froude — extravagant, of course, 
as most epigram is — that "great orators have 
always been proved wrong." 

The republican state convention was held at 
Lincoln October 5th. It was called to order by 
Addison E. Cady, chairman of the state com- 
mittee, and George H. Thummel of Hall county 
was temporary and permanent chairman. On 
the first formal ballot Samuel Maxwell received 
the highest number of votes cast for candidates 
for judge of the supreme court — ^380 out of 
a total of 927. He ran no higher than this on 
subsequent ballots. T. O. C. Harrison of Hall 
county was nominated on the fourth formal 
ballot with 664 votes. Monroe L. Hayward, 
Joseph E. Cobbey, Elisha A. Calkins, Othman 
A, Abbott, I. E. Frick, and ?>lanoah B. Reese 



THE POPULIST PROBATION 



635 



developed some strength during the balloting. 
Benjamin S. Baker of Douglas county was 
chairman of the committee on resolutions, 
which denounced the democratic House of 
Representatives for repealing federal election 
laws; favored the coinage of both gold and 
silver as standard money, under such legisla- 
tion as would maintain parity of values; de- 
nounced the independent party for attempt- 
ing to array the West and South against the 
North and East; denounced Hoke Smith, sec- 
retary of the interior, for cutting of? pensions 
of disabled soldiers. 

The people's independent convention was 
held in Lincoln September 5th, and William A. 
Poynter of Boone county was temporary 
chairman, and •Walter F. Dale of Harlan, per- 
manent chairman. Silas A. Holcomb of Cus- 
ter was nominated for judge of the supreme 
court on the first formal ballot. John F. 
Ragan of Adams and J. E. Bush of Gage were 
his leading competitors. Samuel Maxwell re- 
ceived 19 votes on the informal ballot. E. L. 
Heath of Sherman county, and A. A. Mon- 
roe of Douglas, were nominated for regents 
of the State University. Professor W. A. 
Jones of Adams county was chairman of the 
committee on resolutions which reaffirmed the 
national platform adopted at Omaha, July 4, 
1892; called on Congress to pass a law "for 
the free coinage of silver with that of gold 
with a ratio of 16 to 1"; denounced republi- 
can and democratic leaders "who are attempt- 
ing to demonetize silver, thereby placing the 
business of the country on a gold basis" ; com- 
mended McKeighan and Kem, populist mem- 
bers of Congress, for opposing the repeal of 
the purchasing clause of the Sherman silver 
act; declared that railroad, telegraph, and 
telephone lines should be owned and controlled 
by the government ; denounced political or- 
ganizations, secret or open, based on religious 
prejudice ; alleged that while republicans 
claimed that the state was free from debt, 
there were warrants outstanding in the sum 
of $700,000 drawing interest at seven per 
cent; denounced state officers for approving 
the bond of Charles W. Mosher, president of 
the failed Capital National Bank, in such 



form that the state was swindled out of $236,- 
000; demanded the enforcement of the New- 
berry freight law and the prosecution of those 
under indictment for asylum and penitentiary 
steals. 

At the ensuing elections the candidates for 
the office of judge of the supreme court re- 
ceived votes as follows: T. O. C. Harrison, 
republican, 72,032 ; Silas A. Holcomb, people's 
independent, 65,666 ; Frank Irvine, gold demo- 
crat, 37,545 ; Ada M. Bittenbender, prohibi- 
tion, 6,357. The republican candidates for 
regents of the State University were, of 
course, elected. 

The republican convention for 1894 was 
held at Omaha August 22d; it was called to 
order by Bradner D. Slaughter, chairman of 
the state committee, who named Captain C. E. 
Adams of Nuckolls county for temporary 
chairman ; and the temporary organization was 
made permanent. On the informal ballot for 
a candidate for the governorship, Thomas J. 
Majors of Nemaha county received 493J/2 
votes and John H. MacColl of Dawson, 434i^. 
The sixty votes of Lancaster went to Majors 
and the 108 of Douglas to MacColl ; and in a 
general way the support of the respective can- 
didates was divided by the North Platte and 
South Platte line. Lorenzo Crounse of Wash- 
ington county received a complimentary vote 
of 32, and Addison E. Cady of Howard, 6. 
The first formal ballot stood, 552>4 for 
Majors and 401 J^ for MacColl. Both of the 
leading candidates represented the reactionary 
and so-called railroad element — Burlington 
and Union Pacific respectively ; and neither 
was available, because there was a real upris- 
ing in the party against the old order, which 
the wheel horses, with obtuse obstinacy, failed 
to recognize, playing bravado instead of level 
judgment. This reckless reactionism was 
manifested by the nomination of Majors 
against the well-known and old-standing hos- 
tility and opposition of the domineering, but 
also progressive antimonopoly editor of the 
Bee. Anticipating this theatrical gauntlet- 
throwing, Mr. Rosewater had prepared a 
bomb — a letter resigning his membership in 
the republican national committee — which he 



636 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



defiantly threw into the convention. The 
scathing arraignment contained in this letter 
was incessantly pressed by the relentless Bee 
and echoed by the opposition press throughout 
the campaign 

The long undisturbed exercise of power by 
men singly or in parties surely induces mental 
and moral obtuseness or atrophy. And so re- 
publican leaders could not read the plain les- 
son of the defeat of "Tom" Majors, but the 
next time blindly bucked the line with "Jack" 
MacColl — not perceiving that these gentle- 
men of the old school had had their day in Ne- 
braska. In each instance they put these staled 
players into the power of the repudiated Rose- 
water who, perforce, proceeded to put them 
out of the game. These were the last of the 
old line plunges but one — the disastrous suc- 
cess behind Dietrich in 1900. 

The people's independent convention was 
held at Grand Island August 24th. William 
L. Greene of Buffalo county, the most silvery 
tongued of all the populists of Nebraska, was 
temporary and permanent chairman. Silas 
A. Holcomb of Custer county was nominated 
for the office of governor on the first ballot, 
receiving 4375-^ votes to 2943--2 for James N. 
Gaffin of Saunders county. The resolutions 
endorsed the Omaha national platform ; they 
demanded the free and unlimited coinage of 
silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 ; municipal own- 
ership of public works; liberal pensions for 
soldiers and sailors ; national laws for the en- 
couragement of irrigation ; compulsory arbi- 
tration of labor disputes ; a new maximum 
freight rate law or enforcement of the existing 
law ; the immediate relief of sufferers from 
the drouth ; and they denounced as treason the 
repeal of the purchasing clause of the Sher- 
man silver ."ict. The convention was large and 
confident. The committee on credentials re- 
ported that 747 of the entire list of 751 dele- 
gates were actually present. 

The democratic convention for 1894 was 
held in C)maha September 26th and was called 
to order by Euclid Martin, chairman of the 
state committee, who named Matt Miller of 
Butler county for temporary chairman W. S. 
Shoemaker of Douglas county, moved to sub- 



stitute Edward P. vSmith of that county. Mil- 
ler, thereupon, said that he had been sent to 
the convention instructed for 16 to 1 free 
silver and Robert A. Batty of Adams county 
was in the same predicament. IMiller with- 
drew and Smith was elected chairman, unani- 
mously. Even the conservative Samuel W. 
Wolbach of Hall county yielded to the be- 
witching panacea and corrected a statement by 
William H. Thompson that he, Wolbach, 
was against 16 to 1. Thompson, who for a 
lime assumed a conservative attitude toward 
the money question, was now for Bryan's 
radical regime. Willis D. Oldham of Buf- 
falo was permanent chairman of the conven- 
tion. William J. Bryan was nominated unani- 
mously for United States senati)r, and a reso- 
lution for the free and unlimited coinage of 
silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting 
for the consent of any nation on earth, and 
declarations for a tarift' for revenue only, the 
election of United States senators by the peo- 
ple, and a constitutional convention to ratify 
the amendment, were adopted. Upon the 
nomination of Holcomb, about fifty delegates 
bolted from the convention, assembled in an- 
other hall and elected Dan W. Cooke of Gage 
county, chairman. Among the bolters were 
George P. Marvin, editor of the Democrat at 
Beatrice, George W. West of Polk county. 
Judge James C. Crawford of Cuming, De- 
forest P. Rolfe of Otoe, John A. McShane 
and Euclid Martin of Douglas, and John D. 
Carson of Fillmore. The bolters nominated 
John A. McShane for governor; John D. Car- 
son for Heutenant-governor ; Deforest P. Rolfe 
of Otoe, for secretary of state; Otto Bauman 
of Cuming, for auditor ; Luke Bridenthal of 
Gage, for treasurer ; John H. Ames of Lan- 
caster, for attorney-general ; Jacob Bigler of 
Chase, for commissioner of public lands and 
buildings; and Milton Doolittle of Holt, for 
superintendent of public instruction. Mc- 
Shane declined the nomination for governor 
and Phelps D. Sturdevant of Fillmore was 
substituted and Rodney E. Dunpliy of Seward 
was substituted for Carson. The platform en- 
dorsed the administration of President Cleve- 
land and approved the national platform of 



THE POPULIST PROBATION 



637 



1892, especially the money plank and Cleve- 
land's interpretation of it. 

There were two principal reasons why 
Bryan overcame the majority of the last year 
against him and came into full power. The 
convention of 1893 was composed largely of 
expectant aspirants to federal offices under the 
new democratic administration ; and while the 
few who in the meantime had been chosen re- 
mained loyal to their ostensible principles, the 
easy or natural tendency of the time to flock 
to the silver standard was stimulated, in the 
case of the many who were left, by disappoint- 
ment or revenge. The second powerful factor 
which worked to Bryan's advantage was the 
increasing hard times. Free silver was a siren 
note to sing to people in those pinching con- 
ditions, and, falling from his silvery tongue, 
was to the many irresistibly seductive. On 
the 28th of August, 1894, the World-Herald 
made the important announcement that from 
September 1st William J. Bryan would be its 
editor-in-chief. Mr. Gilbert M. Hitchcock 
made the statement that the general manage- 
ment of the paper would continue in his hands, 
but that "its editorial policy will be mapped 
out by Mr. Bryan from time to time along the 
line of his well known political convictions." 
This event insured the permanency of the fu- 
sion policy of the democratic party. 

The campaign was desperately fought on 
both sides. As we have seen in the foregoing 
pages, fusion of the democrats with insurgent 
republicans had often been attempted but with- 
out successful results. This year, however, 
for the first time, these diverse elements had a 
leader in William J. Bryan peculiarly adapted 
to getting and holding them together and es- 
pecially for making the most of the misdoings 
and misfortunes of the party in power. Per- 
sistent bad crops, for which it was not respon- 
sible, could be played against it more ef- 
fectually, even, than the persistent bad admin- 
istration for which it was responsible. The 
majority had been so long and so successfully 
taught that general economic prosperity, so 
natural and inevitable that the worst govern- 
ment seemed inconsequential, were due to the 
party which had continually been in power. 



that it was quite consistently held responsible 
for the pinching adversity. And then the re- 
publicans had been so long accustomed to 
political success under vicious corporation 
leadership and government that they were very 
slow to comprehend or care for the ominously 
increasing demands for reform. 

Majors, the republican candidate for gov- 
ernor, was emphatically a politician of the 
school which naturally arose and flourished 
after the Civil war — a blend of the "old sol- 
dier" and the railroad servant. His army rec- 
ord had been good in the South and on the 
Plains in the Indian war of 1864; he was a 
good neighbor, with a large local following; 
and throughout the state one of "the boys." 
But the Bee on the republican side and the 
democratic and populist press on the other side 
so aggressively exposed his now misfit virtues 
that his respectable opponent, whose merits 
were mainly negative, was victorious by a 
vote of 97,815 to 94,113 for his putatively 
popular antagonist. 

William J. Bryan made a campaign for a 
vote of preference for the office of United 
States senator; but John M. Thurston, his re- 
publican opponent, refused to enter the con- 
test in that manner. Brj'an received 80,472 
votes, Thurston 1,866, and C. E. Bentley, the 
prohibitionist candidate, 25,594. The oppo- 
sition candidates for seats in the lower house 
of Congress received heavy support, but only 
one of the six, Omer M. Kem of the sixth 
district, was elected. Though fusion had 
been successfully accomplished for the head 
of the state ticket, it failed in detail, as illus- 
trated by the disorderly factionism in the sec- 
ond, third, and fourth Congress districts, 
which insured, if it was not wholly responsible 
for republican success. 

The legislature promptly restored the sugar 
bounty which its predecessor had repealed. 
The revived act provided for a bounty of five- 
eighths of a cent a pound for sugar manufac- 
tured from beets, sorghmn, or other sugar 
yielding canes grown in Nebraska, on condi- 
tion that the product should contain ninety 
per cent crystallized sugar and that the manu- 
facturer should have paid as much as $5 a 



638 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ton to the producer for them. Three-eighths 
of a cent additional was yielded to factories 
established after the passage of the act. Re- 
publicans were more obtuse than the populists 
in thus persistently pressing this gratuity upon 
the despotic, insatiable, and faithless sugar 
trust — or else they were incorrigible. The 
attorney-general, state auditor, and state treas- 
urer were constituted a state banking board 
with power to appoint a secretary at $1,500 a 
year. The legislature appropriated $50,000 
for the relief of persons who were in want on 
account of dry weather and hot winds, the ex- 
isting commission of nine members to control 
the distribution of this fund. The sum of 
$200,000 was appropriated for supplying seed 
and food for teams during the spring of 1895. 
Another act authorized the county boards of 
the several counties to issue bonds for an 
amount not exceeding $50,000 for seed and 
food for teams. Still another authorized 
county boards to use surplus general funds 
and county bridge and road funds for the 
same purpose. Another act authorized the 
loaning of sinking funds and other surplus 
funds of counties and townships for supplying 
seed and food for teams, for which notes 
should be taken running not less than twelve 
months nor longer thfiji twenty-four, with 
annual interest at the rate of seven per cent, 
one per cent of which should go to the county 
treasurer for the expense of transacting the 
business. County commissioners were also 
authorized to use any surplus in any precinct 
bond fund for seed and feed for teams.. The 
sugar bounty bill was vetoed by Governor 
Holcomb and passed over the veto by a vote 
of sixty-eight to twenty-three in the house and 
twenty-five to five in the senate. Those vot- 
ing nay in the senate were Bauer, Campbell, 
Dale, Sprecher, Stewart, all populists ; but two 
populists voted aye. In the house five demo- 
crats and eighteen populists voted nay and 
none of either party aye. As might have been 
expected in the reactionary political condi- 
tions, there was no constructive or progressive 
legislation in this session. 

Encouraged by their success of 1895, but 
unwisely forgetting their reverses of the years 



before, the republicans nominated for the head 
of their ticket, John H. MacColl of Dawson 
county, widely reputed as a railroad man of 
the old school and substantially a replica of 
the Majors nomination of 1894. The popu- 
lists and regidar democrats renominated Gov- 
ernor Holcomb and the handful of gold demo- 
crats, with fatuous persistency, nominated 
Robert S. Bibb of Gage county. The Omaha 
Bee again opposed the republican candidate 
and threw its influence in favor of Holcomb, 
who was elected by a vote of 116,415 against 
94,723 for MacColl, 3,557 for Bibb, 5,060 for 
Joel Warner, prohibitionist, and 913 for Rich- 
ard A. Hawley, nationalist. In the congres- 
sional contests the fusonists came back over- 
whelmingly. There was formal fusion of 
democrats and independents in all the districts, 
and the republican candidates were successful 
in only two of them. In the first district 
Strode was reelected over Jefferson H. Broady 
by a slender margin of 17,356 to 17,113; and 
in the second district, Mercer also was re- 
elected, receiving 14,861 votes to 13,286 for 
Edward R. Duffie; in the third district Sam- 
uel Maxwell defeated Ross L. Hammond by 
23,487 to 18,633; in the fourth, William F. 
Stark defeated Eugene J. Hainer by 20,515 to 
18,844; in the fifth, Roderick D. Sutherland 
defeated William E. Andrews by 18,332 to 
15,621 ; in the sixth, William L. Greene de- 
feated Addison E. Cady by 19,378 to 14,841. 
On the average the all-round ability of the re- 
publican and fusionist candidates was nearly 
equal, but the republicans had the advantage 
of measurably greater stability. All the other 
fusion candidates of the state ticket were 
elected by majorities somewhat less than Gov- 
ernor Holcomb's lead. 

The seventeenth legislature met in the fifth- 
teenth regular session, January 5, 1897, and 
finally adjourned April 9th, the seventy- fourth 
day. The senate comprised seventeen inde- 
pendents, seven democrats, seven republicans 
and two silver republicans ; the house, forty- 
nine independents, twenty-eight republicans, 
twenty-one democrats and two silver republi- 
cans. Frank T. Ransom, silver republican, 
of Douglas county, was elected temporary 



THE POPULIST PROBATION 



639 



president of the senate and James N. Gaffin, 
independent, of Saunders county, was elected 
speaker of the house, receiving 68 votes against 
29 for George L. Rouse, republican, of Hall 
county. Frank D. Eager, independent, was 
elected chief clerk. There were scandalous 
charges of bribery at the Douglas county elec- 
tions, and, after an investigation, John JefT- 
coat, democrat, was seated in the senate in 
place of J. H. Evans, republican, by a vote of 
17 to 13. There were ineffectual attempts by 
this legislature to get hold of the key to the 
coming reform revolution by passing a law 
prohibiting the issue and use of free railroad 
passes. House roll 40, a sweeping prohibition ; 
house roll 336, which applied only to office- 
holders ; house roll 418, applying to delegates 
to political conventions, were all indefinitely 
postponed. A bill limiting passenger fare on 
railroads to two cents a mile (H. R. 419) met 
the same fate. The most notable measure of 
the session was an act providing for the regu- 
lation of stock yards and fixing the charges 
thereof. This tardy victory was proof and 
product of the improvement of this legislature 
over its predecessors, both as to mind and 
morals ; for theretofore all measures of this 
kind had been defeated by fair means or foul. 
But in the gauntlet of the court it was turned 
into a barren victory. Judge Smith McPher- 
son, of the southern district of Iowa, presid- 
ing in the circuit court of the United States 
for the district of Nebraska, decided that the 
act was invalid on account of its defective title. 
At the election of 1897, John J. Sullivan, 
fusionist, defeated Alfred M. Post, republi- 
can, both of Platte county, for judge of the 
supreme court by a vote of 102,828 to 89,009. 
Charles W. Kaley and John N. Dry den, re- 
publican candidates for the office of regent of 
the University, were defeated by E. Von Forell 
and George F. Kenower, fusionists. In 1898 
the republicans of Nebraska for the first time 
declared definitively in favor of the modern 
money standard : "We are in favor of the 
maintenance of the present gold standard and 
unalterably opposed to the free and unlimited 
coinage of silver." This declaration was time- 
ly, because it contributed toward reassuring 



and calming the skeptical and unsettled state 
of the public mind. Such an avowal, made 
two years, or one year, before, in the full of 
the perturbation, would have. had more moral 
merit, because it would have cost something — 
courage and perhaps temporary disadvantage. 
Only the new craft challenges the gale with 
full sail. The republican party had then so 
long fed on power that its only thought was to 
trim to conserve it. In this emergency, what- 
ever merit lay in merely being good ballast, it 
deserved. A few years later Attila Roosevelt, 
scourge of standpatism, perceived that the bal- 
last stage was counted as the Past, and led on 
again with sails. 

William H. Thompson, chairman of the 
resolutions committee of the democratic con- 
vention of the same year, fatuously declared 
that the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 
16 to 1 ought to be kept for the paramount 
issue of 1900. In the same convention, Con- 
stantine J. Smythe, attorney-general, said in a 
speech that Judge Charles L. Hall of the dis- 
trict court of Lancaster county, where Eugene 
Moore, state auditor, had been prosecuted on 
the charge of converting to his own use in- 
surance fees to the amount of $23,208.05, said 
he was guilty; that Judge Cornish of the same 
court, also said Moore was guilty ; and that 
Judge Sullivan of the supreme court, said he 
was guilty; but the other two judges, Norval 
and Harrison, said that he was not guilty and 
two were stronger than one. Moore agreed to 
certain facts before Judge Albert J. Cornish, 
of the district court of Lancaster county, who 
thereupon found him guilty and sentenced him 
to the state penitentiary for a term of eight 
years. On appeal, the judgment of Judge 
Cornish was reversed by the supreme court on 
the technical ground that Moore had not the 
legal authority to collect the insurance fees for 
the misappropriation of which he had been 
convicted. The court held that the insurance 
companies, by mistake, paid the fees to the 
auditor when they should have been paid to 
the treasurer. This was not the first case in 
which official embezzlers had escaped justice 
through sheer technicality of the supreme 
court. Such lapses of justice are now boldly 



640 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



characterized by the press and the pubHc in 
general. Judge SiiIHvan, in his dissenting 
opinion, cited a case tried before Judge David 
J. Brewer — afterwards a judge of the United 
States Supreme Court • — in which he shattered 
a similar defence by apparently common sense 
logic. "But we hold that when one assumes 
to act as agent for another, he may not, when 
challenged for those acts, deny his agency; 
that he is estopped, not merely as against his 
assumed principal, but also as against the 
state ; that one who is agent enough to receive 
money is agent enough to be punished for em- 
bezzling it." The state also brought a civil 
suit in the district court of Lancaster county 
to recover those fees from Moore. The case 
was tried before Judge Charles L. Hall and 
judgment was rendered against Moore, but the 
supreme court reversed it on the same ground 
as that on which it had reversed the criminal 
case. 

In 1898 William A. Poynter, fusionist, was 
elected governor over Monroe L. Hayward, 
republican, by a vote of 95,703 to 92,982, and 
the rest of the fitsion candidates for state of- 
fices were elected by majorities about the same 
as Poynter's majority. Republicans carried 
the first and second congressional districts 
and the fusionists the other four. 

The republicans came back into power in the 
legislature of 1899, having twenty-one mem- 
bers of the senate against twelve fusionists, 
and fift)'-two members of the house against 
forty-eight fusionists ; two of them, however, 
were unseated during the session. Adolph R. 
Talbot of Lancaster county was temporary 
president of the senate and Paul H. Clark of 
Lancaster, speaker of the house. Hayward 
was rewarded for his sacrifice in the campaign 
of 1898 by election for United States senator, 
but died before taking his seat. The choice of 
Hayward was simply a republican recourse to 
respectability in lieu of, or as a sop to reform, 
which the party was not yet prepared directly 
to endorse. Hayward had been a competent 
and thrifty business lawyer with a dignified 
leaning toward politics, but lacking real equip- 
ment for statesmanship and the instinct and 
the impulse for reform which are now essen- 



tia! to the acceptable statesman. While he was 
not notoriously and essentially a railroad at- 
torney, like Thurston, for example, yet he was 
regarded as the local attorney, with the impli- 
cation of next friend, of the Burlington com- 
pany. Indeed, it would have been difficult to 
find, at that time, a virile politician who was 
not a railroad politician. Hayward had never 
evinced sympathy with reform aspirations. He 
was, therefore, as much out of joint with the 
times as Dietrich and Millard. 

Governor Holcomb, in his farewell message, 
said that Nebraska had furnished for the war 
with Spain three regiments of infantry of max- 
imum strength — 1 ,326 men — and one troop 
of cavalry. He drew rather a lugubrious pic- 
ture of the western part of the state on ac- 
count of the successive years of drouth. His 
financial statement showed that at the begin- 
ning of 1894 there were funding bonds out- 
standing to the amount of $449,267.35 ; grass- 
hopper relief bonds, $100,000; general fund 
warrants, $577,825.75. At the close of 1896 
there was $468,267.35 in bonds: $1,936,273.47 
in warrants, a total of $2,404,540.82. In No- 
vember, 1898, there was $153,267.35 in bonds 
and $1,571,684.01 in warrants, a total of $2,- 
724,951.36. This condition showed shameful 
mismanagement and violation of the constitu- 
tion. 

The legislature of 1899 amended the non- 
compulsory primary election law ; passed the 
first corrupt practices act ; created a food com- 
mission under the fiction imposed by the in- 
adequate constitution constituting the gov- 
ernor the commissioner but authorizing him to 
appoint a deputy to do the work at a salary of 
$1,500 a year; established a soldiers' and sail- 
ors' home at Milford and appropriated $2,000 
for the relief of sick and wounded soldiers of 
the First regiment, Nebraska infantry, in the 
Philippine Islands, and a like sum for the 
Third regiment then in Cuba. 

In a fierce struggle for control of the dele- 
gation from Lancaster county to the republican 
state convention of 1900 David E. Thompson 
successfully opposed most of th( leaders of the 
party in Lincoln, including Charit IT. Gere, 
editor of the State Journal. .Mien W. Field, 



RETURN (JF THE REPUBLICAN PRODIGAL 



641 



Frank M. Hall, Genio M. Lambertson, Robert 
E. Moore, and Charles O. Whedon. The 
county convention passed a resolution favor- 
ing Thompson as a candidate for United States 
senator. The sudden and forceful advent of 
Mr. Thompson into politics and his starting 
of the Lincoln Daily Star — in 1902 — had 
the salutary effect of driving the Journal from 
its nearly lifelong standpatism into measure- 
able progression ; a very timely change for the 
Journal, withal, inasmuch as it was borne to 
greater prosperity on the incoming tide of re- 
publican insurgency while the Star was left on 
the flats of receded standpatism. 

At the presidential election of 1900, electors 
for William McKinley, republican, carried the 
state against those for William J. Bryan, 
democrat, by a majority of about 8,000. The 
prohibition candidates received about 3,600 
votes; the middle-road populists, about 1,100, 
and the socialists about 800. Governor Poyn- 
ter was defeated as a candidate to succeed him- 
self by Charles H. Dietrich of Adams county, 
by a vote of 113,018, to 113,879; John S. 
Robinson of the third congressional district, 
William L. Stark of the fourth, Ashton C. 
Shallenberger of the fifth, and William Neville 
of the sixth, all fusionists, were elected mem- 
bers of the federal House of Representatives ; 
Elmer J. Burkett and David H. Mercer, re- 
publicans, were elected in the first and second 
districts. 

In the senate of the legislature of 1901 there 
were nineteen republicans, twelve fusionists, 
and two democrats ; in the house of represen- 
tatives, fifty-three republicans, thirty-four 
fusionists, ten democrats and three populists. 
The acts of this session were prolific of boards 
and commissions. The exciting episode or 
more accurately, the principal business of the 
session, was the election of Governor Charles 
H. Dietrich, and Joseph H. Millard of Omaha 
for United States senators. The contest con- 
tinued from January 15th to March 28th, in- 
clusive, the election occurring on the fifty- 
fourth ballot, the successful candidates re- 
ceiving all of the seventy republican votes. 
David E. Thompson of Lancaster county, 
afterwarcfambassador from the United States 



to Mexico, was apparently the most formid- 
able candidate through the greater part of the 
contest. March 20th, his vote rose from a 
range of about 36 to 56, after an alleged cau- 
cus. He reached his highest vote, 59 — six 
short of success — • March 22d and March 
26th, and withdrew March 2Sth. Though un- 
able to gain the prize himself, he had strength 
enough to dictate the election of the two suc- 
cessful candidates. William V. Allen, incum- 
bent, started in with 57 votes, as a candidate to 
fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator 
Hayward ; and W. H. Thompson, candidate 
for the full term, received 58 votes. On the 
second ballot, Gilbert M. Hitchcock had 57 
votes, Allen 57. Allen received a high vote 
all through the contest but his highest was the 
same as Thompson's -^59 — lacking six of 
election. On the last ballot Allen had 58 
votes. W. H. Thompson, 52, Hitchcock, 8. 
Edward Rosewater received from 14 to 16 
votes most of the time ; and from the forty- 
seventh to the fifty-third ballots from 29 to 32, 
the last being his highest number. Dietrich 
was chosen for Hayward's unexpired term. 

It was strenuously alleged that David E. 
Thompson at a critical time during the contest 
made a bargain with the fusionists for enough 
votes to secure his election. The alleged for- 
mal agreement to that end was published in the 
newspapers, and many affidavits and less for- 
mal assertions were made by members of the 
legislature that they knew that the signature 
of Mr. Thompson to the compact was genuine. 
While this alleged agreement did violence to 
the code of party fealty then in vogue, yet such 
of the concessions as were not innocuous and 
therefore inconsequential were creditably pro- 
gressive. The two new senators were entirely 
antipathetic to the reform spirit which had at 
last filtered through the bourbonism which had 
encrusted the state since its beginning. 

During the year 1901 both of the old parties 
began to comprehend that the demand for re- 
form legislation and especially for the aboli- 
tion of railroad passes was in earnest if not 
in a revolutionarv temper. In the democratic 
convention of that year the resolutions com- 
mittee refused to report a declaration against 



642 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



the use of railroad passes by officeholders, of- 
ferred by Edgar Howard of Platte county, but 
when he included newspaper passes the bob- 
tail concession to reform was accepted. 

The republicans dodged this issue but right- 
eously faced another more pressing. Joseph 
S. Hartley, state treasurer, 1893-1897, embez- 
zled $555,790.66 of the state funds, for which 
he was sentenced to twenty years in the peni- 
tentiary and a fine of $303,768.90. Ezra P. 
Savage, lieutenant-governor, having succeeded 
Governor Dietrich when he became United 
States senator, paroled Hartley for sixty days. 
The republican state convention, August 28, 
1901, by a vote of 998 to 165, demanded the 
recall of the parole which would have expired 
September 13th. Savage contended in the con- 
vention that Bartley, if let alone, would restore 
the amount for whose loss he was responsible, 
estimated at $325,000 ; and Charles O. Whedon 
pleaded, in palliation, that when Bartley went 
out of office he left to his successor $1,042,000 
and added large sums afterward, some on the 
day of his arrest. The convention hissed the 
delegates from Lancaster county when they 
voted against the resolution. Edward Rose- 
water and Addison E. Cady spoke strongly for 
it. Nevertheless, on the 21st of the following 
December, Savage commuted Hartley's sen- 
tence to five years, seven months, and eight 
days, thereby stirring up hot public indigna- 
tion. There was and remains strong suspicion 
that over thirty thousand dollars was spent to 
procure this pardon. It is circumstantially 
related that Governor Poynter was corruptly 
approached for the same purpose. Governor 
Mickey declared in his annual message of 1907 
that, "the people were robbed of this immense 
sum which had been exacted from them, to run 
the government, in limes of financial distress." 
The liability of Hartley's bondsmen and others 
involved in his transactions was safely lost in 
the mazes of the court. 

The easy sailing for the rejniblicans contin- 
ued in 1904. Governor Mickey was reelected 
governor, receiving 111,711 votes to 102,568 
cast for George W. Berge, fusionist. The re- 
publican convention this year made an initia- 
tive step toward the voluntary submission of 



the choice of United States senators to the 
people, which was formally adopted by the 
so-called Oregon pledge law enacted by the 
legislature of 1909. Mr. Hurkett's election 
was unanimously recommended by the conven- 
tion of the year in question. This was the 
high tide year of republicanism. The opposi- 
tion could not claim a single member of the 
senate elected that year, and in the house there 
were ninety-one rejuiblican members to nine 
fusionists. Of the forlorn band of fusionists 
two came from Richardson county, one from 
Platte, two from Butler, one from Polk, one 
from Holt, one from Custer and Logan. W. 
H. Jennings of Thayer was temporary presi- 
dent of the senate and George L. Rouse of 
Hall, speaker of the house. Theretofore con- 
servative if not reactionist, the old party was 
fast catching the revolutionary reform spirit 
from President Roosevelt ; and for the first 
time, in Nebraska, it set about resolutely to 
pass vital reform legislation, or to try to do 
so ; but efTective regeneration could not be as- 
similated at a single sitting, and so the real 
work was postponed to the following session 
of 1907. In their convention — September 
14, 1905 — republicans declared in favor of 
primary elections for all public offices and that, 
"We believe that the giving of free transporta- 
tion upon railways is detrimental to the inter- 
ests of the people and recommend that a law 
be enacted by the legislature of this state to 
prohibit it." George L. Sheldon's positive 
stand for those reform measures brought him 
the governorship the next year. The demo- 
crats, at their convention, September 20th, also 
first definitively committed themselves to the 
vital reform measures. They declared in favor 
of a general primary election system, of the 
initiative and referendum, and demanded that 
members of the legislature and judges must 
give up all railroad passes. Judge \Villiam G. 
Hastings, whom the convention nominated for 
judge of the supreme court, introduced a reso- 
lution demanding the passing of a law making 
it a criminal oifense to give or accept free 
transportation e.xcept in case of bona fide em- 
ployees and genuine cases of charity, and it 
passed with one negative vote — that of Glo- 



CONVERSION TO POPULISM 



643 



ver of Hamilton county, who thought the in- 
hibition an infringement on individual rights. 
This declaration — Mr. Bryan's contribution 
— was passed without dissent : "We denounce 
the acceptance of the Rockefeller gift by the 
regents of the university, and demand the with- 
drawal and the return to Mr. Rockefeller of 
any money that may have been received from 
him." But public opinion remained too sor- 
did to appreciate or appraise the moral value 
of this sentiment. The money — $66,000 — 
was accepted and the building stands as a 
moiuiment to the still lurking Machiavellianism 
of public moral sentiment, namely, that the 
end justifies the means. Perhaps the Univer- 
sity, in its great need for better housing, has 
been a material gainer by accepting this gift 
from funds which the people, owners and 
sponsors of the institution, hotly declared had 
been taken from them by the most piratical 
and unlawful methods. The least that can be 
said about this bewildering puzzle in ethics is 
that thousands of the staunchest friends and 
enforced supporters of the University have 
been stung to the quick by this, as it seems to 
them, venal lapse from common moral prin- 
ciple and will go on believing that the Univer- 
sity is a loser by such methods in both the ma- 
terial and spiritual aspect. 

There were only fifty delegates from twenty- 
three counties in the populist convention this 
)'ear, and the democrats conceded them only 
one candidate — for regent — • upon the state 
ticket. Charles B. Letton, republican, was 
elected judge of the supreme court over his 
fusion competitor, William G. Hastings, by a 
vote of 96,167 to 72,949, and the two repub- 
lican candidates for regent of the University 
were elected by approximately the same ma- 
jority. 

The contrast between what was said and 
what was not said by the republican conven- 
tion of 1904 and its declarations of thr; next 
year are comical if taken seriously at all. In 
1904 the vital state questions were not refer- 
red to, while the convention sorrowed over the 
loss of "another gifted and beloved leader. 
Senator Marcus A. Hanna" ; and it recom- 
mended John L. Webster, who continues to 



pride himself on his arch-standpatism, as a 
candidate for vice president. A florid puft 
for the insurgent President Roosevelt added 
variety to the peculiar mixture. The culmi- 
nation and positive expression of anti-pass sen- 
timent in 1905 precipitated an epidemic of re- 
form hysteria among the politicians. The 
more susceptible of the state officials vied with 
one another, not only in giving up the until now 
cherished tokens of railroad favor but in doing 
it in the most ostentatious manner. Those of 
us who had witnessed the periodical religious 
revivals in our earlier country settlements were 
struck with the similarity of the emotional 
manifestation. In the height of the excitement 
in those revival meetings, women would not 
infrequently tear brooches from their breasts 
and rings from their ears and disdainfully 
throw them upon the floor — usually, however, 
to be restored on the restoration of nonnal 
temper. But the sacrifices of the religious 
neophytes were at least sincere. 

The new awakening naturally culminated — 
at a convention held in Lincoln, August 22, 
1906 — in the nomination by the republicans 
of George L. Sheldon of Cass county, for 
governor on the second ballot, the several 
standpat aspirants receiving but slender sup- 
port. The declarations of the platform were 
consistent with the well known views of the 
candidate and were direct and unequivocal. 
They censured the Burlington & Missouri and 
Union Pacific railroads for having refused to 
accept the valuation of their property by the 
state board of equalization ; demanded that 
the next legislature should enact a direct pri- 
mary law for the nomination of all state, 
county, and district officers, including United 
States senators and members of the lower 
house of the federal Congress, favoring in the 
meantime the nomination of United States sen- 
ators by state conventions : demanded an 
amendment of the federal constitution pro- 
viding for the popular election of United 
States senators; demanded the passage of a 
stringent anti-pass law by the next legislature ; 
favored and approved the proposed amend- 
ment for an elective railroad commission and 
declared that if it should not be adopted at the 



644 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



election the legislature must pass laws to give 
the state the same advantages as Congress had 
already given the nation under the "railroad 
rate bill" ; declared in favor of the taxation of 
railroad property within cities and villages the 
same as other property for municipal purposes ; 
and favored the passage of an equitable com- 
pensation act for employees of corporations. 
The convention praised the fight by state of- 
ficers against conspiring trusts — the net re- 
sult of which was to promote Attorney-Gen- 
eral Norris Brown to a United States senator- 
ship. 

The dramatic feature of this convention was 
the appearance and defeat of Edward Rose- 
water for the United States senatorshij) to 
which he had long aspired. On the first bal- 
lot the vote was 401 for Norris Brown of Buf- 
falo : 273^/2 for Rosewater. The remaining 
1535-j were divided among four other candi- 
dates, 463/4 going to Joseph H. Millard, the 
outgoing senator. Rrown was nominated on 
the si.xth ballot with 433 votes against 291 J/ 
for Rosewater. Air. Rosewater's highest vote 
was 3063;<^ — on the fifth ballot. The whilom 
doughty editor's speech at the close of the con- 
test impressed the listeners as a premonitory 
farewell. He died suddenly in the Bcc build- 
ing August 30th, but a week and a day after 
the curtain had been drawn in the convention 
over his political aspirations. Air. Rosewater 
may fairly be called the Joseph Pulitzer of Ne- 
braska journalism, though the New Yorker 
was distinguished by genius in his profession 
where the Nebraskan was limited to great tal- 
ent. They were alike in the characteristics of 
independence, progressiveness, and relentless 
pursuit of their journalistic quarry, to slight 
extent respecters of persons. While the Bee 
did very effective constructive work in the 
building of Nebraska, its most important field 
of influence, perhaps, was unhorsing political 
grafters and exposing administrative corrup- 
tion and other abuses. To have established a 
dominant newspaper, such as the Bee, upon 
original and persistent insurgency, anticipated 
full thirty years, was a great achievement. 

The democratic convention nominated Ash- 
ton C. Shallenberger of Harlan countv for 



governor upon the first ballot, George W. 
Berge of Lancaster county being his principal 
competitor. The resolutions adopted by the 
convention promised that if the democrats 
should get into power they would enact a 
stringent anti-pass law ; taunted republicans 
upon their neglect to enforce the law of 1897 
which in effect prohibited the issue of railroad 
passes to officeholders and delegates to con- 
ventions ; denounced the last republican legis- 
lature for defeating the anti-pass law ; and de- 
clared themselves in favor of enacting a maxi- 
mum two-cent passenger bill. 

The discriminating public, however, was in- 
clined to look backwards a few years to the 
neglect of the fusionists themselves, when 
they were in power, to keep their positive and 
implied pledges for reform. Now that the 
republicans had manifested complete conver- 
sion to a progressive program, they reaped the 
advantage of their normal majority in the 
state. Sheldon, for governor, received 97,- 
858 votes to 84,885 cast for Ashton C. Shallen- 
berger, democrat, who was the nominee of the 
people's independent party as well as of his 
own. Harry T. Sutton, prohibitionist, re- 
ceived 5.106 votes, and Elisha Taylor, socialist, 
2,999. The preferential vote for candidates 
for the United States senatorship was taken in 
earnest this year, Norris Brown, republican, 
receiving 98,374 votes to 83,851 for William 
H. Thompson, his democratic opponent. The 
republican candidates for member of Congress 
were successful in five of the six districts ; Gil- 
bert M. Hitchcock of the second district being 
the only successful fusion aspirant. Ernest 
AI. Pollard was elected in the first district, J. 
F. Boyd in the third, Edmund H. Hinshaw in 
the fourth, George W. Norris in the fifth, and 
Aloses P. Kinkaid in the sixth. The proposed 
amendment providing for an elective railway 
commission was carried by the overwhelming 
vote of 147,472 to 8,896, and three republi- 
can railroad commissioners were chosen at the 
same election. 

The republican candidates for membership 
of the legislature were also overwhelmingly 
successful. The senate contained twenty- 
eight republicans, three people's independent 



PARTY ROTATION 



645 



and two democrats ; the house, sixty-nine re- 
publicans, twenty-six people's independent and 
five democrats. The legislature kept the plat- 
form pledges of the party with remarkable 
fidelity. Among the progressive laws which 
it enacted are a railroad employers' liability 
act ; a general primary election law ; an act 
revising the pure food law ; an anti-lobbying 
law : a sweeping anti-pass law ; a law fixing 
two cents as the maximum rate for passenger 
travel ; a law providing for the issue of rail- 
road mileage books and a terminal railroad 
taxation law. This unique body in its reform 
enthusiasm kept the pledge of the democrats 
also in the passage of the most radical, if not 
the most important measure of the session, the 
two-cent rate bill. 

The liquor question, which had been almost 
dormant, politically, for many years, was 
probably precipitated by an act prohibiting 
brewers from holding any interest in saloons. 
It passed the senate by a vote of 25 to 4 and 
the house by 67 to 21. The two-cent passen- 
ger rate bill passed the house without opposi- 
tion, receiving 90 affirmative votes, and the 
senate by 27 to 4. Burns of Lancaster countV; 
Glover of Custer, Gould of Greeley, and 
Hanna of Cherry, all republicans, were the 
four opponents of this measure. A bill was 
also passed making a flat reduction of fifteen, 
per cent in freight rates. Both the passenger 
and freight enactments are still in force al- 
though their validity is being tested in the 
courts. 

The first general primary election in the 
state was held September 3, 1907. At this 
election Manoah B. Reese, republican, of Lan- 
caster county, was nominated for judge of the 
supreme court, receiving 30,111 votes against 
22,757 cast for his competitor, Samuel H. 
Sedgwick of York county. George L. Loomis 
of Dodge county received the democratic and 
people's independent nomination for the judge- 
ship. The republicans elected their ticket, 
which included, also, a railroad commissioner 
and two regents of the University. Judge 
Reese received 102,387 votes ; Judge Loomis, 
77,981. Under the new primary act state con- 
ventions of the several parties were author- 



ized to be held in Lincoln, on the fourth Tues- 
day of September of each year, for the pur- 
pose of adopting platforms and for conducting 
the business of the party organizations. These 
conventions were first held Septetnber 24. 
1907. The democratic convention of 1908 for 
choosing delegates to the national convention 
instructed the delegates to vote for the nomi- 
nation of William J. Bryan for president ; and 
the people's independent convention was a 
side-show in this respect. The republican con- 
vention was friendly to the nomination of Taft 
but the delegates were not instructed. At the 
election of 1908 there was a friendly feeling 
toward the candidacy of Mr. Bryan and he 
carried the state, receiving a very complimen- 
tary majority. The maximum vote for demo- 
cratic electors was 131,099; for republican 
electors, 126,997. The highest vote for a pro- 
hilaition candidate was 5,179; for a socialist 
candidate, 3,524. 

Three influences contributed to the election 
of Shallenberger over Sheldon and by a larger 
majority than that received by I\Ir. Bryan 
The state ticket was the beneficiary of the 
friendliness toward the home candidate for the 
presidency ; Governor Shallenberger was an 
exceedingly virile and taking campaigner, 
greatly excelling his competitor in this re- 
spect ; and the liquor interests apparently fa- 
vored somewhat the democratic state ticket. 
Shallenberger received 132,960 votes against 
125,976 for Sheldon; and W. H. Cowgill. 
democrat, was elected railroad commissioner 
over J. A. Williams, the republican incumbent ; 
John A. JMaguire, democratic candidate for 
member of Congress in the first district, de- 
feated Ernest M. Pollard, the republican in- 
cumbent : Gilbert M. Hitchcock, democrat, was 
reelected in the second district ; James F. 
Latta, democrat, was elected in the third dis- 
trict. The republican candidates were suc- 
cessful in the other three districts, though in 
the fourth district, C. F. Gilbert, democrat, w^as 
defeated by Hinshaw, the republican incum- 
bent, by the narrow margin of 21,819 to 22,674 
and F. W. Ashton was defeated by George W. 
Norris in the fifth district by the still narrower 
margin of 20,627 to 20.649. The two amend- 



646 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ments to the constitution increasing the num- 
ber of judges of the supreme court from three 
to seven and their salaries from $2,500 to 
$4,500 ; and enlarging the field for the invest- 
ment of state educational funds so as to include 
registered school district bonds of this state 
and "such other securities as the legislature 
may from time to time direct," were both 
adopted — the first by 214,218 to 16,271; the 
second by 213,000 to 14,395. The 'democrats 
also controlled the legislature : having nineteen 
members of the senate against thirteen repub- 
licans and one people's independent, and sixty- 
five members of the house against thirty-one 
republicans, two people's independents, and 
two fusionists. Though the republicans appar- 
ently left the democrats nothing to conquer in 
the world of reform they discovered and ap- 
propriated several important measures. The 
twenty-third legislature met in the thirty-first 
session, the twenty-first regular session, Janu- 
ary 5, 1909, and finally adjourned April 1st of 
that year — the sixty-fifth day. George W. 
Tibbets, democrat, of Adams county, was 
elected temporary president of the senate, and 
Charles W. Pool, democrat, of Johnson county, 
speaker of the house. 

The most notable enactment of the session 
was that requiring all saloons in the state to be 
closed from eight o'clock in the evening un- 
til seven in the morning. This was the first 
amendment of great importance to the Slocumb 
license law, which had been in force ever since 
1881 ; and it broke like a thunderbolt upon the 
saloon interests. It grew out of a compara- 
tively unimportant and innocent bill (S. F. 
283), introduced by Senator Wiltse, republi- 
can, which merely required the closing of sa- 
loons on primary election days. 

Other notable enactments of the session were 
a bank guaranty law, patterned after that 
which had become notorious in Oklahoma ; a 
corporation occupation tax ; an amendment of 
the closed primary law permitting voters to re- 
ceive and cast ballots at the primary elections 
without requiring from them any declaration 
as to their party affiliations, past, present, or 
future, commonly known as the open primary ; 
a fire commission, a suiiplement to fire insur- 



ance ; a law providing that judicial and edu- 
cational officers should be elected without any 
partisan distinction. Unfortunately the su- 
preme court found it necessary to annul this 
very desirable measure because of a technical 
defect in its form. As has already been 
shown, the people had found the way to vir- 
tually choose United States senators by their 
own popular vote, but this legislature put the 
new departure into better form by passing what 
is known as the Oregon pledge law, which per- 
mits candidates at the primaries for member- 
ship in the legislature to pledge the public that 
in case they shall be elected they will vote for 
that candidate for the United States senator- 
ship who receives the highest vote for that of- 
fice at the general election next preceding the 
election by the legislature. 

In the campaign of 1910 all normal calcu- 
lations were upset by the injection of the pro- 
hibition question and the invasion of the demo- 
cratic ticket by large numbers of republicans 
through the opportunity ofl^ered by the open 
primary law which had been passed at the late 
session of the legislature. While Governor 
Shallenberger had incurred the bitter hostility 
of the extreme liquor interests by signing the 
eight o'clock closing law and, naturally, in the 
circumstances, had not recouped from the 
strong partisans of prohibition or county op- 
tion, yet his administration had been so virile 
and his personality in general so taking, that 
his renomination and reelection were gen- 
erally conceded by politicians. But the ag- 
gressive pro-saloon republicans, to the num- 
ber of about 15,000, voted for James C. Dahl- 
man, the democratic mayor of Omaha, and he 
was nominated over Shallenberger by the nar- 
row margin of 27,591 to 27,287. If the gov- 
ernor had stood firmly on his well-known op- 
position to county ojition, be would have been 
renominated. His announcement to the 
democratic convention that he would sign a 
county option bill, if one should be passed, 
was bad politics as well as bad statesmanship. 
Chester H. Aldrich, a radical partisan of 
county option, was nominated by the republi- 
cans. At the same primary Elmer J. Burkett 
was nominated by the republicans to succeed 



PARTY ROTATION 



647 



himself as United States senator, and Gilbert 
M. Hitchcock of Douglas county, was nom- 
inated by the democrats. 

The conventions of the democratic and re- 
publican parties for 1910, held according to 
the primary election law on the 26th of July, 
were unusually exciting, the temporary per- 
turbation of the democrats amounting to tur- 
bulence. Their convention was held at Grand 
Island, and W. J. Bryan started the trouble 
by an aggressive advocacy of a county option 
plank as follows : "We favor county option 
as the best method of dealing with the liquor 
question." The extreme or Dahlman element 
ofifered the following plank : "We favor lo- 
cal option as now provided by law but are op- 
posed to county option." The Bryan plank 
was rejected by the overwhelming vote of 
647 to 198 and the Dahlman plank by 638 to 
202. The plank proposed by the majority of 
the resolutions committee was adopted without 
division : "We oppose county option and 
making any other plan of dealing with the 
liquor traffic a question of party creed. We 
favor strict enforcement of the present law, 
and any change therein should be made only 
by direct vote. W^e do not believe that good 
government and good morals are best sub- 
served by dividing the people into hostile 
camps on strictly moral questions." This was 
a palpable evasion of a question upon which 
the public mind had sharply divided, and it 
was verbose at that. A plank endorsing the 
eight o'clock closing law was adopted by a 
vote of 710 to 163. Bryan invited another 
defeat by seeking to amend a motion by Gil- 
bert M. Hitchcock providing that amendments 
to the platform should only be considered 
through the media of majority or minority 
reports. The proposed amendment was de- 
feated by 465 to 394. This was the first de- 
feat that Mr. Bryan had suffered in a demo- 
cratic convention in Nebraska since his spec- 
tacular fight against the gold democrats in the 
convention of 1893. 

Republicans saw in wooing the increasing 
prohibition sentiment the only opportunity of 
defeating Governor Shallenberger, whose re- 
nomination was expected as a matter of 



course; and so at their convention, held in 
Lincoln, they adopted a county option plank. 
The minority of the resolutions committee, led 
by John L. Webster of Omaha, sought to 
evade the issue by declaring that a question 
within the purview of the police power had 
no place in a political platform, but the flat 
declaration for county option was preferred 
to this compromise by a vote of 558 to 276. 
This convention was thoroughly insurgent in 
spirit and action. Even the long scorned 
"populistic" initiative and referendum, though 
rejected by the resolutions committee, was 
taken up by the convention and adopted by 
the decisive vote of 524 to 289. A resolution 
offered from the floor by Congressman George 
W. Norris, denouncing Cannonism and ap- 
proving the insurgent movement in and out of 
Congress, was also carried by a decisive ma- 
jority. Thus democrats and republicans vied 
with one another in espousing radically pro- 
gressive measures while each party was sharp- 
ly divided on the prohibition question. 

There was much bad logic wasted in both 
conventions in attempting to differentiate pro- 
hibition, which for the time was called county 
option, as a moral question. Mr. Bryan, es- 
pecially, emphasized this contention in a spe- 
cious declaration that the question being moral 
was therefore one of right or wrong and there- 
fore he must be for prohibition because that 
was right and nobody could afford to be 
wrong. Many thoughful and disinterested 
people regard the question of license or pro- 
hibition as one of expediency to be decided 
upon one's best judgment as to which plan 
would more satisfactorily deal with the ad- 
mitted evils of the liquor traffice. The op- 
pression of the trusts and of the beneficiaries 
of the tariff is no less immoral than the evils 
growing out of the liquor traffic ; and, by a 
like facile assumption that they are moral is- 
sues, they, too, might be taken out of their 
proper arena of politics. 

Mr. Bryan declared that "The people of 
Lincoln are so well - pleased with having 
closed its saloons that they will not be terri- 
fied into opening them again by threats of the 
removal of the state capital." Nevertheless, 



648 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



within a few months, the people of Lincohi, 
confronted by a removalist legislature, were 
so terrified at the menace, that the procurement 
of liquor was facilitated to the uttermost, and 
on the very heels of the terror — which 
abated only with final adjournment of the leg- 
islature — they voted saloons in again by a 
decisive majority. 

The result of the election indicated a pre- 
ponderance of public opinion in the state 
against prohibition — particularly spreading 
prohibition through the medium of county op- 
tion in contradistinction to the usual plan of 
municipal option. The attitude of James C. 
Dahlman toward the liquor question was so 
fantastically unmoral as to make him an un- 
available candidate, and his defeat was there- 
fore inevitable. Aldrich, republican county 
optionist, received 123,070 votes ; Dahlman, 
107,760. The rest of the republican state 
ticket was also elected, though by much smal- 
ler majorities than that of Aldrich. Charles 
W. Pool, democratic candidate for secretary 
of state, for example, received 111,137 votes 
against 111,229 cast for his competitor, Addi- 
son Wait, (nlbert M. Hitchcock, democratic 
candidate for United States senator, received 
122,517 votes against 102,861 cast for Burk- 
ett, republican. The democrats gained both 
houses of the legislature, having fifty-four 
members of the house to forty-five republicans 
and one peojjle's independent ; and nineteen 
senators against fourteen republican. The 
republicans, in the circumstances, had every- 
thing to gain, temporarily, and nothing to 
lose by risking their chances upon the throw 
of the ]5rohibition die. Mr. Bryan won noth- 
ing in the contest except the defeat of Dahl- 
man, his long time friend and party lieuten- 
ant ; and since there was no increasing menace 
of the saloon interests, while on the contrary 
they had received in the shaj)e of the eight 
o'clock closing law in the very last legislature, 
their most damaging blow since the passage 
of the Slocumb law in 1881, there was no 
plausible call for a sudden or radical change 
of attitude toward them. It seems that ]\Ir. 
Bryan's sudden hostility may be attributed to 
complex impulses : to a mistake in local politi- 
cal diagnosis ; to resentment against the liquor 



interests which he thought had opposed his 
candidacy in 1908 and whom he hoped, by a 
virtual alliance with the republicans, to pun- 
ish by the infliction of county option — near 
prohibition ; and to a feeling that his relations 
toward the democratic party would now per- 
mit him to pursue a natural temperamental 
bent or predilection. 

Air. Bryan is, preeminently, an evangelist. 
His greatest work, in the political, and the 
more extended sociological field, has been done 
in the role of an exhorter of the religiously 
moral type. It is likely, therefore, that he has 
long felt that the saloon as an institution is 
fundamentally a wrong which ought to be out- 
lawed as a matter of course. So long as he 
was the titular leader, or strove to be the real 
leader of a great national party, it would have 
been disastrous, alike to himself and the party, 
for him to espouse prohibition. So long as 
that relationship endured true statesmanship 
forbade such a course on his part. Had his 
personal bent become paramount in 1910, as 
against party leadership, or did he believe that 
national party success lay in prohil)ition? 
^^'hile for many years Dahlman hatl been very 
useful to Bryan, his own influence and patron- 
age had given this favorite the principal basis 
for his political distinction and the prestige 
which put him into the important office of 
mayor of (Jmaha. Kepul)lican enthusiasm for 
the paramount "moral" issue of county option 
was so rushing and so gushing that it spent its 
force within a single year, and liy discreetly 
drop])ing it the backslid converts were able 
to win a norma! victory at the election of 1911. 
The twenty-fourth legislature met in the 
thirty-second session — the twentv-second 
regular session — January 3, 1911, and finally 
adjourned April 6th of that year — the sixty- 
seventh day. The house of representatives 
comprised fifty-five democrats and populists 
and forty-five republicans. Only one mem- 
ber, Frank Dolezal of Saunders county, regis- 
tered as "people's independent," but seven 
registered as democrats and independents — a 
distinction now without an appreciable differ- 
ence. There were forty-seven "admitted" 
democrats in that body. John Kuhl, demo- 
crat, of Pierce county, was speaker. The sen- 



PARTY ROTATION 



649 



ate comprised nineteen democrats and four- 
teen republicans. John H. Morehead of 
Richardson county, democrat, was temporary 
president. 

In point of economy the pubHc is a great 
gainer by the present method of virtually 
choosing United States senators at the polls, 
leaving to the legislature the formal constitu- 
tional duty of ratifying the popular choice. 
In the senate all of the democrats and all of 
the republicans but one voted for Gilbert M. 
Hitchcock according to the decsion of the 
])eople at the general election of 1910. In the 
house the vote was not so nearly unanimous, 
though Hitchcock received 87 votes to 10 cast 
for Elmer J. Burkett, his republican oppo- 
nent at the election. Two questions, the one 
largely growing out of the other, excited and 
kept up a lively interest during this session 
until they were settled. A county option 
license bill ( H. R. 392) was defeated in the 
house by a vote of 50 to 48 — not a consti- 
tutional majority. The fifty affirmative votes 
were cast by forty republicans and ten demo- 
crats : the forty-eight negative votes by forty- 
two democrats, one people's independent, five 
republicans. A similar bill introduced in the 
senate (S. F. 118) was defeated by the close 
vote of 16 to 17. Of the sixteen senators 
voting aye thirteen were republican and three 
were democrats. All those voting nay were 
democrats except one — Bartling, of Otoe 
county. 

The great activity of republican leaders in 
Lancaster county in favor of county option, 
coupled with the fact that Lincoln had voted 
to abolish saloons, aroused the hostility 
throughout the state of the positive partisans 
of the saloons, and the people of various lo- 
calities took advantage of this animosity to 
build up a formidable sentiment in favor of 
removing the capital from Lincoln. A bill 
(H. R. 246) providing for the removal of the 
capital was ordered to be engrossed for third 
reading in committee of the whole, but it 
failed of final passage in the house by a vote 
of 38 to 58. Another bill of the same nature 
(H. R. 382) was amended in the committee 
of the whole so as to provide that any city or 
village might become an aspirant for the capi- 



tal at an election to remove it, under regula- 
tions prescribed by the bill. This change de 
feated the scheme of the removalists whose 
hope was based upon first carrying a simple 
proposition to remove the capital, thus exclud- 
ing Lincoln from the resulting contest between 
the aspirants. A motion to not concur in the 
report of the committee of the whole was de- 
feated by a vote of 18 to 58. The bill was 
abandoned at this stage, thus ending what in 
the earlier part of the session appeared to be a 
formidable movement. 

This legislature was also fairly entitled to 
be called progressive, as shown by a consid- 
erable number of enactments along lines of 
modern growth. After a long contest stock 
yards were placed under the control of the 
state railway commission with power to regu- 
late the service and charges of all kinds, a 
notable advance along the line of corporation 
control. A bill was passed authorizing all 
cities with a population of 5,000 or upwards 
to adopt the commission plan of government. 
The form prescribed is similar to the so-called 
Des Moines plan. This plan is not the best of 
its class, but a proposed amendment to the 
constitution permitting municipalities with a 
population of 5,000 to make their own char- 
ters will give a proper opportunity for the 
adoption of the most approved forms. One 
of the most important acts of the session was 
the passage of a joint resolution submitting 
an amendment to the constitution giving the 
people power to enact laws directly and to re- 
ject objectionable acts of the legislature. The 
rules under which the power may be invoked 
are calculated to check the excessive and in- 
considerate use of the initiative and referen- 
dum which has resulted in other states where 
the principle has been adopted. 

In the election of 1910 Chester H. Aldrich 
was elected governor over James Dahlman. 
Mr. Aldrich had been a member of the fa- 
mous legislative session of 1907 and identified 
with many reform measures, but the demo- 
crats had a majority in both houses of the 
legislature of 1911. Mr. Aldrich was there- 
fore restrained from placing a progressive re- 
publican program before the people. How- 
ever, the session was distinguished by two 



650 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



bills in particular ; one, as mentioned on the 
preceding page, placed the stockyards under 
the control of the railway commission. 
This was largely due to the fine brand of gen- 
eralship displayed by Senator J. A. Ollis of 
Valley county. The senate was closely di- 
vided on the "wet" and "dry" issue; Senator 
Ollis, with two or three "dry" democratic 
colleagues, joined the "dry" republicans and 
succeeded in gaining some control in the sen- 
ate. The second measure of unusual impor- 
tance was a one-mill levy for the extension of 
the University which, through a period of suc- 
cessful years, had outgrown its quarters and 
progressive extension became important. The 
question of the removal of the University 
from the city to the farm campus was sub- 
mitted to the people through a referendum 
and lost. 

In the campaign of 1912 the republican 
party was badly shattered by the stand of 
Theodore Roosevelt against the regular party 
nominee of the Chicago convention. Mr. 
Roosevelt had been instrumental in securing 
the election of William Howard Taft to the 
presi<lency, but on account of his conservatism 
turned against him for ree^lection. When 
the national convention renominated Mr. Taft, 
Mr. Roosevelt withdrew from the convention 
and formed the progressive or "Bull Moose" 
party. Mr. Roosevelt, by securing the nom- 
ination by the new party for the presi- 
dency, compassed the defeat of the republican 
party. 

In the state election of 1912 Mr. .\ldrich 
was defeated for reelection by John H. More- 
head, who succeeded in holding his place 
through two elections. When Mr. Morehead 
became a candidate he announced himself as 
a one-term governor, but his leadership was 
so acceptable to his party that he was induced 
to run for a second term. There was much 
talk of a third term, but it did not materialize. 

In the campaign of 1914 the split in the re- 
publican ranks made easy work for the demo- 
crats. Mr. R. Beecher Howell of Omaha was 
nominated for governor on the republican 
ticket, and Mr. Morehead on the democratic. 
The democrats elected their entire ticket with 
two exceptions. Mr. Fred Beckman (repub- 
lican) succeeded himself as land commissioner, 
and Mr. A. O. Thomas (republican) was 



elected state superintendent of public instruc- 
tion. 

The state election of 1916 was influenced 
in large part by the national issues and partly 
by the submission of the amendment to the 
constitution prohibiting the manufacture and 
sale of intoxicants within the state. The 
democratic party, under the leadership of 
Woodrow Wilson, accepted the progressive 
attitude and championed the peace policy. In 
the initial campaign, the democratic party 
within the state was torn asunder, but was 
able to recover. This trouble came about 
through the espousal of the temperance issue 
by the Bryan following. Mr. Bryan had re- 
signed from the cabinet under President Wil- 
son and had become a free lance. He imme- 
diately took up the crusade for a "dry" Ne- 
braska and his brother, Charles Bryan, be- 
came a candidate for governor on the demo- 
cratic ticket, accepting prohibition as a plank 
of his platform. The republicans nominated 
Abraham T. Sutton of Omaha for governor. 
Mr. Bryan lost in the primaries to Keith Ne- 
ville. The democrats elected their entire 
ticket by majorities ranging from 1,300 for 
state superintendent to 41,000 for president. 
The constitutional amendment carried by a 
majority of 30,000. 

The chief interest of the legislature of 1917 
centered about the making of a "bone dry" 
law to enforce the provisions of the constitu- 
tional amendment. There is no doubt that 
the legislature came in with good intentions, 
but it was up to the liquor interests to make 
their last stand. The house of representa- 
tives passed the measure in good form, per- 
haps strengthened by national legislation, but 
the senate could not see its way clear to pass 
the measure until the close of the prolonged 
session. This session was marked by the 
nimiber of fanners who were seated. Much 
progressive legislation was attempted and 
some excellent laws were enacted. Among 
the measures deserving special notice are the 
"bone dry" law, a limited suffrage law, state 
hail insurance, a law for the redistricting of 
the county for school purposes, and a law 
placing state and county superintendents on a 
non-partisan basis. The term of county su- 
perintendents was extended from two years to 
four years. 



CHAPTER XXXII 

Material Growth and Resources — Agriculture — Commerce — Manufacture — the 

Grasshopper Plague — Drouths — Farmers' Organizations — 

Trans-Mississtppi Exposition 



THEREFORE take no thought, saying, 
What shall we eat? or, What shall we 
drink ? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed ? 
For after all these things do the Gentiles seek : 
. . . But seek ye first the kingdom of God, 
and his righteousness ; and all these things 
shall be added unto you." Buddha, second 
in importance, perhaps, of the world's great 
moral and religious leaders, anticipated these 
Christian sentiments in his teachings. 

The vast, and perhaps paramount impor- 
tance of economic development requires and 
excuses a little preparatory preaching. The 
favorite philosophy of earlier civilizations 
undertook to work from the top, downward, 
whereas our — we call it sociology — reverses 
the order and works from the bottom, up- 
ward. The great teachers and preachers 
among the ancients thought to bring about 
social amelioration by inspiring the people 
with righteous precepts. We seek the same 
end through appeal to enlightened selfishness 
— by magnifying the importance of physical 
goods and comforts and putting them withiri 
r;ach of all and by arming all with intelli- 
gence enough to enable them to enforce ecjuity 
and righteousness. In the present sociologi- 
cal philosophy, so-called original moral pre- 
cept is not superseded by enlightened or in- 
tellig-^nt social force but they interact upon 
eav'h other; ihe latter, however, doing the pri- 
mary or princijial pushing. The few and far 
between transcendental idealists of the an- 
cients — exceptions or sports among natural 
men — sought to convert the normal people 
to their idealism by texts ; we work out to the 
idealistic texts as the best expression of nat- 
ural development. Our sociology turns the 
old Adam in people, which, in spite of ages of 



precept, still abounds, upon itself to convince 
them that the less they manifest it the better 
off they will be. 

In short, we are the very Gentiles the great- 
est of these transcendentalists contemned. 
And this is why Nebraska's material resources 
seem so important to us, and why we here 
seek to disclose, and contribute toward show- 
ing how the most may be made of them; and 
it is the real source of our state pride which 
this exposition will both illustrate and justify. 
For to reach these ends of individual and so- 
cial advantage, which are closely related, there 
must be union and cooperation of a goodly 
number of people in a territory of sufficient 
area and economic resources comfortably to 
contain and maintain them. These conditions 
should be such as to afiford support, with a 
minimum burden, to an adequate government, 
to the best school system, to an ample system 
of transportation and, in general, to profit- 
ably employ and encourage in their develop- 
ment the people who are thus joined in the 
society we call a state. The contribution of 
live stock by the grazing section of the state 
to the eastern section for feeding or slaughter, 
for example, increases population and builds 
up large towns which, in turn, encourage the 
establishment of large stores which carry ex- 
tensive stocks of goods of all classes for the 
convenience of people from all parts of the 
state. The growth of the cities and industrial 
institutions in the eastern part of the state is 
stimulated by the development of farming in 
the western part, and that growth, in turn, 
tends to increase the value of western farms. 
These diverse enterprises are mutually de- 
pendent upon markets for buying and selling. 
The approximately uniform size of the 



652 



HISTORY OF XERRASKA 



states is due to the adjustment of these con- 
ditions — of means to ends. It is found that 
in an organization smaller than the. general 
government, involving the whole nation, most 
of the interests of the people are better sub- 
served and their affairs better managed, be- 
cause public opinion can be more readily con- 
centrated in the smaller state and is more ef- 
fectively brought to bear upon a government 
seated near at hand than upon one at a great 
distance, like our federal government. On 
the other hand, defense against foreign aggres- 
sion, free interstate commercial intercourse, 
and the construction of great public works, 
such as waterways and irrigation systems, seem 
to require the larger political association. 
Otherwise, we should be better off if our 
several states W'ere wholly independent of one 
another. Our habit of patriotism, which 
chiefly glories in bigness and the prestige it 
carries, gradually weakens as society becomes 
more mature and national lines gradually 
wear away under the feet of increasing inter- 
course impelled by the impulse of a growing 
sense of mutuality of interests. Compassing 
this wider view, George Eliot called patriot- 
ism "a virtue of small minds," and Herbert 
Spencer said: "If anyone should cjuestion 
my truthfulness or my honesty, I should be 
stung to the quick, Ijut if I should be called 
unpatriotic, I should remain unmoved." And 
in the wider nation there is a correspondingly 
wider scope for ])atriotism as Dr. Johnson 
aptly defines it : "The last refuge of scoun- 
drel's." 

But the ultimate meaning of our present 
controlling philosophy, pride in the great ma- 
terial resources of our state and solicitude 
for their most complete development, may 
spring from the broadest motive. This is con- 
firmed by a single fact: Omaha is the great- 
est distributing center for sheep of the 
"feeder" class in the world. This vast supply 
of raw material, which is converted into butch- 
ers' stock, in part by Nebraska corn and hay, 
is collected from all the grazing states of the 
West and Northwest. Again, the meat-pack- 
ing system of Omaha ranks third in the coun- 



try — and so in the world — in volume of 
output. 

The skepticism and hesitancy which, from 
the first, retarded material develoj)ment of the 
Nebraska country were not fairly dispelled 
imtil about the year 1878 which is marked by 
the revival, or the beginning on a general 
local scale, of railroad building. Though the 
intersection of the state by railroads was 
begun in the early seventies, it had been 
abandoned on account of the grasshopper 
depredations of 1874-1875 and the fear of 
them, which lasted two years beyond that 
period. As late as 1877 it was confidently 
predicted that in twenty years Nebraska 
would be the great cattle range of America, 
and as confidently asserted that the Republi- 
can valley was a natural grazing ground ; but 
at the close of that year the Burlington & 
Missouri railroad company gave notice that 
the prices of its lands wotild be raised; and 
the two great railroad companies of the state 
valued their properties so highly as to begin 
political strife to prevent their control by the 
state. But not only were the resources of the 
state underestimated ; there was misappre- 
hension as to their character. About ten 
years later Nebraska was distinguished as 
forming an unexcelled part of the unequalled 
corn belt of the world, and a few years still 
later stood in the front rank of the general 
agricultural states. 

A humane federal statute prohibits the con- 
tinuous transportation of live stock upon rail- 
roads for more than twenty-eight hours with- 
out being unloaded for rest. By consent of 
the shipper, the time may be extended, as it 
usuallv is in practice, to thirty-six hours. By 
a state statute, the time is limited to twenty- 
four hours for transportation wholly within 
the state. Business interests reen force the 
law ; and yards for feeding and resting are 
maintained at convenient points along the 
main lines. On the Burlington these yards 
are kept by the company ; on the other lines 
they are owned and operated by independent 
parties. The yards at Valley on the Union 
Pacific road are the most extensive in the 



MATERIAL CxROWTH AND RESOURCES 



653 



state, both because that road covers the wid- 
est stock raising area and because the station 
is about the right distance from Omaha for 
preparing stock for the great market there. 

These yards are owned and conducted by 
WilHam G. Whitmore and Frank Whitmore, 
his brother. During recent years, they have 
handled on an average, 1,100,000 animals an- 
nually, three-fourths of which are sheep. 
Most of the remainder are cattle ; as but few 
hogs originate west of Nebraska, not many 
need rest or care at this station. Much the 
larger part of the sheep come from Wyoming 
and Idaho, Wyoming largely leading. The 
rest come from northern Utah, Montana, 
Oregon, California, and Washington. Since 
many of these western sheep are originally 
driven to the northern grazing grounds from 
the far south, they become very experienced 
travelers by the time they reach the Omaha or 
Chicago market; and this phase of sheep life 
illustrates the marvelous capacity of modern 
transportation and its important relation to 
industrial, and general social development. 
James J. Hill caused the shipment of consid- 
erable numbers of live stock from the farther 
western states across the Pacilic ocean to the 
orient. 

The Messrs. Whitmore use 3,200 acres of 
land adjacent to Valley in their stock care- 
taking business. They own 1,100 acres and 
they have acquired long leases of adjacent 
farms to make up the remainder, for which 
they pay a high rental. These lands have a 
frontage of four miles on the Platte river. 
The total acreage is divided into thirty-six 
lots which are required to separately ac- 
commodate individual shipments or consign- 
ments. The lots are fenced with woven wire, 
surmounted by several strings of barbed wire 
for the protection of the sheep from coyotes 
and dogs. The length of time of detention 
of the various consignments is governed by 
the condition of the stock and of the market. 
The first is improved by feeding and rest, and 
the second may improve through waiting. 
All the land is devoted to pasture and mea- 
dow : all the needed grains are purchased. 



The various lots are watered by driven wells 
from which windmills pump the water into 
troughs which in turn overflow into natural 
depressions or pockets, thus creating peren- 
nial ponds of fresh and wholesome water. A 
large number of yards and chutes are required 
for loading and unloading. The re-shipping 
is mostly done in the night so that the stock 
may reach Omaha fresh at the opening of the 
market. 

Upwards of $30,000 is invested in buildings, 
one of which will house 7,000 sheep, though 
it is used only in stormy weather, and another 
contains 500 tons of baled hay in readiness 
for any emergency of bad weather or an 
otherwise accidental short supply. The labor 
pay roll is about $20,000 annually ; and, as the 
work requires the greatest care, liigh wages 
are paid to secure responsible men. There are 
machines for shearing sheep and for various 
other purposes and gasoline and electric 
motors. 

About eighty per cent of the cattle and 
eighty-five per cent of the sheep that stop 
over at these yards are range fed. A con- 
siderable part of this class of stock is in good 
enough condition for immediate slaughter ; 
the rest are sold as feeders. Chicago packers 
take the larger part of the fat animals and 
Omaha the larger part of the feeders. Wil- 
liam G. Whitmore's son, Jesse D., manages a 
similar feeding station at Grand Island ; and 
there are stations also at Sidney and Cheyenne 
and other points along the Union Pacific road. 

The great plant near Central City, in Mer- 
rick county, which was founded, controlled, 
and conducted by the late T. B. Hord, serves 
to illustrate the extent of the stock feeding 
business, in Nebraska, as well as the methods 
employed. 

Mr. Hord came to Central City from Chey- 
enne, Wyoming, in 1885, and at once began 
the business which he developed into the 
largest establishment of its kind in the whole 
country, and so of the whole world. The first 
year he fed 235 head of cattle. In 1908 he 
fed 16,000 cattle and 12,000 hogs. While 
Central City is the chief feeding point, there 



654 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



are branches at Belgrade, Chapman, Clarks, 
Fullerton, Schuyler, and Thummel, on the 
Union I'acific railroad, and Neligh, Oakdale, 
and Tilden on the Northwestern railroad. 
Four year old steers are preferred for feed- 
ing because they make the highest class of 
beef in the least time, which the plant aims 
to produce. A part of this stock is bought 
from farmers and ranchers in Nebraska, Colo- 
rado, and Wyoming, but the Hords keep on 
their ranges in Deuel and Sheridan counties, 
from six thousand to eight thousand head of 
steers, mostly bought as two-year-olds. 
When these arrive at the age of four years, 
they are brought down to the feeding stations. 
Some of the young cattle are also kept in Mon- 
tana. The hogs are bought mainly in Ne- 
braska, but some of them in Wyoming and 
Colorado, and the sheep come principally from 
the two states last named. 

About 16,000 acres of land are used in the 
production of hay and corn and for yards for 
the animals. Not more than 25,000 bushels 
of corn are raised on this land annually, but 
it produces most of the hay which is con- 
sumed. The enormous amount of food which 
is required every year is easily calculated from 
the fact that about si.xty bushels of corn and 
three-fourths of a ton of hay are fed to each 
steer. The amount of time taken for feeding 
a steer is three to si.x months, an average of 
about four months. This of course depends 
upon the condition of the stock and of the 
market. Nearly all of the Hord cattle are 
sold in the Chicago market because they have 
been fed up into the export class and the de- 
mand for this grade is in that market. Be- 
sides hav and corn, a balance ration of alfalfa 
meal and molasses is also given to both cattle 
and sheep. Hogs get their corn mostly from 
the droppings of the cattle, but they are fed 
besides, about a pound a day per head of 
shorts mixed with water. Cottonseed meal is 
fed more or less to cattle toward the latter 
part of the fattening period. 

It is not found necessary or profitable to 
house cattle or sheep, but the yards are 
protected liy high board fences for wind 
breaks. Houses are provided for hogs. 



From 125 to 150 head of cattle are put into 
each feeding yard, the tendency being to re- 
duce the numbers so herded together for feed- 
ing. The sheep feeding yards contain about 
400 head to the pen. 

The Hords own and lease a part of their 
stock range in Deuel and Sheridan counties 
and a part of it consists of public lands. Hay 
cut in the valleys on the ranges is kept ready 
for use and is fed mainly in the months of 
January, February, and March. Wells and 
windmills are quite generally resorted to for 
supplying the range stock with water and this 
method is found to be quite practicable. Only 
steers are corn fed ; all cows being sold to the 
slatighter market from the range. 

Sheep feeding is not always profitable, 
mainly on account of the high cost of the 
feeders, owing to the high price of wool. 
Dear corn also affects the business. Those 
caught with fattening stock on their hands, 
bought before the panic of 1907, suffered a 
great deal of loss. While there is more risk 
in feeding on a high corn market, yet it is not 
necessarily less profitable than feeding cheap 
corn. Mr. Hord's very wide experience and 
practical observation led him to the same 
opinion held by Dean Burnett, of our school 
of agriculture, namely, that the fattening of 
cattle will come to be done more and more by 
the farmers themselves or small local feeders. 

Among other large feeders in Nebraska are 
Edward Burke of Genoa, E. M. Brass and 
John Reimers & Sons of Grand Island, and 
E. D. Gould of Kearney. The largest sheep 
feeders are in the neighborhood of Gibbon, 
Shelton, and Wood River. 

While general intelligence and scientific 
skill are constantly increasing factors in gen- 
eral farming, yet its results will always de- 
pend largely upon the uncertain whims of 
Mother Nature. On the other hand, the stock 
feeding business, which is an adjunct of farm- 
ing, depends mainly upon human foresight, 
judgment, and intense attention to detail. 
The key which opens to success is buying 
right, and this requires skill of a high order. 
And then the feeding is becoming more and 
more a process of the adaptation of scientific 



MATERIAL GROWTH AND RESOURCES 



655 



knowledge as well as general good judgment; 
and to apply these and to prevent accident and 
disease also requires the utmost diligence. 
The exactions of this business are illustrated 
by the fact that the head of the great enter- 
prise in question did not leisurely reach his 
office at the banker's or professional hour of 
nine o'clock or ten o'clock in the morning, but 
was found there, in the thick of the fight, as 
early as seven, even in the winter time. If 
there is any royal road to wealth in Wall 
street — and there probably is none — it is 
as far in this respect from the western stock 
feeding establishments as the two industries 
are separated in character or statute miles. 

The picturesque white faces of the Here- 
ford breed predominate in the yards of the 
large feeders. This is because they are more 
hardy and maintain themselves more success- 
fully than the other beef-producing breeds, in 
the hard struggle for existence on the far 
western ranges, where many of the feeders' 
stocks originate and spend the first two or 
three years of their lives. If the stern vicissi- 
tude of cattle experience has raised the same 
question which not uncommonly troubles their 
human contemporaries, whether life is worth 
living at all, the Herefords doubtless lament 
that they became physically so well favored. 

The Fremont stock yards, of which Lucius 
D. Richards is president, also carry on a very 
extensive business similar to that at Valley. 
These yards have pens for fifty-eight cars of 
cattle, covered sheds for twenty-four cars of 
sheep, open pens for 18,000 sheep; a dipping 
plant with a daily capacity of 5,000 head; ten 
double deck unloading chutes ; set of ten Allen 
machine shearers, and 1,200 acres of blue grass 
pasture in the Platte valley. Below is a com- 
prehensive and illuminating statement of the 
business done at these yards during the years 
ending January 31, 1907, and January 31, 
1908. 

Year ending January 31, 1907: 

Sheep 3,908 cars 

Cattle 1.051 cars 

Horses 81 cars 

Hogs 3 cars 



Year ending January 31. 1908: 

Sheep 2.695 cars 

Cattle 785 cars 

Horses 77 cars 

Hogs 5 cars 



Total 3,562 

Business year ending January 31, 1908: 

Cars Sheep Cattle Horses Hogs 



From 


Neb. ... 
So. Dak. 
Wvo. .. . 
Idaho .. 
L'tah ... 

Ore 

Nev. . . . 
Colo. ... 


212| 27,820 

2251 28,600 

1.550 243,2X0 

800,182.000 


2,800 
2,800 
10,080 
2,800 
1,400 
700 




375 
1,550 


400 




250 
75 
50 

400 

3,562 


52,000 
13,000 
13,000 
91,000 





















1,400 















700,700 


21,980 


1,925 


400 



Roads bringing in stock. 



Northwestern 
Union Pacific 



1,888 
1,674 



333,060 
367,640 



14,840 
7,140 



1,800 
125 



400 



Destination : 



Chicago 1,400[312,000| 4.9001 625 

So. Omaha .... 2,162|388,700| 17,080| 1,300 



400 



Classing stock : 



Fat 1,550 279,240 13,188 

Feeders 2,012 421.460 8,792 



1,925 1 . 



.1 400 



Total 



.5,043 



The business of the not quite completed 
year of 1908 shows a substantial increase over 
that of the year ending January 31, 1908. 

The principal feeding and resting station on 
the Burlington system is at Burnham, adjacent 
to Lincoln. These yards handle sheep exclu- 
sively and have a grazing capacity of 50.000 
head, barn space for grain feeding for 18.000, 
and outside pens for 12,000. The total receipts 
for the eleven months of the year 1908, end- 
ing November 30th, were 555,000 head with a 
marketable value of $2,200,000. Of these re- 
ceipts, Colorado and Utah contributed fifty- 
five per cent ; Wyoming, twenty-eight per 
cent : Montana, eleven per cent ; Nebraska, six 
per cent. The destination of the year's receipts 
was: South Omaha and Nebraska points, 
forty-three per cent; St. Joseph and Missouri, 
twenty-one per cent ; Iowa, Illinois, and Chi- 
cago, thirty-six per cent. The yards do what 
is called "feeding in transit." Sheep are kept 
there for from one day to one hundred days. 
\Mien left as long as the last named period 
they are fattened there ready for market. The 
yards also operate, generally commencing 
March 1st, a ten machine sheep shearing plant, 
by which, in 1908, 21,500 sheep were shorn 



656 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



of a clip of 151,000 pounds of wool, with a 
selling price of about $23,000. The receipts 
comprise pea fed sheep from southern Colo- 
rado, corn fed lambs from northern Colorado 
and Nebraska, and range sheep from Utah, 
Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. Fed 
sheep there fattened on corn, peas, or other 
cereals, are marketed, usually, from Decem- 
ber to July, and range sheep during the bal- 
ance of the year. 

All interstate shipments of sheep are under 
the supervision of an inspector of the bureau 
of animal industry, whose authority is abso- 
lute, and in case he finds that the sheep are 
afflicted with any stipulated infectious or con- 
tagious disease, he can order them quaran- 
tined and then dipped in recommended solu- 
tions and all quarters they may have occupied, 
cleansed and disinfected before further use. 

These establishments, which rank among 
the greatest of their kind, very forcibly illus- 
trate the resources of Nebraska and its tribu- 
tary territory. The Omaha stock yards were 
founded in 1884, through the business fore- 
sight and courage of a group of Omaha men, 
and they opened the way for the great pack- 
ing houses which were soon built around 
them. The total receipts of live stock at the 
yards during the year 1907 were, cattle, 1,158,- 
716; hogs, 2,253,652; sheep, 2,038,777; horses 
and mules, 44,020. The increase in receipts of 
sheep during the five years 1903-1907 was 
large, that of cattle somewhat less, while hogs 
showed a slight decrease. The number of 
cattle received in 1907 was greater than the 
number for any other year. 

The following table shows the receipts for 
1907 of the several kinds of stock from terri- 
tory west of the Missouri river and the part 
of the total which was shipped over the sev- 
eral railroads. The figures for the Chicago, 
St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha road are not 
exact, as that line operates on both sides of 
the river, and a proportionate division of the 
stock originating on either side was not made 
in the report. 



Railroad Cattle 


Hogs 


Sheep 


Horses 
Mules 


U. P 266,132 

•Omaha" 66,494 

C. & N. W.... 288.727 

C. B. & Q 346,691 

C. R. I. & P.... 22.731 
M. P ■ 43,263 


463,299 
127,374 
674,875 
395,443 
17,785 
31.962 


1,053,796 

74,038 

371,146 

413,800 

10,570 

9,758 


14,798 

164 

11,282 

8,751 

1,655 

967 






Total 1,034,038 


1,710,738 


1,933,108 


37,617 



We are considering here two main ques- 
tions : what the economic resources of the 
state are now and what they may become. 
We get the most intelligent view of these 
questions by comparison. The state is young 
])olitically and very young industrially, and 
yet it has already won third place in the pro- 
duction of hogs and of corn and fourth place 
as to cattle and wheat ; Illinois and Iowa lead- 
ing in hogs and corn ; Texas and Kansas in 
cattle ; Kansas, Minnesota, and North Dakota 
in wheat. Illinois and Iowa each contains in 
round numbers, 56,000 square miles ; Kansas, 
80.000; Minnesota, 83,000; North Dakota, 
70,000; Nebraska, 76,000. 

The section of Nebraska east of the second 
guide meridian, west, with several southerly 
counties west of that line added, contains 
40,000 square miles, an area considerably 
greater than that of Indiana, about the same 
as that of Ohio or Kentucky, and only 9,000 
miles less than that of New York. For uni- 
form productiveness of crops that are most 
uniformly needed and demanded throughout 
those jiarts of the world most capable of buy- 
ing them, this section is scarcely equaled. We 
have 36,000 square miles (the size of Indiana) 
of more c|uestionable productiveness to match 
the 16,000 excess of Illinois and Iowa over 
our sujierior 40,000 and to overmatch in size 
such states as Kentucky, C)hio, and New York. 

In estimating the economic future of Ne- 
braska, it should be noted that the value of its 
agricultural products is now only about 
seventy per cent of the like products of New 
York or Ohio and eighty per cent of those of 
Pennsylvania. This difference in favor of 
those naturally ill-favored states is due partly 



MATERIAL GROWTH AND RESOURCES 



657 



to more advantageous markets, but chiefly to 
better cultivation. The yield per acre of wheat 
and corn is greater in many northeastern and 
north central states than in Nebraska ; but ad- 
vantageous conditions in the east will not per- 
manently continue ; on the contrary, they will 
be reversed, and the proof of the prophecy 
lies in the example of what superior cultiva- 
tion has done there in adverse natural condi- 
tions. 

Some of these states have valuable minerals 
which have not yet been discovered in Ne- 
braska. But our undeveloped wheat crop is 
already double the value of the principal min- 
erals of Indiana, and such as we do not pro- 
duce; far greater than the like product of Illi- 
nois, greater than that of the great mining 
state of California, and about equal to that of 
the still greater mineral state of Colorado. 
Our undeveloped corn crop is worth more than 
the mineral production of Ohio, leaving out 
kinds, such as clays, produced here. Besides, 
the principal minerals of the eastern states in 
question — coal, petroleum, and gas — are 
destined to decrease greatly ; indeed, as a rule, 
are greatly decreasing, while the crops of this 
imperfectly cultivated and only partially re- 
claimed state are destined to vastly increase. 
In view of this imequaled natural diversity 
and skill, which science and experience are 
constantly and rapidly supplying, we shall 
soon be able to charge off, almost without 
missing it, from our bounteous agricultural 
income, enough to offset the total mineral 
product of any state excepting, perhaps, Penn- 
sylvania. Owing to its advantageous loca- 
tion and somewhat superior soil, Nebraska 
will easily keep the lead over the Dakotas and, 
in the long run, will maintain its lead of Min- 
nesota. Kansas is more nearly like Nebraska 
than any other state btit is somewhat inferior 
agriculturally, though it has valuable minerals 
which Nebraska lacks. Nebraska need not 
falter in disputing the supremacy of the now 
imperial states of Illinois and Iowa. Besides 
some advantage in area, it is, as has alreadv 



been illustrated by a striking array of facts, 
the natural converter into food of the raw 
material of the great stock range states of the 
northwest. Its abundant corn and alfalfa and 
packing facilities are the first to catch the east- 
ward flow of that raw material and assimilate 
it into condensed form for cheaper and more 
convenient distribution to the markets of the 
world. 

Thus Nebraska is distinctly a wholesale 
state, a very distinct advantage withal. In 
manufactures Nebraska cuts a small figure, of 
course, in comparison with northeastern states 
and such north central states as Ohio, Illinois, 
and Wisconsin. But in the vast industry of 
meat-packing Nebraska ranked third in 1900 
and is perhaps second now. The value of the 
packing product of the three leading states, 
according to the census of 1900, was, Illinois, 
$279,842,835; Kansas, $76,829,139; Nebraska, 
$71,018,399. If Nebraska had as much in- 
fluence in the adjustment of transportation 
rates as Illinois has it would soon lead in this 
business. It has the advantage of location 
over Kansas, also, and is likely to lead its 
southern neighbor some time if indeed it is not 
already doing so. The present annual output 
of the Nebraska packing houses approximates 
$100,000,000; a pretty good start, in view of 
future prospects, toward overtaking some of 
the distinctly manufacturing states. ' More- 
over, an output of about $50,000,000 by ap- 
parently alien refining and smelting works, 
conveys more than a hint that not improbable 
changes in transportation facilities, and in the 
distribution or availability of motive power 
and relative increase in population, may very 
greatly accelerate our manufacturing gain. 
But in any event, with everything to gain over 
competitive sections in the manufacturing line, 
we are always sure of agricultural supremacy. 
So far, however, the conversion of agricul- 
tural products by packing houses, butter mak- 
ers, grist mills, and breweries constitutes about 
ninety per cent of our manufactures. 

Notwithstanding that our statistics are very 



658 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



imperfect, we know enough of the develop- 
ment of our main industry to judge pretty 
well its trend. The following illustrative 
tables of live stock and five principal crops 
are compiled from reports of the department 
of agriculture. 

CORN 

Acres Bushels 

1899 8.013,331 224,373,268 

1901 7,740,556 109,141,840 

1905 8,035,115 263.551,772 

1907 7,472,000 179.328.000 

1908 7,621,000 205,767.000 

1909 7,825,000 194,060,000 

1910 8,000,000 206.000,000 

1911 7,425,000 155,925,000 

WHEAT 

Acres Bushels 

1899 2,018,619 20,791,776 

1901 2,456,543 42,006,885 

1905 2,472,692 48,002,603 

1907 2,535,000 45,911,000 

1908 2,265,000 40,317,000 

1909 2,640,000 49,650,000 

1910 2.450,000 39,515,000 

1911 3,098,000 41,574,000 

OATS 

Acres Busliels 

1899 1,715,804 51,474,120 

1901 1,972.991 39,065,222 

1905 1,886,270 58,474,370 

1907 2,524,000 51,490,000 

1908 2,549,000 56,078.000 

1909 2.473,000 61,825,000 

1910 2.650,000 74,200,000 

1911 2.500,000 34,750.000 

POTATOES 

Acres Bushels 

1899 143,560 13.494,640 

1905 87,144 8,104,392 

1907 81,000 6,424,000 

1908 91,000 7,098,000 

1909 105.000 8.190.000 

1910 1 10,000 6,600,000 

1911 116,000 6,032,000 

HAV 

Acres Tons 

1899 3.377.698 

1905 1.053.454 

1907 2.250.000 

1908 1,515,000 2,348,000 

1909 1,550,000 2.325.000 

1910 1.500.000 1,500,000 

HORSES AND MULES 

January 1, 1899 658,807 

Januar'v 1, 1906 1,056,752 

JanuarV 1, 1908 1,015.000 

1909 ..' 1,1 15.000 

1910 1.123.000 

191 1 : 1,144,000 

MILCH cows 

January 1, 1899 685,338 

Januar'v 1, 1906 836,668 

Tanuar'v 1, 1908 879,000 

1909 879,000 

1910 626,000 

1911 613,000 



OTHER CATTLE 

January 1, 1899 1.521,454 

January 1, 1906 2,450,862 

January 1, 1908 3,265,000 

1909 3,040,000 

1910 2,225.000 

1911 2,002,000 

SHEEP 

January 1, 1899 322,057 

January 1, 1906 444.499 

January 1, 1908 431.000 

1909 275,000 

1910 382,000 

1911 382,000 

SWINE 

June 1, 1900 ( U. S. Census) 4,128,000 

January 1, 1906 3,004„198 

January 1. 1908 4,243,000 

1909 . .' 3,201.000 

1910 3,951.000 

1911 4,267,000 

The acreage of corn has shown a tendency 
to decrease since 1899, and wheat to increase 
in about the sam.e degree. But the acreage of 
spring wheat fell from 381,299 in 1905 to 
322,000 in 1907. The yield per acre in 1905 
was, fall wheat, 20.4 bushels ; spring, 14 
bushels. For 1907, fall, 19 bushels ; spring, 
12 bushels. Oats about hold their own, and 
the other estimates for 1908, taken in connec- 
tion with those here given, show that there 
is a decided increase in potatoes and hay. All 
classes of live stock, except sheep, show a con- 
stant increase, though in 1910-1911 there was 
a decrease of cattle and sheep, probably owing 
to deficient rainfall. On the whole, the pro- 
duction of live stock increases measurably 
more than that of cereals. 

The counties that raised sugar beets in ap- 
preciable quantities in 1908 are Boone, 50 
acres ; Buffalo, 7S ; Cheyenne, 234 ; Custer, 15 ; 
Dawson, 52; Dundy, 46; Franklin, 19; Hall, 
471; Hitchcock, 180; Keith, 19: Lancaster, 
108; Merrick, 200; Loup, 718; Platte, 127: 
Red Willow, 324: Scotts Bluff, 2,500. The 
total acreage fell from 6,906 in 1907 to 5,167 
in 1908. The report of the commissioner of 
labor gives the acreage of Loup county at only 
10 but devotes 718 acres to spelt. Spelt is 
now raised in considerable quantities in all 
parts of the state, but principally in the wes- 
tern counties. 

The beet sugar industry, alone, languished 
in spite of its subsidy sops. The manufacture 
of sugar in 1901-1902 was 6,660 tons ; in 1902- 



AGRICULTURE 



659 



1903, 9,430 tons ; in 1903-1904, 8,669 tons ; in 
1904-1905, 13,355 tons; in 1905-1906, 9,397. 
In 1908-1909 our single factory consumed 
about 30,000 tons of beets, producing 300 tons 
of sugar. It is quite pertinent and proper to 
join the present promiscuous chorus of tariff 
refonn by observing that the only Nebraska 
industries that persist in languishing — • sugar 
and sheep — • are also the only ones that can, or 
do derive any benefit from protective tariffs. 
If the tariff' on wool accomplishes its purpose, 
the little pauper sheep industry costs ( in 
added price of clothing) all the people who 
do the rest of the state's business, which 
stands on its own bottom, about twice as much 
every year as the total wool clip is worth. 
Likewise, sugar tariffs enable the sugar trust 
to levy an enormous tax on consumers while 
the country continues to import about three- 
fourths of the sugar it needs from lands which 
a Providence — deemed all wise before self- 
protective tariff-makers superseded Him — 
especially prepared for the production of that 
great staple. 

In other words, in what reasonable measure 
and by what means will Nebraska add to its 
agricultural greatness already attained? (The 
responsibility rests chiefly with the people of 
the commonwealth because, as has been shown, 
the natural conditions for increase are at 
hand.) 

Let us take the weakest and artificial ex- 
ample first. The cultivation of sugar beets de- 
creases and the number of factories has been 
reduced from three to two owing to relatively 
disadvantageous conditions — which, however, 
cannot properly be regarded as permanent. 
Temporary increased rainfall, and especially 
in the latter part of the season, reduced 
somewhat the percentage of sugar in the beets, 
thus giving the California and Colorado fields 
an advantage. This increased rainfall and a 
tendency toward higher prices of other agri- 
cultural products during the same period, 
stimulated the production of the ordinary 
staple crops. Increasing cost and scarcity of 
labor, an all-important factor in beet culture, 
is the most discouraging of all these incidents. 
Farmers in the earlier beet-producing counties 
have felt so content over good crops of wheat. 



corn, and hay that they would not stand the 
slings and arrows of very bad labor conditions 
and the "docking" of their beets at the fac- 
tory which has increased and the cause of 
irritation been justified or excused on account 
of the somewhat inferior quality of the beets 
alluded to. Those comparatively new-comers, 
fall wheat and alfalfa, have been especially 
potent competitors of sugar beets. 

But a general view of the field seems to 
justify the opinion of Dean Burnett of the Ne- 
braska school of agriculture, and expert 
sugar beet men, that Nebraska may yet be- 
come an important producer of beets and 
sugar. Beets will thrive without irrigation 
where corn will thrive. At the experiment 
station, near North Platte, from ten to eleven 
tons of beets to the acre are raised on upland 
without irrigation. The quality of the beets 
improves as you go farther west, provided the 
moisture is sufficient. Fifteen tons an acre is 
a good yield on the high priced lands farther 
east. Furthermore, a recurrence of deficient 
rainfall and some evidence of over-cropping 
of wheat have stimulated a sentiment in favor 
of wider diversity. 

Beets and sugar are very successfully pro- 
duced in the irrigable part of the North Platte 
valley where soil and climate favor and water 
is abundant. In other parts of the state this 
industry is, to say the least, a great reserve, 
awaiting general adjustment and development. 

Irrigation farming began in earnest in the 
valley, and especially in the vicinity of Scotts 
Bluff, after the Burlington railroad reached 
that place in 1899. By 1904 the production 
of sugar beets in that neighborhood became 
important; but they were shipped to the old 
factory at Ames. The closing of the Ames 
factory in 1905 stimulated the cultivation of 
potatoes and alfalfa in this district. In 1908 
beet growing was again resumed, the product 
being shipped to the factor)' at Sterling, Colo- 
rado, In 1909 a combination of eastern and 
Colorado capitalists organized the Scotts Bluff 
sugar company, bought the old Ames factory, 
and reconstructed it at Scotts Bluff'. It has a 
daily consuming capacity of about 1,500 tons 
of beets. The mill started in November, 1910, 
continuing sixty days and nights. In 1911 



660 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



aliout 11,000 acres of beets were grown and 
the mill was operated 100 days with a daily 
output of about 150 tons of refined sugar. 
Contracts were made for the growing of about 
15.000 acres of beets in the season of 1912. 
The main building of the factory covers about 
four acres and has fourteen acres of floor 
space. The total cost of the factory has been 
about a quarter of a million dollars. It em- 
ploys from one hundred to two hundred men 
the year round and during the active part of 
the season an additional number of five hun- 
dred men. From May to December about one 
thousand laborers are employed in the beet 
fields. Ninety per cent of these are German- 
Russians. They live in the city of Scotts 
Bluff during the winter, moving out to the 
fields for the growing season. The other ten 
per cent of hand laborers comprises Japanese 
and a few Greeks. < )nly team work is done 
by Americans. In this section alfalfa, pota- 
toes, and grains are raised, of importance in 
the order named. During the winter of 1911- 
1912 about 10,000 cattle and 125,000 sheep 
were fed from the by-products of the sugar 
factory and the alfalfa fields in the vicinity of 
Scotts Bluff. The sugar' industry has given 
new life to the town which, according to the 
census of 1910, contained 1.746 inhabitants 
and has grown rapidly since that time. 

Natural favorable conditions are reinvig- 
orating the sugar industry in the North Platte 
valley. 

That sheep raising has so far been merely 
incidental and not extensive in Nebraska, is a 
tribute to the richness of its soil and its 
peculiar adaptation to the production of the 
more substantial staples in crops and live 
stock. That sheep are not more extensively 
kept on the grazing fields of the northwest, is 
partly owing to the pro.ximity to the condi- 
tions just mentioned and partly, perhaps, to 
the fact, as the cattle men say. that they got 
in there first. On the wh(.)le, dairying seems 
to increase, biU not as rapidly as conditions 
appear to warrant. The best observers in 
Merrick countx-, for example — until recent 
years regarded as within the grazing district 
— explain that dairying is not more impor- 
tant, relatively, in the county, chiefly for the 



same reason that beet culture has fallen off 
there and elsewhere. The farmers have been 
doing so very well, lately, with fall wheat, 
corn, and hay, and their concomitants, hogs 
and cattle, that the greater drudgery involved 
in dairying is not very attractive to them. 
But the great future of this industry merely 
awaits a further adjustment of conditions, and 
especially of the present high prices of grains. 
It is prol)able that corn will continue to be 
king of crops in Nebraska and that fall wheat, 
continuing to crowd out the spring variety, 
will be a great queen. While the South Platte 
is the main wheat section, corn, in large 
acreage, extends to the north border. Fall 
wheat has spread very widely into the south- 
western counties. It is already an invaluable 
supplement to the more or less uncertain corn 
and may become its rival in that section. 

The following estimates made by the Union 
Pacific railroad company in 1908, show the 
great extent of the wheat area in southwestern 
counties and its relation to the acreage of corn : 

.\cres Acres 

Counties Wheat Corn 

Adams 87,219 75,000 

Chase 8.000 50,000 

Cliase, sprina: 5,000 

Franklin 42,842 75,551 

Frontier 30,000 135,000 

Furnas 75,000 95,000 

Harlan 64.895 108,967 

Hitchcock 19.641 23,741 

Kearney 85.255 74,049 

Xuckolis 36,000 108,000 

Phelps 55,108 84,805 

Red Willow 61,099 76,850 

Webster 41,286 94,198. 

The wheat acreage of the southeastern 
counties runs below that of the counties above 
named, and corn runs proportionately higher. 
The extensive wheat raising counties north of 
the Platte river are. Brown, Buffalo, Colfax, 
Custer, Dawson, Dodge, Hall, Howard, Mer- 
rick, Madison, Platte, Nance, Sherman, 
Thomas, Valley ; but most of them lie ad- 
jacent to or near the river. Sheridan county 
is the only large producer of spring wheat, 
with 20,850 bushels in 1908. By the same 
estimate the total number of acres of spring 
wheat in the state in 1908 was 232,344 ; of fall 
wheat, 2,054,970. Custer county, formerly 
classed as outside the successful dry farming- 
line, raised twenty bushels of wheat to the 



AGRICULTURE 



661 



acre on 60,860 acres, and thirty bushels of 
corn on each of 229,294 acres. 

Alfalfa is a comparatively recent, but per- 
manent and very important addition to the 
state's resources. The A^cbraska Advertiser, 
May 20, 1875, said that Governor Furnas then 
had a quarter section of land planted with 
"fruit trees of every variety suited to this 
climate." He had planted sixty acres in the 
spring of 1875. The same paper, of May 27, 
1875, quoted a letter written by Robert W. 
Furnas to the land commissioner of the Bur- 
lington & Missouri railroad company in which 
he said that he had cultivated alfalfa a number 
of years "as an ornamental border plant and 
also as a forage crop." The letter was con- 
cluded with this true prophecy: "I have no 
hesitancy in advancing the opinion that it is a 
most valuable acquisition to our crop interests 
and will, in a very short time, be of incalcul- 
able value." The school of agriculture main- 
tains that it will do well wherever our common 
staple crops thrive. On good upland it will 
yield from three tons to four tons an acre 
against about a ton and a half of timothy and 
clover. For making beef or mutton, a ton of 
alfalfa will go as far as a ton and a half of 
wild hay. In favorable soil alfalfa roots will 
go down thirty feet to water. It is, therefore, 
a sure and rich refuge for forage throughout 
our 40,000 easterly square miles. In each of 
the years 1906-1909, selected uplands near the 
experiment station at North Platte, and with 
an altitude 300 feet above that town, produced, 
without irrigation, a ton and a half to the 
acre. The valley at North Platte will produce 
as much as the college farm at Lincoln. Al- 
falfa will do well in the fertile valleys any- 
where in the state ; but it cannot be said 
that it would be a practicable crop on the 
western table-lands nor a good crop in the 
valleys in the dry periods. The difference be- 
tween dry seasons and wet seasons appears 
from the following record of the experiment 
station of the State University at North 
Platte. 



Year 


Total 


Departure from Normal 


1875 


15.35 


— 3.51 


1876 


11.84 


— 7.02 


1877 


25.47 


+ 6.61 


1878 


18.62 


— .24 


1879 


20.06 


-1- 1.20 


1880 


17.48 


— 1.38 


1881 


22.93 


-f 4.07 


1882 


17.95 


— .91 


1883 


30.01 


-1-11.15 


1884 


13.53 


— 5.33 


1885 


22.03 


+ 3.17 


1886 


13.10 


— 5.76 


1887 


21.68 


-1- 2.82 


188* 


17.46 


— 1.40 


1889 


20.66 


-1- 1.80 


1890 


12.71 


— 6.15 


1891 


23.36 


-f 4.50 


181^2 


20.37 


-f- 1.51 


1893 


13.16 


— 5.70 


1894 


11.21 


— 7.65 


1895 


14.58 


— 4.28 


1896 


16.52 


— 2.36 


1897 


17.09 


— 1.77 


1898 


15.54 


— 3.32 


1899 


13.99 


— 4.87 


1900 


12.29 


— 6.57 


1901 


16.44 


— 2.42 


1902 


26.27 


-1- 7.41 


1903 


18.36 


— .50 


1904 


23.17 


+ 4.31 


1905 


26.81 


-f 7.95 


1906 


27.99 


+ 9.13 


1907 


19.61 


+ -75 


1908 


19.96 


-1- 1.10 


1909 


22.41 


+ 3.55 


1910 


10.70 


— 8.16 


1911 


17.43 


— 1.43 



While the table shows that the precipitation 
for the years 1902-1909, during which the 
careful experiments of the station have been 
made, is much above the average, yet that trial 
has demonstrated that alfalfa can be success- 
fully raised in the long rim on table lands 
such as these in question. Turkestan alfalfa 
is most adapted to latitude north of Nebraska, 
but will probably be found practicable in our 
dryest sections. Brome grass is also more 
suitable for the north, but is of valtie here. 

Our production of staple crops and so of the 
live stock which they support may be very 
greatly increased ( 1 ) by better methods of 
cultivation and (2) by extending the area of 
production, especially in the untilled western 
section. These processes of improvement are 
fairly under way. By a practicable improve- 
ment of seed corn, the product may be in- 
creased above the present average by from 



662 



HISTORY OF XEI5RASKA 



twenty to thirty per cent. Experiment shows 
that at least one-fifth of every farm should be 
kept ill clover or alfalfa all the time. The ro- 
tation should he four or five successive years 
of ordinary crops and then three years of 
leguminous plants. 

Expert summary of the roads to increased 
production is, (1) increasing fertility of the 
soil, (2) better cultivation, (3) improvement 
of seeds. Increasing numbers of farmers are 
traveling these roads led by the e.xperinienta- 
tion and moral stimulus of the University 
school of agriculture and the federal depart- 
ment of agriculture. For example, the exist- 
ence of large stock feeding establishments is 
due chiefly to the ability of the owners to buy 
advantageously and to use the best methods of 
feeding. With more education and experience 
this function will be localized to the advantage 
of the individual farmer. 

The impro\ement of pastures now going on 
will stimulate diversity and dairying in par- 
ticular. Blue grass is getting a good hold as 
far west as Bufl:'alo and Dawson counties. Mr. 
McGinnis, general agent at Lincoln of the Chi- 
cago & Northwestern railroad company, re- 
lates that in 1906 he supposed that a pasture 
on his ranch in southwestern Holt county was 
done for because the native grass had been 
quite worn out ; but blue grass took possession, 
instead, and is successfully holding it. In 
Merrick county, blue grass has not only in- 
vaded the better soils but is gradually creep- 
ing into the sandy land. Thirty years ago 
there was a long, sharply defined sand dune on 
the Whitmore ranch at Valley. In November, 
1908, it was affording as good pasturage of 
blue grass and white clover as could have been 
found in the famous dairying districts of Wis- 
consin. The Whitmores have long been sow- 
ing their extensive pastures to tame grasses. 
They do not "break" the land, but first disk 
the wild pasture, then sow the seed, following 
with the harrow. Better results follow this 
method than the more common one of sowing 
the grass seed on cultivated soil. They spread 
all the farm-yard manure they have over these 
pastures, and particularly on the more sandy 
parts. They now have more than 1,000 acres 
of tame meadow and pasture — clover and 



timothy, more or less mixed with blue grass. 
The importance of this gradual process of 
civilization is very great. 

Climatic conditions all over the state are 
very favorable to poultry raising. While it is 
already general in an incidental way, more 
particular attention will be paid to it as the 
profit of more intensive farming increases and 
its methods are Jjetter understood. 

There is, of course, an element of specula- 
tion as to the destiny of the higher and dryer 
lands of the western section of the state, 
though scientific and general experiment are 
busily engaged in the solution of the problem. 
Since the passage of the Kinkaid act by Con- 
gress in 1904, which raised the homestead 
maximum to 640 acres, that part of the state 
has been rapidly filling up with settlers. This 
increase has been greatest in the northwes- 
terly counties ; but it has been checked by re- 
cent dry seasons. In 1904 there were 7,834,736 
acres subject to homestead ; in 1908 there were 
not more than 3,000,000 acres, nearly all in the 
sandhill districts of the northwest. There 
were in Holt county 12,000 acres ; Rock, 4,000 : 
Keya Paha, 38,000; Sheridan, 165,000; Sioux, 
417,000; Boyd, 700; Banner, 82,000; Cherry. 
1,000,000, and Dawes, 9,000. Filings can be 
made on this land at the land office at Valen- 
tine or ( )'Xeill. Every man or unmarried 
woman over the age of twenty-one, every 
widow, every minor orphan or widow of a de- 
ceased soldier, or anyone who is at the head 
of a family, though an adopted or a minor 
child, who is a citizen of the United States, 
may homestead 640 acres of this land. The 
fee for filing is $14. Not over 200,000 acres 
of those lands lie far enough to the south to 
be tributary to the Union Pacific railroad. In 
recent years very large numbers of actual set- 
tlers bought farms throughout the western 
section, and those lands have greatly increased 
in price. The Kinkaid act applies to all terri- 
tory in the state west of a line running south 
from a point on the Missouri river at the 
northwest corner of Knox county to the north- 
east corner of Howard county; thence west, 
along the fourth standard parallel, to the 
northwest corner of Sherman countv ; thence 
south along the west Ijoundary of Sherman 



AGRICULTURE 



663 



county to the third standard parallel, which is 
the north boundary of Buffalo county ; thence 
west along the third standard parallel to the 
northwest comer of Dawson county ; thence 
south along the west boundary of Dawson 
county to the north boundary of Frontier 
county ; thence west along the north boundary 
of Frontier county — ^the second standard 
parallel — to the northeast corner of Hayes 
county ; thence south along the line between 
Frontier and Hayes, and Red Willow and 
Hitchcock counties to the south boundary of 
the state. There are shrewd men, well ac- 
quainted with that section, who still believe 
that it is only fit for grazing and that the rapid 
settlement for general farming now going on 
will turn out calamitously. On the other hand, 
there are many men, equally well informed, 
who believe that the success of these later set- 
tlements is assured. The unbelievers contend 
that in the order of nature there will be peri- 
odical series of dry years, like that of the early 
nineties, when no crops can be raised. The 
optimists hold that all former attempts at 
farming in that section have been made, in the 
main, by inferior people, lacking in capacity 
and financially destitute, whereas the present 
settlers are men of nerve and experience and 
many of them having property enough for a 
good start. For example, recent settlers in the 
northwestern counties are very largely from 
western Iowa, northwestern Missouri, and 
eastern Kansas and Nebraska. Many of them 
sell their high priced farms and occupy these 
comparatively cheap lands because they believe 
that they can successfully cultivate them and 
in the meantime greatly profit by the conse- 
quent great rise in their value. The future 
doubtless holds a golden mean which in part. 
at least, justifies the optimists. 

The conservatives judge the future mainly, 
if not altogether, by the past, which, to say 
the least, is not quite fair or rational. While 
there will doubtless be dry years in those sec- 
tions again, yet neither memories nor records 
are comprehensive enough to warrant the 
assumption, as a basis for business calculation 
or forecast, that such years will come in se- 
riously long series, or even that they will come 
at all. There is at least a fair business pros- 



pect that the favorable rainfall of the six years 
preceding 1908 will be the rule and not the 
exception. Then the absorption of the mois- 
ture that does come, by cultivated fields, and 
the passage of the winds over the great masses 
of growing crops, instead of the unprotected, 
heat-reflecting expanse, as of old, will increase 
the effectiveness of the rainfall and tend to 
prevent general destruction or severe injury 
to vegetation. Increasing competition for 
available lands will draw or force men to these 
sections with the experience, the stamina, and 
the financial competence to make the most of 
them. Intensive and diverse farming, stimu- 
lated by the experiments of scientific schools 
will continue to increase the availability of 
the less favored lands. So the confident 
opinion of many shrewd observers, including 
scientific experts, that, before many years 
elapse, all the hard lands of western Ne- 
braska will be occupied by farmers who will 
derive a comfortable living from them is rea- 
sonable. 

An intelligent observer of conditions on the 
table lands of Cheyenne county, a member of 
the staff of the passenger department of the 
Union Pacific railroad company, himself a 
Swede, believes that foreigners, who are more 
inured to hardships and better satisfied with 
modest returns for their labor than Ameri- 
cans, would be certain to prosper here. He 
points out that while 403,121 of our foreign 
immigrants of 1907 stopped in New York, 
223,551 in Pennsylvania, and 110,000 in IIH- 
nois, only 5,789 came to the agricultural state 
of Iowa and 6,216 to Nebraska. He says that 
a large part of these immigrants have been 
small farmers in their natix'e countries, and 
that they would get rich on the monthly check 
of $40, which they would receive from the 
product of the fifteen cows which a Kinkaid 
section in Cheyenne county will maintain, be- 
sides a few other cattle, poultry, and produc- 
ing some grain and root crops. 

The table lands in Deuel county which sold 
for $2 an acre in 1898, until recently sold for 
$8 to $10 and settlers bought at such prices in 
large numbers. A series of dry years has 
lately checked this development. All Union 
Pacific lands in Nebraska have been sold ex- 



6fi4 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



cept those taken back on default. Even under 
present methods of cultivation, the southwest- 
ern section has only to fear abnormally dry 
years; for with that limitation, they are safely 
within the corn and fall wheat belt. 

The main irrigable area of the state is the 
North Platte valley, from the Wyoming bor- 
der down to Cowanda, about thirty miles be- 
low Bridgeport. Farther than that the valley 
is too narrow for much tillage. This area 
comprises about 500,000 acres. The river, 
with the aid of the flood waters stored by the 
great dam, lately constructed at a point two 
hundred miles above the western boundary of 
the state, will supply enough water for double 
that acreage. Scotts Bluff county had long 
before been extensively supplied with water 
through ])rivately owned ditches, and their 
rights are not affected by the great canal under 
construction by the federal government and 
which will reach at least as far as Bridgeport. 
Several smaller streams supply water for quite 
limited areas. 

The government will sell eighty acres of 
land with a perpetual water right to each ac- 
tual settler ; but it refuses to furnish water to 
owners of other lands except at the price 
named. This seems a harsh monopolistic rule 
to which some extensive holders of land in 
the valley are refusing to yield. Men well 
known in Nebraska and who are well in- 
formed upon this subject, assert that the 
Wyoming works have cost a great deal more 
than they should have cost, owing to mistakes 
and other incompetency. They say, also, that, 
partly owing to that excessive cost, an excess- 
ive price is charged for the lands held by 
the government subject to its canal. It is 
therefore impossible for a poor man to pay 
for this land in ten years, as required, so that 
the primary object of the enterprise, namely, 
to funiish the farms to men of small means, 
is defeated at the outset. Keen-eyed men be- 
lieve that there will have to be a complete re- 
adjustment of the terms in question and that 
the cost of the irrigation works will event- 
ually become a public donation. The con- 
tribution by the east of its pro rata share 
toward this western improvement would be 



but a small installment of its immemorial ex- 
actions from the west. 

Experiments at the North Platte station 
have been conducted expressly to try out the 
possibilities of dry farming in that district. 
It has been the practice there to raise four 
successive crops and then apply summer till- 
age during the fifth season. This means that 
the land is disked and harrowed frequently 
so as to prevent evaporation of moisture as 
far as possible and put the soil into the best 
condition to store it. After summer tillage 
land has produced as high as sixty bushels of 
fall wheat to the acre. During the four years 
1905-1908 from twenty bushels to forty bush- 
els of corn an acre were raised on other lands. 
It has been found that it will pay to pasture 
steers on the upland native pasture at a valu- 
ation of $10 an acre. Cottonwood, black 
locust, green ash, box elder, and mulberry 
trees thrive under culti\'ation. It is necessarv 
to stir the soil about them to conserve mois- 
ture. Durum wheat is grown successfully, 
yielding a much larger crop than the common 
wheat. So far it is used to feed stock, as there 
is no established market for it. About seven 
million bushels of this wheat are annually 
mixed v/ith ordinary wheat in the flour mills 
of Minneapolis. 

It is expected that importations of grains 
and forage plants from foreign arid countries 
will be advantageous, but the chief reliance is 
upon proper cultivation. Dean Burnett be- 
lieves that in the North Platte region in ques- 
tion dr\' farming can be satisfactorily carried 
on in the long run, and he views the prospects 
for the northwest table lands hopefully. 

( )ne finds everywhere among business men 
and farmers as well as boomers great expec- 
tations of the state school of agriculture and 
of the federal department of agriculture in the 
development of our fanning interests. Even 
railroad men, who habitually rail at the at- 
tempted control of their business by the gov- 
ernment as pernicious socialism, felicitate 
themselves and the state upon the beneficence 
of the purely paternalistic institutions named. 
And socialism is but paternalism "writ large." 
Only a few years ago J. Sterling Morton, who 
could not see the so very plain signs of the 



COMMERCE — MANUFACTURE 



665 



times through his individualistic preconcep- 
tions, felicitated himself on his administration 
of the department of agriculture because he 
had turned a considerable part of his appro- 
priations back into the treasury untouched, 
to do which was his chief Jefifersonian care. 
His successor is impelled by public opinion 
to spend all he can get and to get all he can 
spend of the public revenues in his socialistic 
propaganda. It is a palpable and significant 
fact that the questions and projects which 
most engage the public attention and approval 
at the present time are those which are most 
socialistic in their character. 

Looking back over the foregoing quite con- 
servative and yet almost roseate sketch of Ne- 
braska's economic conditions and prospects, 
we are forcibly reminded that instead of re- 
peating itself, according to tradition, Nebraska 
history has very flatly contradicted itself. 
For the dominating note of the earlier years 
of that history was either despair or negation. 
"It is a land where no man permanently 
abides," said Washington Irving, after an in- 
spection of the "Nebraska country" ; and our 
earlier sages believed and promulgated the 
faith that it would be habitable only along the 
streams of the eastern portion. During the 
grasshopper invasions of the seventies, the 
state was a pauper on the national roll of 
charities ; and there was wide belief that there 
was its normal place. It was the courage and 
penetration of great railroad promoters and 
the great courage and faith of the pioneer set- 
tlers which, for the first time, as tradition 
goes, forced history to reverse instead of re- 
peating itself. 

Nebraskans have harped so much upon their 
prepossession that agriculture is the state's 
single resource that they have failed to 
perceive that the state is strategetically sit- 
uated for commerce. Its situation is not 
only approximately central in relation to the 
country at large but it is intersected by five 
great railroad systems. Five tnmk lines lead 
out from, or pass through Omaha, the com- 
mercial metropolis of the state. Two al- 
ready count Lincoln, the capital city, as a 
principal point on their lines ; a third will 
probably soon assume that relation ; while this 



fortunate town is a very important center for 
branch lines of four great systems. A glance 
at the accompanying map will show why Ne- 
braska actually has very favorable access to 
all parts of the country and so to the commer- 
cial world. 

These considerations indicate that Omaha 
is destined to be a large city of the secondary 
class and that Lincoln's great transportation 
facilities will eventually overcome its present 
tendency to a cramped growth on the educa- 
tional side and cause its development into a 
well-proportioned city of considerable size. 

A few citations of facts will show that these 
waiting resources have reasonably responded 
to improving facilities and opportunities. The 
total shipment of Nebraska products from the 
state for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1910, 
was 14,000,000,000 pounds. About 50,000 
car loads of packing house products are an- 
nually shipped from the state, mostly to points 
in the Mississippi valley, but in part to the 
extreme east and west and to Europe. Omaha 
has a fair chance to displace Kansas City as 
the second meat packing center of the world, 
and the Nebraska City output is considerable. 
In the year, 1907, 24,900 car loads of wheat, 
averaging 900 bushels per car, and 35,993 of 
corn — • about thirty-two million bushels — 
were exported, chiefly from Omaha, which is 
also a great market for barley. Eight of our 
principal flouring mills exported over seventy- 
five million pounds of flour in 1907. Corn 
products are of noticeable importance, the 
annual shipments amounting to about 2,500 
car loads. In 1911 Nebraska ranked third 
among the states in cereal mill products, and 
their value for that year was eleven million 
dollars. The total output of our creameries 
approximates thirty million pounds ; of hay, 
exceeding two hundred thousand tons ; of 
eggs, upwards of twelve million dozens. In 
addition to packing house products, aggregat- 
ing nearly one hundred million dollars in 
value a year, smelting, chiefly lead matter at 
Omaha, brought from Rocky Mountain min- 
ing states, amounting to nearly fifty million 
dollars annually, and creamery products, 
amounting in 1910 to eleven million dollars, 
there is no considerable single manufacture. 



666 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



The total miscellaneous manufactures for the 
year 1911 amounted to upwards of one hun- 
dred and fifty million dollars in value; and 
the capital employed in such manufactures 
increased from fourteen million dollars in 
1900 to sixty-three million in 1911. The total 
value of the eight principal crops of 1911 — 
corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, barley, native hay, 
rye, and alfalfa — was two hundred and 
eighteen million dollars. The cultivated area 
in 1911 was estimated at twenty-nine million 
acres, much more than half of the total area. 



000 bushels. However, wheat sown in the 
fall, commonly called winter wheat, has come 
to be a very important crop, and, on the whole, 
is surer than corn. This grain was on proba- 
tion many years before it was accepted at its 
full value. The agent at the Council Blulifs 
sub-agency, situated on the Missouri river, 
nearly opjjosite Bellevue, in his report for 
1845, says that, "A small lot of wheat sown 
last fall ( 1844) has done very well. The 
troops at old Council Bluffs fomierly raised 
large crops of this grain, and the soil and 




Cortitesy .\ebraska StaU' Joioiial 



Nf.iirask.\'s Stkatkcic Commercial Position 



According to the United States census rejjort 
for 1911 the cultivated area was 29,046,765 
acres. The estimate of the number of cattle 
in the state in 1911, was 2,229,976; of hogs, 
4,979,784; of horses, 918.240; of sheep, 383,- 
602; of chickens, 9,900,480. The output of 
canned vegetables and the production of pop- 
corn are important items of commercial pro- 
duction. 

Ever since agriculture was established in 
Nebraska, corn has been its chief product, a 
normal annual yield now being about 200,000,- 



climate seem as well adapted to it as they are 
to Indian corn." This was the first wheat cul- 
tivated in Nebraska so far as our records 
show ; and it must have been raised in the 
period between 1819 and 1826, because the 
post — B'ort Atkinson — was abandoned in 
1827. Harvey W. Forman, farmer for the 
Sauk and Fox Indians at the Great Nemaha 
agency, in his report dated September, 1853, 
says that he had sown about twenty acres of 
fall wdieat on ground that had "laid over this 
season." In preparation he had plowed the 



THE GRASSHOPPER PLAGUE 



667 



ground well twice, then harrowed it, and next 
rolled it with a heavy roller. His corn that 
year yielded fifty bushels to the acre. 

The premium list of the Otoe Agricultural 
Society, published in the Nebraska News, Sep- 
tember 28, 1858, offers a premium for the best 
five acres of fall wheat and a diploma for the 
best five acres of spring wheat. The Ne- 
braska City Nezi's, of March 9, 1861, says 
that "the winter wheat in this section looks 
fine." The editorial opinion was that the 
heavy snows of the winter had kept it warm, 
and it was ready for a strong start. The 
Nebraska Advertiser, of July 4, 1861, says 
that some Nemaha county farmers harvested 
forty bushels of wheat per acre that year. 
The hot, dry weather in June injured spring 
wheat. In "the various parts of the territory 
fall wheat has produced much better than 
spring, not only this season, but for the past 
three years. We cannot understand the cause 
of the prejudice in the minds of many farmers 
against raising fall wheat." The same news- 
paper, of October 18, 1862, said that fall 
wheat that year yielded one-third more than 
the spring variety in Nebraska, and that its 
average for the last five years had been higher 
than that of spring wheat. 

The Daily State Journal, September 28, 
1878, put the yield of fall wheat that year as 
268,532 bushels : 45,370 bushels in the North 
Platte section, and 223,162 bushels in the South 
Platte. The yield of spring wheat for that 
year was 10,752,668 bushels in the South 
Platte and 5,471,527 bushels in the North 
Platte. 

Dr. George L. Miller usually threw the 
whole power of his enthusiasm into his advo- 
cacy of any Nebraska enterprise, and the final 
recognition of this grain as one of the most 
important crops in Nebraska is largely due to 
his persistent preaching in its favor. The 
Herald (weekly) of August 10, 1870, says 
that this crop had "hitherto been a failure," 
because it had winter killed. The editor — 
Dr. Miller — advocated deep planting as a 
remedy and suggested drilling in the wheat. 
This method of planting was generally adopt- 
ed later, and was apparently a condition prece- 



dent to the successful cultivation of the grain 
in question. The Omaha Daily Bee, of Oc- 
tober 3, 1892, remarks upon the growing im- 
portance of fall wheat. The state was now 
producing 18,000,000 bushels a year, and the 
Bee expressed the opinion that the yield might 
reach 100,000,000 bushels. There was a sud- 
den increase in the production about 1880 and 
a still larger increase about 1900. According 
to the records of the department of agricul- 
ture, at Washington, the average annual yield 
for the period of 1870 to 1879, inclusive, was 
5,372,559; for the period 1880-1889, inclu- 
sive, 18,608,697; 1890-1899, 18,560,914; 1900- 
1909, 43,378,151. According to the estimates 
of the Nebraska labor bureau the yield in 
1906 was 45,389,263 ; in 1909, 46,444,735. In 
the last two years the yield has not held its 
own on account of drought conditions in a 
part of the state. 

The Rocky Mountain locust during the 
three years from 1874 to 1876 threatened the 
practicability of carrying on agriculture in 
Nebraska, inasmuch as there seemed to be 
plausible reason for fearing, if not believing, 
that the invasion by this pest might be con- 
tinuous. A thorough acquaintance with the 
history of Nebraska, however, would have 
largely allayed this fear because it discloses 
that the immigration of these insects was 
not regular Init at periodical intervals. In 
his famous Ash Hollow campaign of 1855, 
General William S. Harney and his com- 
mand, when in camp near Court House 
Rock, now in Morrill county, observed that 
the air was full of grasshoppers ; and they 
were an inch thick on the ground. Of 
course they destroyed "every blade of grass." 
W. A. Burleigh, in his report as agent 
for the Yankton Indians for 1864, says that 
crops were promising in that part of the 
country until the grasshoppers came in the 
latter part of July and destroyed every vestige 
of them throughout the territory-. The air 
was filled with the insects so thickly as to pro- 
duce a hazy appearance of the atmosphere, 
and every tree, shrub, fence, and plant was 
literally covered with them. In many places 
they carpeted the ground to the depth of from 



668 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



one inch to two inches. They appeared in a 
cloud from the northeast extending over a 
belt some 273 miles wide and passed on to- 
wards the southwest, leaving the country as 
suddenly as they came after an unwelcome 
visit of three or four days. Mr. George S. 
Comstock made the statement in 1910 that 
grasshoppers did great damage on the Little 
Blue river, where he resided, in 1862 and 1864. 
Captain Eugene F. Ware relates in his history 
of the Indian war of 1864 (p. 275), that in 
August, 1864, at Fort Laramie — then within 
Nebraska territory — the air was filled with 
grasshoppers. They were bunched together 
in swarms like bees. Me saw a cluster of the 
insects as big as a man's hat on the handle of 
a spade. Indian women were roasting, drying, 
and pounding them into meal to be made into 
bread. William \[. Albin, superintendent of 
Indian affairs at St. Joseph. Missouri, re- 
ported in October, 1864, that "in consequence 
of the extreme drought, the backwardness of 
the S]iring, and immense .swarms of grasshop- 
pers, the crops in Kansas have been a partial, 
and in Nebraska and Idaho, a total failure." 
In his re])ort for the same year, Benjamin F. 
Lushbaugh, agent of the Pawnee Indians, said 
that, "swarms and myriads of grasshoppers" 
came to that part of the territory in August, 
and thev had not left a green thing. There 
had been no rain during the entire season 
until the last of June and none after that of 
any benefit. Oats at the Pawnee agency were 
injured by grasshoppers in 1873, and the crops 
entirely destroyed by the pests in 1874. This 
destruction induced the 1,840 Indians of that 
tribe who remained at the agency to follow 
the 360 who had gone to Indian territory in 
the winter of 1873. The crops of the Otoe 
and Missouri Indians were entirely destroyed 
by grasshoppers and dry weather in 1868. In 
1876 they destroyed the crops at the Red 
Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies in Nebraska. 
General Augur reported in 1868 that grass- 
hoppers had entirely destroyed the gardens at 
Fort Kearny and Fort McPherson in Ne- 
braska and also at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, 
and Cainp Douglas, LTah. The Nebraska Ad- 
vertiser, May 23. 1867. quotes statements 



from Missouri newspapers that grasshoppers 
were destructive in parts of that state ; and 
tliey did some damage in Nemaha county. 

The Omaha Herald (weekly), July 11. 
1870, said that not since 1857, until last fall, 
was Nebraska visited by grasshoppers. They 
had usually appeared in great armies in the 
fall. They first appeared this year in the 
spring and seemed to have been born among 
us. The law of their migration was from 
north to south, rarely in the reverse direction. 
They had never appeared in damaging force 
east of Grand Island or north of the Platte 
river. "This year entire fields of wheat in 
Cass, Otoe, Nemaha, and Richardson have 
been utterly destroyed while others have been 
seriously damaged. Their numbers may be 
judged by the statement of a friend that in 
one spot he pushed a knife blade through a 
solid layer of junior grasshoppers while the 
air was swarming with the busy seniors." 

The N^cbraska Coiiiuioii-u'ealfh, August 15, 
1868, noteil that a grasshopper invasion in the 
neighborhood of Lincoln, lasting two days, 
jiartially used up a good many fields of corn. 
The most destructive invasion, however, was 
that of 1874. On the 8th of September Clov- 
ernor Furnas issued a proclamation apjraint- 
ing a committee of twenty citizens of the state 
to receive and distribute all contributions for 
the aid of sufferers from the pest. In his 
proclamation the governor said that the state 
as a whole had reaped a fair harvest. Though 
the corn crop had been greatly damaged by 
drought, as well as grasshoppers, the wheat 
and generally other crops had been saved. 
Corn being the principal first crop of the set- 
tlers, the loss had fallen hardest on the fron- 
tier counties where the people "have not the 
means to maintain themselves and their fam- 
ilies during the coming winter without outside 
hel])." He solicited contributions from "the 
older and richer portions of the state " The 
drought had been almost universal throughout 
the world and had been more injurious in Ne- 
braska than grasshoppers. The six hundred 
Granges in the state, twenty of them in the 
western part, began to gather relief data iii 
September, 1874. Though most of the suffer- 



THE GRASSHOPPER PLAGUE 



669 



ing was in the southwestern part, they re- 
ported York as one of the needy counties. At 
a meeting held in Lincoln, September 18th, J. 
Sterling ^lorton advocated making loans in- 
stead of gifts to the needy, and Alvin Saun- 
ders agreed with him. Colonel J. H. Note- 
ware reported that he had visited twenty-seven 
counties and had received about five hundred 
letters asking for aid, but not as beggars. He 
estimated that there were 10,000 people in the 
state in need of contributions. Amasa Cobb, 
for the committee on organization, reported 
"Articles of Association and Incorporation of 
the Nebraska Relief and Aid Society," whose 
principal place of business should be at 
Omaha. The object of the association was to 
collect money, provisions, clothing, seeds, and 
other necessary articles and to distribute them 
"among the people of the western cotmties of 
the state who had been reduced to necessitous 
circumstances by the drought and grasshop- 
pers of the past season." The capital stock 
of the association was fixed at $500,000, in 
shares of $1 each. 

In his message to the legislature, delivered 
January 8, 1875, Governor Furnas stated that 
cash receipts from all sources had been 
$37,279.73, and donations of various kinds of 
goods of the value of $30,800.73 had been re- 
ceived. The governor reported that all the 
railroads in the state, as well as those leading 
up to it, had transported donations free of 
charge. Generals Ord, Brisbin, Dudley, and 
Grover, of the regular army, had engaged in 
the work of relief with great zeal; the secre- 
tary of war had isstied clothing to those in 
need of it through General Ord ; many per- 
sons of the older states contributed nobly and 
very liberally to the relief fund; and the Ne- 
braska Patrons of Industry organized a state 
relief association and kindred societies in the 
other states also were actively engaged in the 
charitable enterprise. A very large propor- 
tion of those in the border counties and most 
in need of relief had been soldiers in the Civil 
war. 

In his annual message to the legislature of 
1877 Governor Silas Garber said that, con- 
trarv to scientific theories as to the habits and 



nature of the grasshoppers, they had again 
visited the state in the months of August and 
September, 1876 ; and although no serious 
damage was done immediately by the insects, 
yet they deposited great quantities of eggs 
from which there was apj^rehension for the 
safety of the crops. It was estimated that 
5,000 persons in eleven frontier counties were 
almost wholly dependent upon charity during 
the winter of 1874-1875. The Daily State Jour- 
nal of November 3, 1874, notes that contribu- 
tions from Chicago, Cincinnati, and other com- 
mercial points were coming in. The Journal 
estimated that there were 10,000 people to be 
cared for and $1,500,000 would be required, 
not more than one-tenth of which could be 
raised by the relief society. Rations furnished 
by the organization would not buy coal, wood, 
shelter, or clothing. There had been a whole- 
sale failure of corn — mainly planted on sod — 
and vegetables in a district running across the 
state from north to south and two hundred 
miles wide. The Journal argued that the 
legislature ought to spend $1,000,000 next 
spring in grading railroad lines so as to give 
these people remtmerative work. 

Professor A. D. Williams was sent out by 
the State Journal to investigate conditions in 
the Republican valley, and his letters to the 
paper contained many harrowing stories of 
want and suffering. For example, an elderly 
woman said that she lived on a homestead near 
Rockton, Furnas county, with her husband 
who was sixty-eight years old. They had lost 
all their stock, except one yearling, by cattle 
fever. When she left home a few days before 
there was flour enough to make not more than 
five loaves of bread. "When that is gone we 
do not know how or where to get more except 
as aided." Her son (living near) had a wife 
and six children. They had one cow, one 
horse, and two yearlings, of the Texas breed, 
which he could not sell for anything, and 
two pigs, but nothing to feed to them. Fifty 
potmds of flour was his total supply for the 
winter. His children were nearly destitute of 
clothing and he could get no work to do. 
Another man had a family consisting of 
mother, wife, and si.x: children. The mother 



670 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



had been sick for a year. He had a team, 
two cows, and three pigs, but nothing to feed 
them. He had raised no wheat and only nine 
bushels of rye. He had 120 pounds of flour 
left and no meat, and could not get work. He 
was almost destitute of clothing, his feet being 
tied up in pieces of straw or cane sacks. He 
had come to the county three years ago with 
$1,600. Another said, "I am fifty-six years of 
age, have a wife and son (a young man), a 
cow, and one horse and nothing to feed them. 
I planted fifty-five acres of corn and ten 
bushels of potatoes but raised nothing." He 
had nothing whatever to subsist on except as 
aided. 

A statement of the Harlan County Aid 
Society showed that in Republican precinct 
there were 313 persons — 186 adults and 127 
children. There were 4,150 bushels of wheat. 
but mostly owned by a few persons ; 55 bush- 
els of com ; 490 bushels of oats ; 432 of po- 
tatoes ; 89 cows; 46 oxen; 121 horses; 9 
mules; 213 hogs; young stock, 149; poultry, 
2,311. Seed was needed for 2,796 acres. 
seventeen families needed help and seven were 
entirely destitute. In Spring Creek precinct 
eleven families were destitute and eight more 
would need help within a week. In Sappa 
precinct eleven families were destitute and 
there were thirteen more with but a single 
sack of flour a week ago. In Prairie Dog pre- 
cinct nine families were entirely destitute, 
three others would need help within thirty 
days, and seven others within sixty days. The 
secretary said that there was greater destitu- 
tion in two precincts not reported than in Re- 
publican precinct. There were seventy fam- 
ilies in the county entirely destitute and fifty- 
eight more would be in need within three 
weeks. Mr. J. M. McKenzie — state superin- 
tendent of public instruction from 1871 to 
1877 — said that Furnas county was in worse 
condition than Harlan and clothing especially 
was needed there. "If any person doubts the 
reality let him do the people justice to visit 
them before he passes judgment." 

A woman of the neighborhood, with three 
children, called at the house in Furnas county 
where Professor Williams was stopping, to 



get a pail of salt. Their cow had died of 
starvation and she wanted to preserve the 
flesh for food. Her husband was absent hunt- 
ing bufifaloes. A man near Arapahoe had 
cultivated ninety acres of ground and got only 
a few beets. There were ten persons in his 
family, they had no money, and nothing to 
wear but gannents made of bagging. Another 
family of eleven had no shoes, were nearly 
destitute of clothes, and had been without 
bread for a week. Another man, near Repub- 
lican City, got fourteen and one-half bushels 
from four acres of wheat ; two ears of corn 
from eighteen acres ; and five bushels of po- 
tatoes. The only article of food he had was 
seven or eight pounds of flour. "A lady of 
culture with her dress torn to rags above the 
knees, with neither stockings nor shoes and no 
flour in the house, when asked if she needed 
assistance, burst into tears and said : T hope 
we are not paupers yet. . ." An elderly 
gentleman with an old coat sleeve fashioned 
into a sort of turbaned cap, with his body 
garments almost literally in tatters, and some 
old boot legs rudely cut and tied over his feet, 
said he could get along for clothing, if they 
would only give his family something to eat." 
General Dudley had made the best investi- 
gation of conditions. He found that local 
agents, though generally honest and conscien- 
tious, were not accurate in their estimates. 
They always said "about." He estimated that 
about one- tenth of the people raised enough 
wheat for their actual need ; another one-tenth 
had enough resources accumulated to carry 
them through ; another one-tenth lived by 
hauling relief stores from the railroads ; and 
the remaining seven-tenths on the upper Re- 
publican were dependent on relief for six or 
eight monlhs. The local estimate of the popu- 
lation was as follows: Harlan county, 3,000; 
Furnas county, 2,500; Red Willow, 1,000; 
Gosper, 260; Hitchcock, 200; total, 6,960. The 
correspondent thought there were proliahly 
5,000 people in all in these counties, 3,500 of 
whom must be fed for six or seven months or 
starve. Franklin county was as bad, and also 
other counties north and northwest that were 
not included. 



DROUTHS 



671 



In addition to the bonds and other aid pro- 
vided by the state legislature, an account of 
which has already been given, the federal Con- 
gress in the early part of 1875 appropriated 
$30,000 in money for the purchase of rations, 
and clothing to the value of $150,000, to be 
distributed among the people of the several 
states which had suffered from grasshoppers. 
Nebraska received only her share of this fed- 
eral aid. 

A convention to consider the grasshopper 
pest and to take action thereon was held at 
Omaha, October 25 and 26, 1876. An account 
of the ravages of the insect, in considerable 
detail, was prepared and signed by John S. 
Pillsbury, president of the convention, and 
Professors C. V. Riley and Pennock Pusey, 
secretaries. A memorial asking the federal 
Congress to establish a commission composed 
of three entomologists and three practical men 
of experience with the locusts, for the purpose 
of investigating the plague, and that the signal 
service be required to take observations of the 
movements of the insects, was signed by the 
governors of Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Nebras- 
ka, Minnesota, and Dakota ; by the state ento- 
mologists of Missouri and Illinois, respective- 
ly ; by ex-Governor Furnas and ex-Governor 
Saunders ; by Professors C. D. Wilbur and A. 
D. Williams of Nebraska ; and by Professors 
Pennock Pusey and Allen Whitman of Minne- 
sota. The memorial set forth that the grass- 
hoppers overran sixteen states and territories 
in the year 1876; that many settlers in that 
section had suffered a total loss of crops for 
four successive years ; and that the ravages of 
the insects had rapidly increased during the 
last twenty years. 

Repeated shortage of rainfall in 1890, 1893, 
and 1894 was disastrous to crops, especially in 
the western part of the state. On account of 
these losses a large number of people became 
dependent upon public charity, as in the period 
of grasshopper invasions. The legislature of 
1891 authorized the issue of bonds to the 
amount of $100,000 to run five years at four 
per cent interest, for the purchase of seed 
grain and other supplies to be distributed to 
those who lost their crops in 1890, through a 
board of relief consisting of nine members. 



The same legislature authorized counties to 
use their surplus funds and to issue bonds for 
the purchase of supplies to be sold at cost to 
such sufferers, and it appropriated $100,000 
from the state treasury for immediate relief. 
The legislature of 1895 appropriated $50,000 
for food and clothing and $200,000 for the 
purchase and distribution of seed, and feed 
for teams. County boards were also autho- 
rized to issue bonds and use surplus funds for 
the latter purpose. Tn 1891 supplies were dis- 
tributed in thirty-seven counties during about 
six weeks to an average of 8,000 families ; in 
1895, in sixty-one counties and to about 
30,000 families. Donations amounting to 
$28,999.38 were received from people in all 
parts of the country. 

A record of the precipitation in Nebraska 
for the years from 1849 to 1902 inclusive 
shows that it is distributed with remarkable 
uniformity throughout this long period, prob- 
ably more so than is commonly thought. A 
map prepared b}- the weather bureau of the 
University of Nebraska divides the state into 
six sections with reference to the amount of 
average annual precipitation covering a period 
of thirty-six years up to 1908 inclusive. The 
rainfall is highest in the southeastern section, 
reaching 30.21 inches ; in the northeastern sec- 
tion it is 27.65 ; in the central section, which 
extends about as far east as the eastern 
boundary' of Lincoln county, 24.64; the south- 
western section, 23.22 ; the northwestern sec- 
tion, extending from near the western boun- 
dary of Holt county to the western border, 
18.96 ; and the western section, which extends 
from the central section to the extreme wes- 
tern border of the state, 17.41. ' 

1 Below is a table prepared by G. A. Loveland, 
director of the weather bureau. University of Ne- 
braska, giving the average precipitation of the dif- 
ferent sections of the state for seven years : 









— 


^ 




^ 




JZ 




u 


■£ 


■•fi 


j= 




•z 


r/l 




3 







1902 


31.70 


41.35 


33.01 


28.05 


21.27 


19.17 


1903 


35.98 


37.21 


30.71 


25.50 


14.36 


19.88 


1904 


25.67 


29.43 


28-. 19 


22.89 


15.92 


18.19 


1905 


34.20 


35.92 


36.17 


33.30 


24.81 


25.52 


1906 


31.96 


29.85 


29.30 


23.51 


23.81 


23.48 


1907 


24.09 


29.07 


18.90 


16.90 


15.60 


18.58 


1908 


30.44 


38.30 


26.27 


24.55 


18.96 


23.14 



672 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



In Euroj)ean countries reforestation had 
long been a public care : and that important 
duty has been tardily undertaken by our own 
federal government. In Nebraska afforesta- 
tion was, from the first, instinctively and sed- 
ulously preached and jiracticed. The tree- 
planting impulse sjjrang from that clear and 
pressing necessity which has been acknowl- 
edged in a venerable aphorism as the mother 
of invention. Among the more superstitious 
Africans the Nebraska love and longing for 
trees would have developed into fetichism. Ac- 
cording to mythological tradition and poetical 
conceits groves have been the temples of the 
whole family of gods; but for the people of 
the Plains they promised a far more practical 
and substantial service in the form of physi- 
cal shelter and fuel. This need and hope led 
to the offering of rewards for planting trees 
and to setting apart a day for inculcating 
])lanting precepts and further encouraging its 
practice. 

At the meeting of the state board of agri- 
culture, held in Lincoln, Thursday, January 
4, 1872, Mr. D. T. Moore oft'ered the" follow- 
lowing resolution : 

Resolved. That in order to encourage the 
planting of forest trees in the state of Ne- 
braska, the State Agricultural Society will 
award premiums, in the year 1872 and every 
year thereafter, at the discretion of the board, 
to the person who will plant and cultivate the 
greatest number of acres in forest trees, said 
trees to be in a good, healthy, thrifty condi- 
tion and not more than four feet apart each 
way, as follows : For the best five acres or 
more planted in 1872, sixty dollars; for the 
second best fi\e or more acres planted in 1872, 
thirty dollars. 

J. Sterling Morton then oft'ered the follow- 
ing: 

Resolved, that Wednesday, the 10th day of 
April, 1872, be and the same is herebv set 
apart and consecrated for tree planting in the 
state of Nebraska ; and the state board of 
agriculture hereby name it "Arbor Day" ; and, 
to urge upon the people of the state the vital 
importance of tree planting, hereby offer a 
special premium of one hundred dollars to the 
county agricultural society of that county in 
Nebraska which shall, upon that day, plant 
properly the largest number of trees, and a 
farm liljrarv of twentv-five dollars worth of 



books to that person who, on that da v. shall 
plant properly in Nebraska the greatest num- 
ber of trees. 

On motion of James T. Allan, newspapers 
of the state were requested to keep the Arbor 
Day resolution standing in their columns until 
the next April, "to call the especial attention 
of the people of the state to the importance of 
the matter from time to time." 

Though the treeless environment has from 
the first imbued the people of Nebraska with 
the tree planting spirit, these formal admoni- 
tions greatly stimulated its enthusiasm ; and 
it was said that a million trees were planted 
in the state on the first Arbor Day. The Daily 
State Journal. April 11, 1872, said that James 
S. Bisho]) [jlanted 10,000 cottonwood, soft 
maple, Lombardy poplar, box elder, and yellow 
willow trees, that day. on his farm southwest 
of Lincoln. In the season of 1869, Closes 
Sydenham, the well-known pioneer of Buffalo 
county, headed an advertisement in the Jour- 
nal of evergreen and fruit trees with the slo- 
gan, "PLANT TREES! pl.\nt trees! plant 
trees !" displayed in three graded lines. J. 
Sterling Morton afterward adopted an es- 
cutcheon for his stationery composed of the 
])icture of a tree with this motto printed under 
it. There has been some dispute as to whether 
Mr. Morton really originated the Arbor Day 
idea. This probably grew out of the fact that 
many men simultaneously had in mind methods 
of this kind for promulgating tree planting. 
It would have been characteristic of ^Morton's 
alertness to catch and formulate the sugges- 
tion of this prevailing sentiment. At any rate, 
the phraseology of the Arbor Day resolution 
stamps Morton as its author. The next year 
— 1873 — the day was successfully observed 
without official notice. The state board of 
agriculture, at its January meeting, 1874, re- 
quested the legislature to make the second 
Wednesday of April of each year a legal holi- 
day and governors to issue proclamations in 
the meantime, exhorting the people to observe 
the day by planting forest, fruit, or ornamen- 
tal trees. Accordingly, on the 31st of March. 
1874, Governor Furnas issued a proclamation 
designating Wednesday, April 8th, of that 
year as \rbor Day. This was the first official 



FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS 



673 



recognition of the event. Successive govern- 
ors issued similar proclamations, annually, 
until the 22d day of April of every year — 
the anniversary of Morton's birthday — was 
made a legal holiday by act of the legislature 
of 18S5. 

This Arbor Day conceit, first promulgated 
by the Nebraska state board of agriculture, 
was generally adopted by other states. Its 
usefulness lay chiefly in calling attention to the 
esthetic and economic value of trees and thus 
stimulating the planting habit. In two re- 
spects, liowever, its effect was more or less 
unfavorable. The trees were naturally planted 
hastily and therefore improperly and, in many 
of the states which adopted Mr. Morton's 
birthday as the anniversary, too late in the 
season ; and it doubtless had a tendency to di- 
vert attention from the more important neces- 
sity and work of conserving forests and of re- 
forestation on a scientific and methodical plan. 
Since the advent of scientific forestry, by gov- 
ernmental direction and support, observance 
of the day has fallen into desuetude. 

The first organization of the Farmers' Al- 
liance in the United States occurred in the 
year 1879. Its principal activity was in the 
northwestern states, and its main object was 
to unite farmers for the purpose of promoting 
their economic interests, which involved politi- 
cal reform. The first Alliance for Nebraska 
was organized near Filley, Gage county, in 
1880. The State Alliance was organized at 
Lincoln, in 1881, when E. P. Ingersoll of 
Johnson county was chosen for the first presi- 
dent and Jay Burrows of Gage county, the 
first secretary. In 1887 the State Alliance was 
organized as a secret society at a meeting held 
in Lincoln, when a constitution, by-laws, rit- 
ual, and declaration of principles were formu- 
lated and adopted. While the declaration was 
comprehensive and quite idealistic, surcharged 
with philanthropic sentiment and radical plans 
for economic reform, the hard times which be- 
gan to be grievously felt in 1890 pushed the 
organization into practical politics. This move- 
ment naturally excluded other aims and broke 
up the organization of the society. 

The .-Mliance overshadowed and displaced 



the Patrons of Husbandry which at one time 
was active in Nebraska : but it no longer pre- 
serves an organization in the state. There are 
no available records of the proceedings of 
either of these important organizations, so 
that their historical data consist only of frag- 
mentary newspaper paragraphs. The prin- 
cipal features of the history of the Alliance 
are involved in the story of the political career 
of the populist party in this volume. The 
following sketch of the Patrons of Husbandry, 
from the Daily State Journal, of December 
21, 1876, is of some historical value. While 
the Alliance deliberately subverted its broader 
sociological aims by resolving itself into a 
political party, designing politicians deliber- 
ately broke into the Granges and this ended 
their usefulness and, probably, was instru- 
mental in ending their existence : 

The Nebraska state grange, which met in 
this city at 2 o'clock Tuesday, is an organi- 
zation that has attracted to itself a great deal 
of interest from all over the state, both within 
and without the order it represents. It was 
first organized in August, 1872, at which time 
subordinate granges existed principally in the 
river counties, and of these Cass county led 
off considerably in point of numbers. There 
were a few in Saunders county and one, the 
first organized in the state, in Harlan county, 
on the Republican river, of which J. H. 
Painter, Esa., was master. At the first or- 
ganization, Cass county, holding the balance 
of power among the delegates, secured the 
two chief offices in the state grange to her- 
self, Hon. William B. Porter, o"f Plattsmouth, 
being elected master, and William McCraig, 
of Elmwood, being chosen secretary. Nu- 
merous deputies were appointed with power to 
organize subordinate granges in every town- 
ship, and their efforts were rewarded with 
frequent meetings, to which the farmers and 
their wives, starved, as many of them were, 
for social entertainment and relaxation, very 
greatly gathered, heard the constitution and 
by-laws read and explained, listened to the 
honeyed words of the honest looking deputy, 
and, believing that they had at last found the 
panacea for all the ills that a farmer's life is 
subjected to, handed in their initiation fees, 
and were quickly instructed in all the myste- 
ries of the ritual, signs, grips, and passwords, 
and were declared Patrons of Husbandry or- 
ganized and ready for work. Thus grew the 
order. The deputies were active, and made 



674 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



hay while the sun (of grangerism ) shone 
brightly. As the annual state meetings fell 
due, the membership annually doubled until, 
in 1874, nearly 600 delegates were in the hall 
with their credentials, and from each grange 
in the state. 

At the annual meeting in December, 1873. 
the state grange decided to move in the matter 
of obtaining the staple commodities of their 
business from first hands, thus hoping to save 
to their members the profits and commissions 
they paid to agents and dealers in agricul- 
tural implements, household utensils, and some 
of the more staple cloths and groceries. Ac- 
cordingly the office of state purchasing agent 
was created, his compensation provided for, 
and the mistake committed of electing the sec- 
retary of the order, William McCaig, to the 
agency, he at the same time holding his posi- 
tion as secretary. McCaig had exalted ideas 
on the wonderf Illness and permanency of the 
order; and hence of its resources, and con- 
cluded that the true way for the Patrons of 
Nebraska to get implements was to manufac- 
ture them ; and whether correct or not, certain 
it is that two factories were started, one at 
Plattsmouth for the manufacture of corn 
plows, cultivators, and harrows, and one at 
Fremont for constructing a header, under the 
patents of one Turner. 

The factories seem not to have paid as was 
anticipated, and parties who had become se- 
curity for the material used soon found them- 
selves unpleasantly involved. The sureties in- 
cluded a few sound and well meaning men in 
this and Cass counties, and one or two others 
who meant well for themselves. The two 
brothers of the agent w'ere also interested in 
the enterprise, and when it was discovered 
that in some wav there had been a miscalcu- 
lation, and the Plattsmouth factory especially 
was calling for more money than it produced, 
it was charged that money sent to the agents 
in considerable sums for the purchase of ma- 
chinery, was never afterwards heard from 
nor any equivalent sent. The matter was 
touched upon somewhat at the annual meeting 
in 1874, but so little was then known that no 
suspicion of wrong was allowed to rest on 
anyone. The biennial election occurring at 
that meeting, Mr. Porter was reelected master, 
and Mr. E. H. Clark, of Blair, secretary ; but 
the purchasing agency was left in Mr. Mc- 
Caig's hands, he asserting his ability to clear 
everything up if given a little more time to de- 
vote thereto. 

It may be only just to remark in parting 
that all these A'entures and complications were 
woven together during the memoraljle grass- 



hopper raid of 1874 when the agricultural 
community were nearly prostrated in their re- 
sources, and that had ordinarily good times 
jirevailed, the factory venture might not have 
failed and the temptation to misappropriate 
moneys on hand, might not have existed. 

Everything was now thought to be serene 
in the secretary's office, as the new incumbent 
held the respect and confidence of all who 
knew him, and hence the afifairs of that office 
passed for a long time unnoticed, while the 
frequent attention of the executive was called 
to the business transactions of the purchasing 
agency which resulted in the relief of Mr. 
McCaig from the position in July, 1875, and 
the appointment of P. E. Beardsley, Esq., in 
his place. This office Mr. Beardslev has filled 
ever since ; his work, however, having been 
mainly the thorough overhauling and classify- 
ing of his predecessor's accounts. 

At the fifth annual meeting held in Fre- 
mont, in December, 1875, Worthy State Mas- 
ter Mr. William E. Porter resigned his office, 
for prudential reasons, and Hon. Church 
Howe, of Browiu ille, was elected his succes- 
sor. 

Meantime all was lovely in the secretarii''s 
office at Blair. A faint suspicion began to ex- 
ist that the new secretary was shaping his 
bookkeeping in such a manner as to cover up 
questionable transactions of the old. The ex- 
ecutive committee (the general committee of 
safety for the order) took occasion to look 
over his books, and the result of their investi- 
gation led to the resignation of Mr. Clark, and 
Mr. Beardsley was immediately installed as his 
successor, the secretary's office was moved to 
Lincoln, and Mr. Beardsley has attended to 
both offices for the past eight or nine months. 
As if the measure of their misfortiuie was not 
yet full, eventful fate has ordained that several 
suits, growing out of irregularities (not to 
use a more expressive term) of the first secre- 
tary and purchasing agent, have been com- 
menced by injured parties against the "State 
Grange of Nebraska," being the body com- 
posed of delegates who voted to appoint Mr. 
McCaig to be their agent. As purchasers 
they are doubtless to some extent liable, and 
what that extent may be will be decided in due 
time by the district and state courts. It will 
devolve upon the body assembled here today 
to consider thoroughly, carefully, and logi- 
cally, the events of the past and note well their 
causes and efTects. It will be w'ell for them 
to bear constantly in mind that on their action 
depends solely the life and future usefulness 
of the order, or its speedy dissolution in the 
state. Thev should not work in haste for 



TRANS-MISSISSIPPI EXPOSITION 



675 



they cannot afford to execute one reckless or 
ill considered act. They should profit by the 
lessons of the past, and entrust their future to 
none but able and trusty officers. They should 
in a groat degree be bold, self-reliant, and 
enterprising, exercising the while good judg- 
ment and discretion. Every proposition 
should be critically weighed, examined, and ad- 
justed, and no legislation blindly accepted, nor 
indeed blindly rejected. With deliberate 
councils and wise legislation we believe the 
Nebraska State Grange can recover its credit, 
strengthen its membership, regain public con- 
fidence, reclaim its old friends, and casting ofl 
the load of rascality and incompetency that 
has well nigh been its ruin, rise- in its renewed 
strength, and eventually accomplish the great 
mission of its existence, the elevation and en- 
nobling of the profession of the farmer. 

The twenty failures of national banks oc- 
curred in the period from 1891 to 1898 in- 
clusive, except one in 1886, while there have 
been 136 failures in the country at large since 
that time. No state bank failed in 1890 but 
there were ten failures from 1891 to 1900 in- 
clusive. Of the twenty national banks, the 
Capital National of Lincoln, the First National 
of Ponca, the First National of Red Cloud, 
the First National of Alma, and the First Na- 
tional of Neligh were wrecked through em- 
bezzlement and other frauds of their officers ; 
nine failed through "imprudent" management ; 
the rest of the failures, presumalily, may be 
attributed to the hard times, but whose hiost 
important effect was to disclose dishonesty and 
bad management. The failure of the Capital 
National of Lincoln occurred January 21, 
1893, and it caused great disaster and inex- 
pressible suft'ering. Its president, Charles W. 
Mosher, whose exploits as lessee of convict 
labor at the penitentiary have already been re- 
counted, ruthlessly gutted the bank. By an 
astonishing perversion of justice, as the pub- 
lic generally felt and believed, by pleading 
guilty he was let off' with a term of only five 
years in the penitentiary. The officers of the 
First National bank of Ponca and the First 
National bank of, Neligh were also prose- 
cuted and three of them were sent to the 
penitentiary. The Capital National bank of 
Lincoln paid dividends to the amount of 17.71 
per cent of the loss, $220,126 in all. A pro- 



digious amount of litigation grew out of this 
failure and there was much criticism on ac- 
count of the large sum expended in it. The 
legal expense of the receivership of this bank 
was $54,496. The First National bank of 
Ponca was a good second to the Capital Na- 
tional in the rascality of its officers. It paid 
22.40 per cent of its losses. The First Na- 
tional bank of Alma, also a "criminal" bank, 
paid 3.70 per cent : the First National bank of 
Holdrege nothing at all. The First National 
bank of Grant, which failed .August 14, 1894, 
paid 100 per cent ; and the First National Ijank 
of Blair which failed in 1886, also paid out in 
full- 

The Trans-Mississippi and International 
Exposition, held at Omaha June 1 to October 
31, 1898, was a splendid and very impressive 
exhibit of the ])roducts and resources of the 
section west of the ^lississippi river and es- 
pecially of the trans-Missouri part of it, and 
also of the great creative and executive ca- 
pacity of citizens of Omaha who conceived 
and, in the main, carried it to a successful is- 
sue. The exposition was projected at the an- 
nual meeting of the Trans-Mississippi Con- 
gress held at Omaha in November, 1895. Wil- 
liam J. Bryan presented the preliminary reso- 
lution declaratoi"y of the intention to hold the 
exposition and requesting the federal Congress 
to give the assistance usual in such cases. At 
a public meeting held in C)maha December 27, 
1895, it was decided "that the project of an 
exposition should be carried out." On the 
6th of June, 1896, the Congress of the United 
States appropriated $200,000 for the purpose 
of erecting a building and making an exhibit 
on the part of the federal government therem. 

- The records of the state hanking board show 
the following banks closed, with the amount of de- 
posits in such banks : 

Year No. Closed Deposits 

1890 none 

1891 8 no record See page 

1892 7 71,997.18 26, 

1893 17 652,175.79 .\nniial 

1894 8 197,283.25 Report, 

1895 17 584.655.80 1910. 

1896 42 1,156,888.81 

1897 5 144,507.34 

1898 2 35,730.06 

1899 1 13,829.96 

1900 1 39,975.91 



676 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



The Nebraska legislature of 1897 appropri- 
ated $100,000 for a similar purpose on behalf 
of the state and authorized the governor to ap- 
point a board of six directors — one from 
each congressional district — to expend the 
money appropriated in conjunction with "the 
board of directors of the corporation known 
as the Trans-Mississippi and International Ex- 
position Association." Douglas county ap- 
propriated a like amount to promote the en- 
terprise; and the city of Omaha expended 
about $30,000 in parking and otherwise orna- 
menting the grounds. (Jther states made ap- 
propriations as follows: Georgia, $10,000- 
Illinois, $45,000; Iowa, $30,000; Montana, 
$30,000: New York, $10,000; Ohio, $3,000- 
Utah, $8,000; .Arizona territory, $2,000; total 
public appropriations, $338,000. The sum of 
$175,000 was raised by private subscription 
of citizens of Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, 
Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, 
South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, 
Wyoming, and Los Angeles county, Califor- 
nia. The states of Georgia, Illinois, Iowa. 
Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New 
York, and Wisconsin erected creditable build- 
ings for their exhibits and social convenience, 
on the exposition grounds. The other states 
which contributed exhibits were Alabama, 
Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, In- 
diana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri. 
North Dakota, Nevada, r)hio, Oklahoma, Ore- 
gon, Penn.sylvania, South Dakota, Texas, 
Utah, Washington, Wyoming. The territo- 
ries of -A^rizona, Indian Territory, and New 
Mexico were also represented. 

At a meeting of citizens of Omaha held Jan- 
uary 18, 1896, articles of incorporation of the 
Trans-Mississippi International Exposition 
Company were adopted. The articles pro- 
vided for capital stock to the amount of one 
million dollars in shares of ten dollars each. 
At this meeting eleven directors were elected, 
namely: Gurdon W. Wattles, Jacob E. Mar- 
kel, W. R. Bennet, John H. Evans, Dudley 
Smith, Daniel Farrell, Jr., George H. Payne. 
Charles .Metz, Isaac W. Carpenter, Henry A. 
Thompson, Carroll S. Montgomery. January 
20th the directors elected officers as follows : 



Gurdon W. Wattles, president ; Jacob E Mar- 
kel, vice president ; John A. Wakefield, secre- 
tary. Decemljer 1, 1896, the corporation was 
reorganized and the number of directors in- 
creased to fifty. On the 16th, Gurdon W. 
Wattles was elected president ; Alvin Saun- 
ders, vice president ; John A. Wakefield, secre- 
tary ; Herman Kountze, treasurer; Carroll S. 
Montgomery, general counsel. An executive 
committee was chosen as follows : department 
of ways and means, Z. T. Lindsey ; of publi- 
city, Edward Rosewater ; of promotion, Gilbert 
M. Hitchcock: of exhibits, E. E. Bruce; of 
concessions and privileges, A. L. Reed ; of 
grounds and buildings, F. P. Kirkendall ; of 
transportation, W. N. Babcock. July 9, 1897, 
Mr. Hitchcock resigned the office of manager 
of promotion, and that department was there- 
upon consolidated with the department of pub- 
licity under the management of Edward 
Rosewater. James B. Haynes was superin- 
tendent of this department. The total cost 
of the buildings on the grounds, exclusive of 
state buildings, was $565,034. The total stock 
subscription collected was $411,745; total do- 
nations, $141,670.20; earnings of the exposi- 
tion, $1,389,018.38. After the settlement of 
the business of the exposition ninety per cent 
of the stock subscription was returned to 
stockholders, an unprecedented incident in ex- 
position experiences and which leaves nothing 
to be said in praise of the managerial skill of 
President Wattles and his directory. 

The general architectural effect of the e.xpo- 
sition deserved the praise it won on every hand 
and the electrical display of it, at night, was 
notably fine. This great enterprise was of ma- 
terial benefit to Omaha and Nebraska ; but its 
chief justification lay in the enjoyment it af- 
forded to the vast number of people to whom 
it was accessible and who had theretofore 
been out of range of great exhibitions of its 
kind. The resulting awakening and improve- 
ment of popular taste and insight into the me- 
chanical and industrial genius of the country 
were incalculably beneficent. 

In the year 1910 a comprehensive illus- 
trated history of the e.xposition was published 
by the authority of its board of directors. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

History of Railroad Construction — Final Indian Hostilities — Nebraska in the War 

WITH Spain 



Burlington & Missouri Lines. The com- 
pany now known as the Chicago, BurHngton 
& Quincy railroad company was chartered by 
a special act of the Illinois legislature, dated 
February 12, 1849, under the name of the 
Aurora Branch railroad company. 

The incorporators were citizens of Aurora, 
Illinois, and vicinity. This company built 
from Aurora to a connection with the Galena 
& Chicago Union railroad (now Chicago & 
Northwestern) at Turner Junction, about 
twelve miles. The track was laid with wooden 
rails faced with strap iron and was opened 
for business September 2, 1850. 

The Burlington & Missouri River railroad 
company was incorporated in Iowa, January 
15, 1852. The first incorporators were citi- 
zens of Burlington and vicinity. 

The Burlington Railroad. The original 
incorporators found it impossible to raise 
money enough to complete even the first 
thirty miles, and the aid of the parties who 
were then engaged in building the C, B. & 0. 
was sought soon after construction began. In 
1856 a valuable land grant was obtained, but 
even this was not sufficient to attract inves- 
tors, and it took about seven years to build 
the first seventy-five miles to Ottumwa. After 
that nothing was done until 1865, when it be- 
came possible to sell at a large discount the 
bonds of the road secured by the road itself 
and the land grant, and the road was slowly 
extended until it was completed to the Mis- 
souri river in 1870. 

A branch from Albia to Knoxville, Iowa, 33 
miles, was built and opened November 17, 
1873. 

The Quincy, Alton & St. Louis road, from 
Quincy, Illinois, to I^ouisiana and Hannibal, 



Missouri, 46 miles, was leased and operated 
by the C, B. & Q. from February 1, 1876. 

The C, B. & Q. also purchased the securi- 
ties of the St. Louis, Rock Island & Chicago 
railroad company and operated the road from 
October 1, 1876. The mileage was: Glad- 
stone to Keithsburg, Illinois, opened December 
17, 1869, 17 miles; Sterling to Rock Island, 
Illinois, opened January 12, 1870, 52 miles : 
Rock Island to Wann, Illinois, opened No- 
vember 21, 1870, 215 miles; Cleveland branch, 
2 miles ; a total of 286 miles. This road was 
incorporated in 1855 as the Rock Island & Al- 
ton railroad company and, after several 
changes of name and foreclosures, was finally 
reorganized as the St. Louis, Rock Island & 
Chicago railroad company and sold to the C, 
B. & Q. as above stated. 

In 1878 a branch was built from Hastings 
to Sidney, Iowa, opened December 2d, 21 
miles. 

In 1879 branches were built : Chariton to 
Indianola, Iowa, opened February 23, 33 
miles ; Creston to Fontanelle, Iowa, opened 
May 6, 28 miles ; Clarinda, Iowa, to Burling- 
ton Junction, Missouri, opened October 19, 
21 miles ; Leon to Mt. Ayr, Iowa, opened Sep- 
tember 26, 35 miles. 

In 1880 branches and extensions were built : 
Port Byron Junction to Rock Island, Illinois, 
opened January 6, 7 miles ; Knoxville to Des 
Moines, Iowa, opened January 10, 35 miles ; 
Red Oak to Griswold, Iowa, opened Januarj' 
17, 18 miles ; Mt. Ayr, Iowa, to Grant City, 
Missouri, opened September 20, 22 miles ; 
Hastings to Carson, Iowa, opened October 6, 
16 miles ; Bethany Junction to Bethany, Mis- 
souri, opened November 15, 29 miles. The 
Burlington & ^Missouri River railroad com- 



678 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




GkmrGK W. Hnl.DRKliCK 
General manager of the Burlington & Missouri Ri\er railroad west of 

Missouri river 



HISTORY OF RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION 



679 



pany in Nebraska was incorporated May 12, 
1869, and the construction of the line from 
Plattsmouth to Kearney was begun in July of 
that year ; it was completed to Kearney Junc- 
tion, Nebraska, September 18, 1872 This 
company was consolidated with the C, B. & 
Q. R. R. Co. under date of July 26, 1880, at 
that time having a mileage of 836 miles as 
follows : Plattsmouth to Kearney Junction, 
opened September 18, 1872, 191 miles ; Pa- 
cific Junction, Iowa, to Plattsmouth. Ne- 
braska, including the bridge across the Mis- 
souri river at Plattsmouth, 2 miles; Repub- 
lican' \''allev railroad, Hastings to Red Cloud. 
Nebraska, opened November 4, 1878, 41 miles : 
Red Cloud to Bloomington, Nebraska, opened 
March 10, 1879, 29 miles; Bloomington to 
Republican. Nebraska, opened January 25, 
1880, 12 miles: Republican to Orleans, Ne- 
braska, opened February 29, 1880, 12 miles ; 
C )rleans to Arapahoe, Nebraska, opened April 
17, 1880, 27 miles; Arapahoe to Indianola, 
Nebraska, opened May 23, 1880, 28 miles ; 
York to Aurora, Nebraska, opened November 
3, 1879, 22 miles ; Aurora to Central City, Ne- 
braska, opened April 4, 1880, 20 miles ; Am- 
boy to Hubbell, Nebraska, opened June 13, 
1880, 53 miles. 

The Omaha & Southwestern railroad was 
incorporated February 13, 1868, and leased to 
the B. & M. in perpetuity under date of July 
19, 1871. At the time of the consolidation of 
the C, B. & Q. and B. & M. the mileage of 
the O. (& S. W. was : Omaha to Oreapolis, 
Nebraska, opened in 1870, 17 miles; Crete to 
Beatrice, Nebraska, opened December 22, 
1871, 30 miles. 

The Atchison & Nebraska railroad was 
formed by the consolidation, August 10, 1871, 
of the Atchison & Nebraska and the Atchison. 
Lincoln & Columbus railroad companies. At 
the time of the consolidation of the C, B. & 
Q. and the B. & M. the mileage was: Atchi- 
son, Kansas, to Lincoln, Nebraska, opened 
September 1, 1872, 143 miles; Branch to Rule, 
Nebraska, built by the Burlington & South- 
western railroad and sold to the A. & N. in 
1871, 2 miles. 

The Lincoln & Northwestern railroad was 



leased to the B. & M. in perpetuity uwder date 
of January 1, 1880. At the time of the con- 
solidation of the C, B & Q. and B. & M. the 
mileage was : Lincoln to Columbus, Ne- 
braska, opened May 18, 1880, 73 miles 

In 1880 the C, B. & Q. also purchased the 
securities of the companies named below : 

Chicago. Burlington & Kansas City railway 
company, operated by C, B. & Q. from Sep- 
tember 1, 1880. This road was the result of 
consolidations and foreclosures of a numbei 
of local companies and at the time of its pur- 
chase by the C, B. & Q. the mileage was: 
Viola, Iowa, on the Keokuk branch of the 
C, B. & Q. to Laclede, Missouri, opened Sep- 
tember 27, 1876. 158 miles. 

Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs 
railroad company, operated by C, B. & Q. 
from April 17, 1880. At this date the mileage 
was: Harlem, Missouri, to Council Bluff's, 
Iowa, 193 miles ; Amazonia to Hopkins, Mis- 
souri, 50 miles; Nebraska City Junction to 
Missouri river. 4 miles; A\'inthrop Junction to 
Atchison bridge. 1 mile. This road was built 
by a number of local companies, the most im- 
portant of which were the Missouri Valley. 
St. Joseph & Council Bluffs and Council Bluff's 
& St. Joseph companies, the latter an Iowa 
corporation. All were consolidated under the 
name of the present company in 1869 and 
1870. The road from St. Joseph to Council 
Bluffs was opened in December, 1867. From 
St. Joseph south to Harlem and north to Hop- 
kins was built in 1869 to 1870. 

St. Joseph &- Des Moines railroad, a narrow 
gauge road, extending from St. Joseph to Al- 
bany, 48 miles, opened October 15, 1879. 

January 1, 1881, the C, B. & Q.. having 
previously purchased all the securities of the 
St. I,ouis, Keokuk & Northwestern railroad 
company, took possession of the road. At 
this date the mileage was as below : Keokuk, 
Iowa, to St. Peters, Missouri, 128 miles, Keo- 
kuk to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, 48 miles. The 
road from Keokuk to St. Peters was built in 
sections by a large number of local companies, 
which, by consolidations and foreclosure sales, 
were all merged into the St. L., K. & N. W. 
R. R. The first section completed was from 



680 



HISTORY UF NEBRASKA 



West Quincy to La Grange, Missouri, which 
was opened on January 31, 1871. It was 
opened to Keokuk in March, 1882. The .sec- 
tion from Keokuk to Mt. Pleasant was built 
in 1880 and 1881 and was opened to Alt. Pleas- 
ant January 31, 1881. 

In 1882 branches and extensions were built: 
Bethany to Albany, Missouri, opened October 
1, 18 miles; Beatrice to Wymore, Nebraska, 
opened February 7, 12 miles ; Wymore to En- 
dicott, Nebraska, opened July 25, 51 miles; 
Table Rock to Wymore, Nebraska, opened 
December 5, 38 miles ; Nemaha to Calvert, 
Nebraska, opened October 10, 9 miles ; In- 
dianola to Culbertson, Nebraska, opened Oc- 
tober 10, 23 miles. 

In 1882 branches and extensions were built : 
Sheridan to Paw Paw, Illinois, opened No- 
vember 27, 20 miles ; Clarinda, Iowa, to 
Northboro, Missouri, opened July 10, 18 
miles ; Culbertson, Neliraska, to Denver, Colo- 
rado, opened May 29, 244 miles ; Auburn to 
Tecumseh, Nebraska, opened August 30, 23 
miles. 

The Chicago, Burlington & Kansas City 
railway was extended from Laclede to Sum- 
ner, 10 miles, opened July 17, 1882. 

In 1881 the C, B. & Q., jointly with the 
Wabash company, began the construction of 
a road in Iowa from Van Wert on the Mis- 
souri, Iowa & Nebraska ( now Keokuk & 
Western railroad) to Shenandoah, Iowa, 95 
miles, opened to Shenandoah November 18, 
1882. This road was operated independ- 
ently until 1896 when the C, B. & Q. bought 
the Wabash interest and under date of May 
1, 1896, took possession of the property. 

In 1883 branches and extensions were built : 
Tecumseh to Beatrice, Nel>raska, opened Sep- 
tember 2, 33 miles ; Nemaha to Salem, Ne- 
braska, opened December 20, 18 miles ; Kene- 
saw to Holdrege, Nebraska, opened Novem- 
ber 15, 40 miles. 

In 1883 the C, B. & Q. purchased the stock 
of the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad com- 
pany and took possession of the road on May 
1, 1883. At that date the mileage was: Han- 
nibal to St. Joseph, opened February 15, 1859, 
206 miles ; Quincy to Palmyra, Missouri, 



opened April 1, 1860, 13 miles; Cameron to 
Missouri river, opposite Kansas City, opened 
November 30, 1867, 54 miles ; Kansas City 
bridge, opened July 3, 1869. The H. & St. j. 
R. R. Co. was incorporated February 16, 1847, 
and after the usual financial difficulties and 
reverses finally secured aid from the state in 
land and bonds and was completed as above. 
The bonds issued by the state were repaid by 
the company. 

In 1884 branches and extensions were 
built : Chester to Hebron, Nebraska, opened 
January 3, 12 miles ; De \\' itt to Tobias, Ne- 
braska, opened May 1, 24 miles; Holdrege to 
Oxford, Nebraska, opened August 4, 20 miles ; 
Aurora to Grand Island, Nebraska, opened 
June 8, 18 miles ; Odell, Nebraska, to Con- 
cordia, Kansas, opened August 24, 70 miles. 

The Chicago, Burlington & Kansas City 
railway was extended from Sumner to Bo- 
gard, 21 miles, opened October 17, 1884. 

In 1885 branches and extensions were built : 
Fontanelle to Cumberland, Iowa, opened Au- 
gust 5, 20 miles ; Holdrege to Elwood, Ne- 
braska, opened August 12, 28 miles ; Repub- 
lican, Nebraska, to Oberlin, Kansas, opened 
October 12, 78 miles. 

The Chicago, Burlington & Kansas City 
railway was extended from Bogard to Carroll- 
ton, Missouri, 7 miles, opened June 23, 1885, 
and the St. Joseph & Des Moines railroad, 49 
miles, was changed from narrow, to standard 
gauge and leased to the C, B. & Q. 

In 1886 branches and extensions were built: 
Galesburg to Rio, Illinois, opened October 31, 
12 miles ; Tobias to Holdrege, Nebraska, 
opened December 26, 113 miles; Elwood to 
Curtis, Nebraska, opened October 6, 44 miles ; 
Fairmont to Hebron, Nebraska, opened De- 
cember 6, 33 miles ; Edgar to Superior, Ne- 
braska, opened August 4, 26 miles ; Grand 
Island to Anselmo, Nebraska, opened Septem- 
ber 13, 101 miles: Aurora to Hastings, Ne- 
braska, opened September 13, 28 miles. 

In 1887 branches and extensions were built : 
( )maha to Ashland, Nebraska, opened Janu- 
arv 3, 25 miles ; Anselmo to Whitman, Ne- 
braska, opened May 30, 99 miles; Curtis, Ne- 
braska, to Cheyenne, Wyoming, opened De- 



HISTORY OF RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION 



681 



cember 11, 263 miles; Central City to Greeley, 
Nebraska, opened August 15, 44 miles; Gree- 
ley to Burwell, Nebraska, opened December 
15, 41 miles; Palmer to Arcadia, Nebraska, 
opened October 31, 54 miles; Ashland to 
Schuyler, Nebraska, opened October 24, 51 
miles ; Orleans, Nebraska, to Blakeman, Kan- 
sas, opened November 13, 95 miles. 

In 1887 the C, B. & Q. purchased the se- 
curities of the Denver, Utah & Pacific rail- 
road company, a narrow gauge road from 
Denver to Lyons, Colorado, with two short 
branches, aggregating about 49 miles of road, 
which had l)een built from 1881 to 1885. It 
was, however, operated independently and was 
not inckided in the mileage of the C, B. & Q. 
until 1889, when it was changed to standard 
gauge. 

In 1888 branches and extensions were built : 
Streator to Walnut, Illinois, opened June 1, 
59 miles ; Whitman to Alliance, Nebraska 
opened February 3, 69 miles ; Greeley Center 
to Ericson, Nebraska, opened May 7, 19 miles ; 
Blakeman to St. Francis, Kansas, opened July 
8, 39 miles. 

In 1889 branches and extensions were Ijuilt ; 
Alliance, Nebraska, to Cambria, Wyoming, 
opened December 1, 162 miles; Culbertson to 
Beverly, Nebraska, opened November 1, 10 
miles ; Denver to Lyons, Colorado, changed 
to standard gauge and leased to C, B. & O. 
September 1, 1889, 41 miles. 

In 1890 branches and extensions were built : 
Newcastle to Merino, Wyoming, opened Au- 
gust 5, 30 miles ; Edgemont to Hill City, South 
Dakota, opened Novemlier 4, 60 miles. 

In 1890 the C, B. & Q. began an extension 
of the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern 
railroad from old Monroe, on the main line 
to St. Peters, to St. Louis. This extension 
was 48 miles in length and included a double 
track steel bridge across the Missouri river at 
Bellefontaine Bluffs. It was opened on 
March 4, 1894. 

In 1890 the C, B. & Q. purchased the 
stock of the Chicago, Burlington & Northern 
railroad company, which had been built in 
1885 and 1886 from Oregon, Illinois, to St. 
Paul, Minnesota, and from Fulton to Savan- 
na, Illinois. The mileage owned is : Oregon, 



Illinois, to St. Paul, 332 miles ; Fulton to Sa- 
vanna, Illinois, 17 miles; Galena Junction to 
Galena, Illinois, 4 miles ; and also short 
branches to Dubuque, Iowa, and Winona, 
Minnesota, aggregating 2 miles. 

In 1891 branches and extensions were 
built: Beverly to Palisade, Nebraska, opened 
December 22, 8 miles ; Merino to Gillette, 
Wyoming, opened August 12, 48 miles ; Hill 
City to Deadwood, South Dakota, opened 
January- 28, 46 miles ; Minnekata to Hot 
Springs, South Dakota, opened July 3, 13 
miles. 

In 1892 the Chicago & Iowa railroad, which 
had for some years been controlled by the C, 
B. & Q. through its ownership of the C. & I. 
securities, was under date of January 1, 1892, 
leased to the C, B. & Q. The road was from 
Aurora to Forreston, Illinois, and from Flag 
Center to Rockford, Illinois, 23 miles. 

In 1892 branches and extensions were built : 
Palisade to Imperial, Nebraska, opened Au- 
rust 15, 31 miles ; Gillette to Sheridan, Wyom- 
ing, opened November 26, 101 miles. 

In 1893 branches and extensions were built : 
Englewood to Spearfish, South Dakota, opened 
December 11, 32 miles; Sheridan to Alger,. 
Wyoming, opened July 14, 7 miles. 

In 1894 an extension was built from Alger, 
Wyoming, to Billings, Montana, opened Oc- 
tober 28, 122 miles. 

Under date of May 1, 1896, the C, B. & Q. 
leased the Humeston & Shenandoah railroad 
from Van Wert to Shenandoah, Iowa, 112 
miles, which had heretofore been owned 
jointly by the C, B., & Q. and \\'abash com- 
panies. 

In 1899 branches and extensions were built : 
Grant City to Albany, Missouri, opened No- 
vember 6, 20 miles ; Arcadia to Sargent, Ne- 
braska, opened October 31, 19 miles. 

In 1899 the C. B. & Q. purchased all the 
securities of the Keokuk & Western railroad 
company and took possession of the propertv 
on May 1, 1899. The road extended from 
Alexandria, I^Iissouri, to \'an \\'ert, Iowa, 
143 miles, completed in 1880. and from Des 
Aloines, Iowa, to Cainsville. Missouri, 110 
miles, completed in 1884. 

In 1899 the C, B. & Q. purchased the se- 



682 



HISTORY OF NEHRASKA 



curities of the Chicago, Fort Madison & Des 
Moines railroad and took possession of the 
road on November 1, 1899. The road is from 
Fort Madison to Des Moines, Iowa, 71 miles. 

In 1900 branches and extensions were built : 
iMliance. Nebraska, to Guernsey, Wyoming, 
opened June 11, 131 miles; Northport, Ne- 
braska, to Brush, Colorado, opened September 
16, 113 miles; Hill City to Keystone, South 
Dakota, opened February 25, 9 miles. About 
twenty miles of this is leased from and used 
jointly with the Union Pacific. 

In 1906 a line was built from Ashton to 
Laketon or South Sioux City (107 miles), and 
in 1907 the line from Laketon to O'Neill, Ne- 
barska, was purchased. 

In 1909 a branch, 7 miles long, was built 
from Lincoln to Cobb Junction, Nebraska. 

The Chicago & Northwestern Lines. The 
Siou.x City & Pacific railroad company was 
organized August 1, 1864, in Iowa. The 
Northern Nebraska Air Line was organized 
June 7, 1867. The Sioux City & Pacific ac- 
(|uired the Northern Nebraska Air Line by 
consolidation September 15, 1868. It was 
built from California Junction, in Iowa, to the 
Missouri river and from the Missouri river 
near Blair, Nebraska, to Fremont, completed 
in February, 1869. Its Iowa organization re- 
ceived a small grant of lands through act of 
Congress, of July, 1864. It maintained a 
steamboat ferry at Blair in summer, aiul gen- 
erally, in extreme cold weather, a track on the 
ice across the Missouri river in winter, to the 
time of the comjiletion of the present Missouri 
X'alley & Blair railway and bridge, August 9, 
1882. 

The Fremont, Flkhorn & Missouri \'alley 
railway company was organized January 20, 
1869. This company never had any land 
grant. It commenced construction at Fre- 
mont, after the completion of the Sioux City 
& Pacific to that point in 1869. It was ex- 
tended in that year to Maple Creek, Nel)raska, 
ten miles north of Fremont. In ,1870 it was 
completed to West Point and in 1871 to Wis- 
ner, and there rested till 1879, when it was 
extended fifty-eight miles to (Jakdale, and in 
1880 to Neligh ; also from Norfolk Junction 



to I'lain\iew. In 1881 the branch was ex- 
tended from Plainview to Creighton, ten 
miles, and the main line in the same year was 
extended from Neligh to Long Pine, about 
ninety-eight miles. 

In 1882 it was further extended from Long 
Pine to Thacher, fifty miles, and again in 1883 
from Thacher to Valentine, six miles. The 
line to the military post of Niobrara, three and 
one-half miles north of Valentine, was con- 
structed and occujjied in the fall and winter 
of 1880-1881. 

At Valentine the Fremont, Elkhorn & Ivlis- 
souri Valley railroad rested till 1885, during 
which time, or before it commenced building 
again, the road was sold to the Chicago & 
North\,-estern railway company, and its fu- 
ture extensions were under the direction and 
ownership of that corporation. In 1885 it 
was extended to Chadron, and from Chadron 
to Buffalo Gap, South Dakota; in 1886 from 
Buffalo Gap to Rapid City, South Dakota. In 
September, 1886, another branch was com- 
pleted and opened from Fremont to Wahoo, 
and on October 25, 1886, the same branch was 
completed and opened to Lincoln. 

Another line was com])leted and opened De- 
cember 6, 1886, from Scribner to Lindsay. 
The next year, 1887, this line was extended 
through Boone, Stanton, and Madison coun- 
ties, to ( )akdale, the then county seat of Ante- 
lojie county. There it intersected and con- 
nected with the main line. That line was com- 
pleted June 13,' 1887. November 21, 1887, the 
Black' 11 ills line was completed and opened 
from Rapid City to Whitewood, South Dakota. 
In the same year, December 18, 1887, another 
line, having been constructed, was opened 
from Arlington to Irvington and to South 
Omaha, also to a junction with the C, St. P., 
M. & O. railway into Omaha. The same year 
anothfr line was built from the Fremont- 
Lincoln line on the west side of the Platte 
river to Linwood and extended from Lin- 
wood to (^leneva. In 1888 this line was ex- 
tended from Geneva to Superior and the Kan- 
sas state line. It was opened September 6, 
1888. In 1888 the branch now known as the 
"Niobrara line" was extended from Creieh- 



HISTORY OF RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION 



683 



ton to Verdigris, opened September 4th. In 
1S90 a line was built from Buffalo Gap to Hot 
Springs, South Dakota, and one from White- 
wood to Deadwood, both opened December 29, 
1890. In 1891 extensions into Deadwood 
were made, also, to Bald Mountain, some 
twenty or thirty miles of narrow gauge moun- 
tain line. 

In 1886 another line was constructed from 
the main line in Dawes county, from a point 
called Dakota Junction, to the Wyoming state 
line, and extended thence, under the name of 
the Wyoming Central railroad company, from 
the state line to Douglas, Wyoming, opened 
September 1st. November 21, 1887, the 
Wyoming Central was completed and opened 
from Douglas to Glen Rock, and in 1S88 from 
Glen Rock to Casper, Wyoming. In 1901-1902 
the Fremont, Elkhorn «& Missouri Valley com- 
pany built a line from Deadwood to Lead, 
standard (and by a third rail, narrow) gauge 
road. In 1901 and 1902 it constructed an ex- 
tension of the "Niobrara line" from Verdigris 
to Niobrara, on the Missouri river, near the 
mouth of the Niobrara river, into Boyd 
county, thence following the course of the 
Ponca creek northwesterly through Boyd 
county to the South Dakota line, and into 
Gregory county to Bonesteel. 

Missouri Pacific Lines. The roads operated 
at present under that name in the state of 
Nebraska were originally constructed by the 
Missouri Pacific railway company of Ne- 
braska. The line extending from the south- 
ern boundary of the state to Papillion was 
completed July 1, 1882; Sarpy county exten- 
sion of the iMissouri Pacific railway, extend- 
ing from Papillion Junction to the Sarpy 
county line, completed December 1, 1886; 
Omaha Belt railway, from Sarpy county line to 
Omaha, completed December 1. 1886; Lincoln 
branch of the Missouri Pacific railway, from 
Lincoln Junction, near Weeping Water, to 
Lincoln, completed August 25, 1886; Ne- 
braska .Southern railway, Auburn Junction to 
Nebraska City, completed August 28, 1887 ; 
Nebraska City extension of the Missouri Pa- 
cific railway, Nebraska City to Weeping Water 
Tunction. completed August 28, 1887; Crete 



branch of the Missouri Pacific railway, ex- 
tending from Talmage to Crete, completed 
November 1, 1888. The Kansas City North- 
western line only extends practically from 
Simimerfield to Virginia, within the state of 
Nebraska, and that portion of the Pacific 
railway in Nebraska between Superior and 
Prosser is all there is of that railroad in Ne- 
braska. 

The Missouri Pacific railway in Nebraska 
was constructed under the direction of Mr. 
Jay Gould and Mr. H. M. Hoxie, president 
and vice president, respectively, of the parent 
corporation, the Missouri Pacific railway com- 
pany, the former residing in New York city 
and the latter at St. Louis, Missouri. 

The first officers of the Pacific railway in 
Nebraska were: A. S. Everest president, 
Atchison, Kansas ; F. P. Bonnell, vice presi- 
dent, Superior, Nebraska ; P. S. Williams, sec- 
retary, Superior, Nebraska ; C. E. Adams, 
treasurer, Superior, Nebraska. This road was 
constructed under the direction of Mr. Jay 
Gould, president, and Mr. S. H. H. Clarke, 
vice president of the Missouri Pacific railway 
company. 

Rock Island Lines. On July 13, 1892, the 
Chicago Rock Island & Pacific railway was 
extended from the Missouri river to Lincoln, 
a distance of ■ 57 miles ; the same year or the 
next, the line was completed from Lincoln to 
Belleville, Kansas, to connect with the main 
line to Denver, about 70 miles in Nebraska ; 
the branch from Fairbury to Nelson is 51 
miles, making a total of 178 miles. 

The Midland Pacific Railroad Lines. Mr. 
Thomas J. Ryan, who has been a conductor 
on the Midland line between Lincoln and Ne- 
braska City continuously since 1873. contri- 
butes the following ; 

It was intended to build the road [Midland 
Pacific] from Nebraska City to Grand Island, 
but the original company built it only as far as 
Seward and graded as far as York, when, in 
the year 1877, it was bought by the Burling- 
ton & Missouri company. The officers of the 
road in the early seventfes were ; B. F. Smith, 
president ; J. N. Converse, vice president and 
general superintendent ; J. H. Wheeler, secre- 
tary and treasurer; N. B. Kendall, chief en- 
gineer ; N. K. Fleming, general freight and 



684 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ticket agent ; M. A. Showers, trainmaster and 
assistant superintendent; J. P. Taylor, road- 
master. The lirst engine arrived opposite Ne- 
braska City in December, 1S69, and was trans- 
ferred across the Missouri river on a flat boat. 
In process of loading, it got away on the in- 
cline from the river bank and ran over the boat 
and plunged into the river beyond, leaving but 
a few inches above water. It was necessary 
to construct a pair of shears above the engine 
to raise it and pull it back on the boat. 

In a few days this was done and the engine 
was safely brought to the west side of the 
river, a channel for the boat's passage having 
been cut through the ice. A track was laid 
from the landing as far as South Table creek, 
a double line of rope was attached to the en- 
gine and a number of citizens of Nebraska 
City pulled it off of the boat and up the track 
to a point opposite the place where the starch 
works now stand. The first flat cars were 



hauled across the river, the car trucks being 
drawn by oxen on the ice and the car bodies, 
loaded on heavy timber wagons, were drawn 
by oxen also. Track laying began in January, 
1870, and reached Dunbar that year. Grad- 
ing, however, was continued on the line west 
of Dunbar: and in January, 1871, track lay- 
ing was resinned. The road was finished to 
Lincoln the following April. About the year 
1872 the same company began to build what 
was known as the Brownville, Ft. Kearney & 
Pacific railroad. This road was graded nearly 
to Tecumseh, and ten miles of track laid, but 
this was all taken up except about two miles 
which extended up the river from Brown- 
ville. 

In the year 1874 a road was built from this 
track to Nebraska City, and trains were run 
to Brownville in March, 1875. The company 
did a fairly good business for a year or two 
before it sold the road to the Burlington. 



UNION P.\CIFIC R.^ILRO.-\n 



Statement showing mileage of the Union Pacific railroad within the state of Nebraska and year 

completed and placed in operation 



1^2 






Main 


Second 


Third and 


Total all 


o-oS 


FROM 


TO 






Fourth 


Main 








Track 


Track 


Tracks 


Tracks 


Maii 


1 

•c Link ! 

1 










1 
1872 Iowa-Nebraska State Line function Switch (Omaha) 


1.52 








1866 Junction Switch (Omaha) Summit 


1.35 








1908 Summit Lane 


11.61 








1866 Lane |M. P. 270 (Brady Island) 


246.48 








1867 M. P. 270 (Brady Island) INeb.-Colo. State Line 


99.96 








1867jCo!o.-Neb. State Line IXeb.-Wyo. State Line 


93.56 








1866! Initial Point Spur 


3.95 








1887[ Iowa-Nebraska State LinejTenth Street, Omaha 




0.65 






18841 Tenth Street, Omaha Summit 




2.22 






19081 Summit |Lane 




11.61 






1906 Lane |Vallev 




11.25 






1907 Valley jSanberg 




15.52 






19081 Sanberg i Benton 




33.41 






1900; Benton 1 Columbus 




7.89 






19101 Columbus Loup River Br. 




1.91 






19091 Loup River Bridge Silver Creek 




15.60 






19071 Silver Creek Lockwood 1 




38.46 






19001 Lockwood lAlda 1 




13.73 






1907! Alda . JBuda 1 




29.79 






19001 Bnda [Watson's Ranch ! 




10.07 






1910! Watson's Ranch Lexington ! 




29.85 






19111 Lexington Yards 1 




0.27 






1S091 Lexington IMarke! ! 




5.81 






19!0!Markel jVroman ! 




23.69 






1909iVroman |Bradv Island 1 




7.24 







HISTORY OF RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION 



685 



ilc 










•ss-i 






Main 


Second 


Thirdand 


Total all 


O-^S 


FROM 


TO 






Fourth 


Main 








Track 


Track 


Tracks 


Tracks 


1910 


Brady Island 


Keith 




13.281 






1909 


Keith East End North Platte Bridge 




7.40 






1910 


West End No. Platte Br. jO'Fallons 




18.23 






1911 


O'Fallons 


Neb.-Colo. State Line 




62.59 






1908 


Omaha 


Summit 






4.14 






Total, 




458.43 


360.47 


4.14 


823.04 


Bra> 


ICHES 












Old Line — Siiiiunit to Lane 












1866 Summit 


Lane 


20.56 








1884! At Summit 






1.06 






18861 Summit 


M. P. 5.93 (Stock Yards) 




1.91 






1890IM. P. 5.93 (Stock Yards) 
1 


Gilmore 




3.86 






i 
Beatrice and Manhattan Branch 


es 










1877 [Valley 


Lincoln 


.58.10 








1884 Lincoln 


Beatrice 


38.40 








1881 1 Beatrice 


Nebraska Kansas State Line 


24.90 








18811 Blue Spr 


ngs Spur 


0.67 








Stroinsbtirq Branch 












1877 


Valparaiso 


David City 


24.48 








1S78 


David City 


West Line Butler County 


13.70 








1879 


West Line Butler County 


Stromsburg 


15.12 






1906 


Stromsburg 


Central City 


21.98 








Norfolk Branch 












18791 Columbus 

i 


Norfolk 


*50.37 








1 
Albion Branch 












18801 Oconee 


-Albion 


34.54 








Cedar Rapids Branch 












1883 [Genoa 


Fullerton 


14.60 








1884|Fullerton 


Cedar Rapids 


15.95 








1902! Cedar Rapids 


Spalding 


13.87 








Ord Branch 












1880 


Grand Island 


St. Paul 


22.23 








1882 


St. Paul 


North Loup 


26.63 








1886 


North Loup 


Ord 


11.91 








1882 


(Scotia Spur) Scotia Jet. 


Scotia 


1.37 








! 

Loup Citv Branch 












1885 [St. Paul 


Sherman County Line 


20.16 








1886|ShermanCo. Line 

1 


Loup City 


19.24 








1 
Pleasanton Branch 












1887[Boelus 


Nantasket 


9.53 








18Q0INantasket 


Pleasanton 


12.53 








19051 Pleasantc 

i 


y.i Yards 


.03 

1 








1 
Kearney Branch 


i 


1 
1 








1890 


'Kearney 


1 Callaway 


1 65.74 









686 



HISTORY OF NECR.\SK.\ 



i'sg 


FROM 




TO 


Main 
Track 


Second 
Track 


Third and 
Fourth 
Tracks 


Total all 
Main 
Tracks 


19001 

North Platte Branch 

1907 O'Fallons 

19081 Lutherville 

]909IOshkosh 

1911 Northport 


Callaway Yard.s 

Lutherville 
Oshkosh 
Xorthport 
Gering 


.05 

62.10 

8.28 
44.50 
30.64 








I Total, 




682.18 6.831 


689.01 



I 



Total Main Line and Branches. 



|1140.61| 367.301 4.14J 1512.05 



*IncliKle.s 0.37 of a mile owned jointly with C, St. P., M. & O. Ry. at Norfolk, Neb. 



Final Indian Hostilities. The reports 
of the secretaries of the interior, the commis- 
sioners of Indian affairs, and Indian agents 
on one hand, and of the secretaries of war and 
the military officers stationed on the western 
plains, on the other, afford a comprehensive 
and reliable history of the war with the In- 
dians, which continued, with occasional cessa- 
tion, throughout our state period, until the In- 
dians had become adjusted and adapted to the 
reservation system. The report of the secre- 
tary of the interior for 1874 indulges in rather 
premature felicitation over the evident success 
of the policy of inducing or compelling the 
roaming tribes to settle on reservations. 
Though the severest fighting occurred after- 
ward, hostilities were almost ended by the cam- 
paign of 1876-1877, in which the annihilation 
of General Custer's command of five com- 
panies occurred, on the Little Bighorn river, 
June 25, 1876. The number killed was 259 ; 
wounded, 53. Llostilities finally died out with 
the year 1879. 

The policy of dividing jurisdiction over the 
Indians between the dejjartment of war and 
the department of the interior was at least un- 
fortunate. The constant clash between these 
departments caused much scandal and tended 
to irritate the Indians and encourage their hos- 
tility. In his report to General Grant, com- 
mander-in-chief, dated January 25, 1867, ^la- 
jor-General John Pojie, who was commander 
of the department of the Missouri, 1866-1867, 
severely criticised this arrangement. The 
building of the I'acitic and other western rail- 
roads meant to the Indians the invasion and 



subsecjuent occujjation of their domain, and 
naturally incited a spirit of fierce hostility and 
resistance. 

General \\ illiam T. Sherman, writing to the 
secretary of war, from Fort McPherson, Ne- 
braska, June 17, ■1867, doubted the belief of 
General J. B. Sanborn, one of the six commis- 
sioners appointed in February of that year to 
investigate Indian conditions, that peace could 
be brought about. He said : "My opinion is 
that if fifty Indians are allowed to remain be- 
tween the Arkansas and the Platte we will 
have to guard every stage' station, every train, 
and all railroad working parties. In other 
words, fifty hostile Indians will checkmate 
3,000 soldiers. Rather get them out as soon 
as possible, and it makes little difference 
whether they be coaxed out by Indian com- 
missioners or killed." General Sidly, also one 
of the commissioners, wrote to the commis- 
sioner of Indian aft'airs, June 22, 1867, that a 
large number of the Indians west of the Mis- 
souri river were still hostile. "It is as hard 
for an ignorant wild Indian as it is for an edu- 
cated, cultivated white man to remain quietly 
at home starving to death, having no means 
of hunting, being obliged to kill his horses to 
keep himself and children alive, and at the 
s;inie time not allowed to purchase arms and 
ammimition to kill small game with, while he is 
visited daily by Indians from the hostile camp 
trying to induce him to join them, and sees by 
their warring with impunity on the whites, 
they have more horses and mules than they 
want, and plenty to eat, and procure all the 
arms and ammunition they want." His 



FINAL INDIAN HOSTILITIES 



687 



remedy was to provide for the needs of the 
peaceable Indians and vigorously jjunish the 
hostiles. 

In the Omaha Hei-ald (\veei<ly). September 
5, 1873, Dr. George L. Miller, in his best, 
though characteristically extravagant style, 
boldly defends the revolt of the Indians. They 
were "simply defending their country and 
homes against armed invasion." 

This is the standing crime of the red man. 
He fights for life and liberty against lawless 
encroachment upon his birthright and fights 
bravely, as brave and earnest men always fight. 
But the Indian is not merely brave in war. 
He is logical and convincing in argument, sur- 
passingly eloquent in oratory, and in his un- 
corrupced life has a power to perceive the 
truth, and a courage to tell it, that would put 
to shame the race that first corru])ts, then 
wrongs, and then crushes and slays him. No 
man who shall hereafter write the history and 
doom of the red man need go farther than the 
names with which, our country is made so 
musical to find that the Indian is also a poet 
of the highest type, although he can neither 
write nor steal rhymes, nor discuss feet or 
measures with the learned and cultured. 

That Red Cloud is a far abler man than 
our present minister to St. Cloud (Elihu B. 
Washburne), we have not a particle of doubt. 
That Washakie is the superior, intellectually 
and morally, of two-thirds of our United 
States senators, we have as little doubt, and 
that Spotted Tail has more wisdom and vir- 
tue than the president of the United States 
it would be an insult to Spotted Tail to 
question. That Little Thunder, whom Har- 
ney lied into ambush, was Harney's equal as 
a warrior, with the utmost respect for the 
hero of Ash Hollow and Chapultepec, we shall 
always believe, and that Sitting Bull is an 
overmatch for Custer, as a stranger to both, 
we do not hesitate to affirm. 

The subsequent annihilation of Custer's 
command at the battle of the Little Bighorn, 
through Sitting Bull's strategv, seems to vindi- 
cate the last comparison and to invest the 
others -with plausibility, at least. Red Cloud 
and his band of Ogalalla Sioux were counted 
as hostile up to 1870. This famous chief is 
characterized by the commissioner of Indian 
affairs in his report for that year. "He is an 
Indian with considerable administrative and 
executive abilitv. As a warrior, he is famous 



for energy and bravery, and possesses very 
great influence over his tribe. The circum- 
stances connected with his visit to Washington 
and the East, and the impression created bv 
his boldness, eloquence, and ability, are too 
well known to require more than an allusion 
to that visit at this time." Red Cloud has 
counselled peace on all occasions since his re- 
turn ; but he was the genius of the war in the 
northwest, the most tragic incident of which 
was the destruction of Lieutenant Colonel Fet- 
terman's party of seventy-nine soldiers and 
two citizens at Fort Phil. Kearny, December 
21, 1866. The secretary of the interior, in his 
report of 1872 (p. 403), estimates that there 
were 61,000 Indians between the Union Pa- 
cific and Central Pacific railroad and the pro- 
posed southern route, starting west from 
Springfield, Missouri ; 92,000 between the 
proposed Northern Pacific and the Union 
and Central Pacific; and 36,000 between the 
Northern Pacific and the British boundary. 
In the same report (p. 597) the superintendent 
of the Omaha superintendency says that the 
Brule and Ogalalla are still making raids on 
the Pawnee. In the report for 1874 the sec- 
retary says that, after great difficulty, the 
Sioux, with the exception of two bands, have 
been enrolled in eleven agencies where they 
receive subsistence. 

The Nebraska legislature of 1875 adopted a 
joint memorial and resolution stoutly demand- 
ing the removal of the Red Cloud and Spotted 
Tail agencies from Nebraska, where they had 
been located in 1874 without the consent of 
the state under color of the treaty of 1868. In 
1876 there were no hostilities in Nebraska, but 
there was constant war with the Sioux in Da- 
kota and Wyoming, which included the Custer 
massacre of June 25th. According to the re- 
port of the secretary of war for 1867, the In- 
dians made a systematic attack on the Platte 
route from both north and south. General 
Sherman went in person to Fort Sedgwick and 
remained there from June 6th to the 22d. The 
redoubtable General Custer was at Fort Mc- 
Pherson in June with six companies of the 
Seventh cavalry. This post was the center of 
operations at that time. The ui:)per Republi- 



688 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



can river was patrolled, and also the country 
west to the Colorado line. In his report for 
1867, General Augiir, commander of the de- 
partment of the Platte, speaks of the excellent 
service of Major Frank North's four com- 
panies of Pawnee scouts. This contradicts 
Eugene Ware's disparaging estimate of them 
in his history of the Indian war of 1864. Gen- 
eral Sherman said that there was little actual 
danger of Indians in 1867 hut a great deal of 
apprehension of it. General Augur reported 
that depredations were begun in October, 
1867, extending from Plum creek to Fort Fet- 
terman — 400 miles — and he had placed 
troops at every railroad station between Fort 
Kearny and Cheyenne. During 1868 scouting 
parties and expeditions were sent out in vari- 
ous directions from Fort McPherson, their 
usual object being to recover stock stolen by 
Indians. During 1869 troops were kept busy 
protecting the Union Pacific railroad, from 
Fort Kearny westward, and other lines and 
settlements in the western part of the state. 
Red Cloud had quieted the Indians on his re- 
turn from Washington in 1870. On the 4th 
of April General Augur dispatched Company 
C, Second cavalry, from Omaha barracks to 
the southwestern part of the state where there 
had been dejiredations for the last five years. 
About fifty Indians appeared May 15th: but 
at sight of the soldiers they quickly dispersed. 
There were also unimportant excursions in the 
northwest part of the state. General Augur 
reported that not a white man had been killed 
by Indians in the department of the Platte 
during 1871. and Fort Kearny and Fort Sedg- 
wick were abandoned that year, "being no 
longer necessary." A camp of one company 
of cavalrv and one of infantry was established 
in April on the Loup river, thirty miles north- 
west of Grand Island, for the protection of 
settlers ; and another, with a like force, on the 
Republican, directly south of Fort Kearny. 
The Indians were receding before white pres- 
sure. These Nebraska outposts were placed 
sixty miles farther west than those of the year 
before. Companies of cavalry were still main- 
tained at Plum Creek and ( )'Fallon's, on the 
Union Pacific railroad, for the protection of 



the road and "neighboring interests." In 1872 
Fort McPherson was the headquarters of the 
Third regiment, one company of which was at 
Red Willow camp and two at Sidney barracks. 
These were the only posts in Nebraska, except 
( )maha barracks, headquarters of the Ninth 
regiment. There were no general hostilities in 
the division of the Missouri this year. Con- 
ditions were about the same in 1873. The 
actual hostilities were in Dakota. They were 
directly incited by the encroachment of the 
Northern Pacific railroad. The military force 
in the department of the Platte — Iowa. Ne- 
braska, Utah, Wyoming — comprised 1,502 
cavalry and 2.704 infantry. In the winter of 
1874 six companies of cavalry and eight of in- 
fantry were sent to suppress threatened 
troubles at the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail 
agencies in Nebraska. Otherwise conditions 
were similar to those of the late preceding 
years. Scouting parties were detailed to pro- 
tect surveying parties. 'Brigadier General 
Crook, the famous Indian fighter, was com- 
mander of the department of the Platte in 
1875, succeeding General Ord. Fort HartsufF 
was established September 5, 1875, on the 
north side of the Loup river, in Valley county: 
the sub-station of Fort McPherson at North 
Platte was created an independent post, March 
6th ; and during the year the few btiildings 
left at Fort Kearny were removed to North 
Platte and Sidney barracks. In ]\lay there 
was an unim])ortant disturbance at the ^\"inne- 
bago agency which was quieted by a small 
military detail. Between the 24th of Novem- 
ber and the 14th of May eighteen officers of 
the de])artment were engaged in enrolling vic- 
tims of the grasshopper invasion of 1874 in 
Nebraska and Iowa. On the 23d of April, 
Lieutenant Austin Henley, with forty men of 
the Sixth cavalry, destroyed nearly all of n 
party of seventy Cheyenne desperadoes who 
attempted to make their way across the Platte 
to the Sioux country. On the 23d of June, 
1875, a treaty was negotiated and signed at the 
Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies which 
relinquished the troublesome privilege, re- 
served in the treaty of 1868, ofhunting in that 
part of Nebraska north of the Platte river and 



FINAL INDIAN HOSTILITIES 



689 



on the Kepubican river. In that year the total 
reported number of Sioux was 42,778; and 
thev were grouped about sixteen agencies. Sit- 
ting Bull's rebel band of 3,000 were still out, 
and a great campaign against them, begun in 
the early part of 1876, led to the destruction of 
General Custer's command, at the battle of 
the Little Bighorn river, June 25th of that 
year. A vigorous campaign against Sitting 
Bull's force, under General Sheridan's general 
supervision and commanded by General Miles. 
drove it across the British boundary. On the 
24th of October, a detachment of the Fourth 
cavalry, of the Fort Robinson garrison, cap- 
tured and disarmed a troublesome band of 
Indians at the Red Cloud agency, led or in- 
cited by Red Cloud himself. In the spring of 
1877, Colonel Miles surprised and cut to pieces 
Lame Deer's band, and killed the chief. Con- 
sequently, September 10th, the remnant of the 
band, 224 in number, surrendered at Camp 
Sheridan. General Sheridan, reporting the in- 
cident, declared : "The Sioux war is now 
over." Crazy Horse and his band had sur- 
rendered in May ; but he mutinied in Septem- 
ber and was killed in the encounter. The re- 
moval of the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail 
agencies from Nebraska in November, 1877, 
ended Nebraska Indian troubles; and after 
Red Cloud and his band were finally settled at 
the Pine Ridge agency, in 1878, the formidable 
chief became permanently peaceful. The re- 
moval of these agencies was attended by the 
usual scandals. The Indians suffered intensely 
on the journey from cold and privations, and 
the carrier contractors worked oiif the usual 
graft in over-charges and delinquencies. Gen- 
eral Crook boldly denounced these outrages. 

The last serious Indian tragedy in Ne- 
braska resulted from the attempt of a band of 
Cheyenne Indians to escape from Fort Robin- 
son. They had deserted their resrvation in 
Indian territory in September and fled north- 
ward, but were captured in the sandhills about 
forty miles southeast of Camp Sheridan and 
confined at Fort Robinson. They were deter- 
mined to sacrifice their lives rather than return 
to the insufferable conditions of which they 
complained at that reservation. Accordingly, 



on the night of January 9, 1879, they broke 
from their confinement, after a desperate fight 
with the sentinels, and retreated to the hills ; 
but nearly all of the band of sixty men and 
many of the women and children were killed 
bv the pursuing soldiers. General Crook com- 
plained bitterly of the bad management which 
led to this unnecessary butchery. 

Nebraska Commonzvealth. September 7, 
1867, quotes from the Nebraska City Press: 
Judge John F. Kinney, one of the six special 
Indian commissioners, had just returned home 
after six months' absence, visiting all friendly 
Indians between the Platte and the Yellow- 
stone rivers to separate them from hostiles. 
The commission conferred with Spotted Tail 
near Fort Sedgwick, April 1st, and assigned 
his band a temporary residence south of the 
Platte; then held a conference at Fort Lara- 
mie with 500 friendly Indians who agreed to 
join Spotted Tail. When Generals Sully and 
Parker, of the commission, went up the Mis- 
souri river, via Omaha, Commissioners San- 
born, Beauvais, and Buford remained at Lara- 
mie, and Judge Kinney went to Fort Phil. 
Kearny to confer with the Crows. He met 
1.800 of them; but the first day Sioux and 
Cheyenne raided the Crows and drove oft' 
100 horses. The Crows pursued and recap- 
tured all but seven, and killed three Sioux. 
The Sioux and Cheyenne hung around the fort 
almost daily, killing small parties of soldiers 
and citizens. The Crow country lay between 
the Powder and Yellowstone rivers, and Com- 
missioner Kinney promised that a large mili- 
tary expedition would be sent for their pro- 
tection. He took a mass of testimony relative 
to the Phil. Kearny massacre. About fifty In- 
dians attacked a wood train near the fort and 
Lieutenant Colonel William J. Fetterman and 
eighty (seventy-nine) soldiers were sent to 
their rescue. The Indians retreated, leading 
Fetterman on to a ridge, on either side of 
which 2,000 Indians were concealed, and they 
killed all the soldiers. Sixty-five bodies were 
found and the ground was still stained with 
blood when Judge Kinney made the investiga- 
tion. 

Nebraska State Journal. November 13, 1869. 
A party headed by Governor Butler was es- 
corted by fifty men of the state cavalry from 
Camp Butler, about eighteen miles from Meri- 
dian City. In all there were 110 men and 
twenty teams. They had killed ninety-three 
buft'aloes. The governor was an expert horse- 
man. "Indian attacks are of constant occur- 
rence. Life is in imminent danger at all mo- 



690 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ments from the bloodthirsty attacks of the 
Sioux and Cheyeniies, whose bands are hov- 
ering around the settlement. . . The whole 
country along the route of the Blue River, 
from Kiowa for twenty-five miles, has quite 
recently been largely populated and [put] in a 
state of cultivaton ; but nothing now remains 
but desolation. Whole families have been ex- 
terminated. The whole country possesses the 
appearance of the passage of an invading 
army." (Correspondence of Cornelius R. 
.Schaller, November 1st.) 

Ibid., November 3, 1870. Congratulated 
Secretary J. D. Cox on his resignation and de- 
nounced his Indian peace policy as "the acme 
of childishness, mawkish sentimentality and 
general silliness." The Journal severely con- 
demned the "silly and sickening "talks' with 
Red Cloud and his gang of children-murdering 
and women-raping fiends," at Washington. 

Ibid.. Mav 30, LS/O. Notes that a military 
post, established by General Augur in Franklin 
county, on section 4, township 1, range 16 
west, is occupied by two companies of troops 
— C of the Second cavalry. Captain Spalding, 
and an infantry company. The post was under 
command of Captain Pollock. Scouting par- 
ties were sent east and west to give assurance 
to settlers and keep Cheyennes at a respectful 
distance. 

Omaha Weekly Kcpiihlicaii, May 17, 1873. 
Complains that we have been trying the Penn 
policy for about four years and it won't do. 
Conflict is irrepressible, because the Indians 
want hunting grounds and the privilege of re- 
maining nomads, and we are deprving them of 
both. 

Ibid.. January 25, 1874. Account of a bat- 
tle on the 19th, at the fork of the North Loup, 
Valley county, between a party of thirty or 
forty Sioux Indians, under Aledicine Horse, 
returning from a raid on the Pawnee, and 
twelve men with Charlie White or "Buckskin" 
in command. The fight lasted twenty-five 
minutes. Marion Littlefield was killed and 
probably several Indians. The Indians re- 
treated. They had about fifty Pawnee ponies. 
Buckskin and his party were trapping beaver. 
Several days before the fight the Indians plun- 
dered their camps, but the trappers snatched 
their guns. 

Omaha Herald (weekly), February 20, 
1874. Ridicules the statement to the war de- 
partment that as many as 12,000 Sioux were 
moving from the Big Horn country on the 
Platte settlements. Asserts that there was no 
war or danger of it. 

Ibid.. February 27. Says the peace com- 
mission has failed to secure honest dealing 



with the Indians and wants the war depart- 
ment to try it. 

Ibid.. July 23. Refers to B. F. Wade's re- 
port on the treatment of the Winnebagoes. 

Ibid., June 5. Insists that General Custer's 
expedition will get a hot time because he wants 
the notoriety. 

Ibid.. September 4. Says Spotted Tail is 
"the truest red friend of the white man and 
of peace on these borders that ever lived," and 
"one of the ablest men in this country, civil- 
ized or savage." 

Ibid.. November 6. Request of all chiefs 
and head men of the Pawnee that their reser- 
vation in Nebraska be sold and a new one se- 
lected in Indian territory, is signed by all the 
chiefs of the tribe and by B. Bush Roberts, 
member of the board of Indian commissioners, 
Barclay \\ bite, superintendent of Indian af- 
fairs, and William Burgess, U. S. Indian 
agent, says all the tribe approves. 

Ibid.. June 18, 1875. Insists that the Sioux 
must go from Nebraska soil and relinquish 
their hunting grounds. When the present 
sites of the Spotted Tail and Red Cloud 
agencies were located the locators thought they 
were in Dakota where the reservations are. 
Sioux must give up right to hunt in Nebraska. 

Nebr.^ska in the War with Spain. Ne- 
braska furnished three full regiments and a 
troop of cavalry for the war with Spain. The 
First regiment Nebraska infantry was mus- 
tered in at Lincoln, Nebraska, the muster be- 
ing completed May 9, 1898. The regiment 
was ordered to San Francisco, California, May 
16, 1898: arrived there :\Iay 20, 1898; went 
into camp at Bay district, San Francisco ; em- 
barked for Manila, I'hilippine Islands, June 
15, 1898, on the steamship "Senator" ; dropped 
anchor in Manila bay July 17, 1898 ; disem- 
barked and went into camp at Camp "Dewey," 
south of Manila, July 21, 1898; on outpost 
duty before Fort Alalate, July 30, August 2. 
5, 6, and 12, 1898; participated in the attack 
on Manila August 13, 1898; on guard and 
patrol duty in Tondo district, in the vicinity 
of the custom house from August 14 to De- 
cember 4. 1,S98 ; went into camp at Santa Alesa, 
near Manila, December 5, 1898 ; on guard and 
outpost duty until the outbreak of February 
4, 1899. 

The regiment took part in engagements as 
follows : In defense of camp, Feljruary 4, 
1899; capture of block houses. February 6th 



NEBRASKA L\ THE WAR WITH SPAIN 



691 



and 7th ; powder magazine and the Deposito, 
February 5th ; capture of pumping station, 
near Manila, February 6th ; drove insurgents 
from Mariquina in defense of the pumping 
station, February 17th ; engagements near 
Mariquina road, north of pumping station, 
February 22d, 24th, 27th, March 5th and 6th ; 
drove insurgents out of the valley south of 
the pumping station and across Pasig river, 
March 7th ; changed places with the Colorado 
regiment, March 15th; in advance on Malolos, 
March 25th to March 31st; in advance on Ca- 
lumpit and San Fernando. 

The regiment returned to Manila, May 18, 
1899, when six companies were detached to 
the south line of San Pedro Macati and three 
to Pateros, three companies remaining in bar- 
racks ; relieved from duty in the department 
of the Pacific and embarked on the United 
States transport "A. T. Hancock," June 22d ; 
sailed with the Utah battery for San Fran- 
cisco, July 1st, via Nagasaki, Japan, thence to 
Yokohama, Japan, thence to San Francisco, 
arriving at that port July 29th ; disembarked 
and went into camp at Presidio, July 30th ; 
mustered out and discharged there, August 
23d, after service of one year, three months 
and fourteen days; total enrollment, 1,376; 
lost, killed in battle, 21 ; died of wounds, 13 ; 
died of disease, 30 ; total loss, 64. 

Following is a roster of field officers of the 
First regiment : 

Colonel — Bratt, John P., appointed May 
10, 1898; mustered out November 10, 1898. 
Stotsenburg, John M., appointed November 
10, 1898 ; killed in action, April 23, 1899. Mul- 
ford, Harry B., appointed April 26, 1899; 
mustered out August 23, 1899. 

Lieutenant-Colonel — • Colton, George R., 
appointed May 10, 1898 ; mustered out June 
16, 1899. Eager, Frank D., appointed June 
22, 1899 ; mu.stered out August 23, 1899. 

Major — Stotsenburg, John M., appointed 
May 10, 1898 ; killed in action April 23, 1899. 
Mulford, Harry B., appointed ^Nlay 10, 1898; 
mustered out August 23, 1899. Williams, 
Fred A., appointed November 10, 1898 ; mus- 
tered out August 23, 1899. Eager, Frank D., 
appointed April 9, 1899 ; mustered out August 



23, 1899 ; Taylor, Wallace C, appointed April 

26, 1899 ; mustered out .\ugust 23, 1899. Kil- 
ian, Julius N., appointed June 22, 1899 ; mus- 
tered out August 23, 1899. 

The Second infantry regiment of the Ne- 
braska National Guard — the state militia — 
entered the service of the United States, April 

27, 1898, mobilizing at Lincoln, Nebraska ; 
after completion of muster was ordered to 
Chickamauga Park, Georgia, leaving Lincoln, 
Thursday afternoon. May 19th, and arriving 
at their destination May 22d ; left Chicka- 
mauga Park, Camp George H. Thomas, Au- 
gust 31st, arriving at Fort Omaha, September 
3d, at 8 A.M., where it was mustered out 
October 24, 1898. This regiment had enrolled 
46 officers and 1,366 enlisted men. It lost in 
deaths from disease, 26 ; by accident, 1 ; total, 
27. Following is a roster of field officers of 
the Second regiment : 

Colonel — • Bills, Charles J., appointed May 
10, 1898 ; mustered out October 24, 1898. 

Lieutenant-Colonel — Olson, Emil, appoint- 
ed May 10, 1898; mustered out October 24, 
1898. 

Major — Mapes, William S., appointed May 
10, 1898; mustered out October 24, 1898. 
Tracy, Ernest H., appointed May 10, 1898; 
mustered out October 24, 1898. 

The Third regiment Nebraska infantry, was 
organized at Omaha, Nebraska ; muster com- 
l)leted July 13, 1898 ; moved by rail to Jack- 
sonville, Florida, July 18th ; arrived four days 
later and went into camp at Panama Park, 
Camp Cuba Libre, becoming part of the First 
brigade. Third division, Seventh army corps ; 
September 9th, moved by rail to camp at Pablo 
Beach, Florida ; broke camp October 2d, ow- 
ing to flooding by the ocean during a severe 
wind storm ; two days later proceeded by rail 
to Jacksonville, Florida, into camp at Fair- 
field as part of the First brigade. First di- 
vision. Seventh army corps ; October 24th, 
moved to Camp Onward, Savannah, Georgia, 
the new location of the corps ; thence to Ha- 
vana, Cuba, the First battalion embarking on 
the United States transport "Obdam," De- 
cember 30th, Second and Third battalions on 
the United States transport "Alichigan," De- 



692 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




7 




NEBRASKA IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN 



693 



cember 31st, arriving at Havana on the first 
and second of Januarj', 1899, respectively ; 
encamped with the Seventh army corps at 
Camp Columbia, Havana, Cuba, until April 
7th, then embarked on the United States trans- 
port "Logan"; in quarantine at Daufuskie 
Island, South Carolina, April 13th; April 18th 
embarked for Savannah, Georgia, thence 
April 19th, 1899, to Augusta, Georgia, for 
muster out at Camp Mackenzie. This regi- 
ment had enrolled during the period of service 
61 officers and 1,358 enlisted men, and lost 32 
in deaths from disease. 

Following is a roster of field officers of the 
Third regiment : 

Colonel — Bryan, William J., appointed 
July 13, 1898; mustered out, December 12, 
1898. Vifquain, Victor, appointed December 
12, 1898; mustered out May 11, 1899. 

Lieutenant-Colonel — Vifquain, Victor, ap- 
])ointed July 8, 1898. McClay, John H., ap- 
jjonted December 12, 1898 ; mustered out May 
11, 1899. 

Major — AlcClay, John H., appointed July 
7, 1898. Scharmann, Conrad F., appointed 
July 9, 1898; mustered out May 11, 1899. 
Dungan, Harry S., appointed December 12, 
1898; mustered out May 11, 1899. 

Troop A, cavalry, Nebraska National 
Guard, located at Milford, was enrolled for 
service in the war with Spain May 7, 1898 ; 
May 12th moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, and 
mustered into the United States volunteer ser- 
vice May 14th, as Troop K, Third United 
States volunteer cavalry ; May 20th, moved 
to Chickamauga Park, Georgia, arriving there 
May 23d ; mustered out at Chickamauga Park, 
Georgia, September 8, 1898. This troop had 
enrolled 3 officers and 77 enlisted men and 
lost two in deaths from disease. 

Following is a roster of officers of Troop 
K, Third regiment : 

Captain — Culver, Jacob H., mustered in 
May 14, 1898; mustered out September 8, 
1898. 

First Lieutenant — Kinney, William S., 
mustered in May 14, 1898; mustered out Sep- 
tember 8, 1898. 

Second Lieutenant — Culver, Elvin E., 
mustered in May 14, 1898; mustered out Sep- 
tember 8, 1898. 



The First regiment won renown for splen- 
did service in the Philippine Islands, and 
grateful citizens of Nebraska, individually, 
and by municipal, business, and other asso- 
ciations, 159 subscriptions in all, advanced the 
sum of $40,342.75 to pay the expense of trans- 
porting its members to their homes in the 
state. David E. Thompson, of Lincoln, sub- 
scribed $20,000 and William J. Bryan, of Lin- 
coln, $1,250. The legislature of 1901 made an 
appropriation for refunding to the subscribers 
$36,315.45, the amount expended. Regiments 
of other states which served in the Philippines 
were treated in a like generous manner. The 
legislature also appropriated the sum of 
$11,000 for the purpose of paying $37.50 to 
each of the members of the regiment who had 
been mustered out of service on account of 
disability and had come home before the regi- 
ment was mustered out. The legislature of 
1899 appropriated $2,000 to be expended by 
the governor "for the relief, aid and comfort 
of the sick and wounded soldiers now mem- 
bers of the First and Third regiments in thf 
Philippine Islands and in the Island of Cuba." 
The Second and Third regiments suffered un- 
duly from disease, caused by bad sanitary con- 
ditions, which seem to be incident to lack of 
experience and discipline on the part of both 
officers and men in the volunteer service in the 
early period of our wars. These regiments 
were disappointed because they had no chance 
to fight ; but if opportunity had occurred thev 
would have proved themselves as valorous and 
efficient as their envied contemporaries of the 
First regiment. All of these regiments were 
of superior quality, and the considerable num- 
ber of men who had been in the State Univer- 
sity battalion measurably improved their dis- 
cipline and morale. Colonel John M. Stotsen- 
burg was the heroic, and most considerable 
figure among the soldiers of Nebraska in the 
war with Spain. He was killed in action at 
Quingua, Luzon, April 23, 1899, and was 
honored with burial in the national cemeterv 
at Arlington Pleights. Colonel Stotsenburg 
was professor of military science and tactics 
in the University of Nebraska when the war 
began, and many of the cadets joined his 
regiment. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 



Greater Omaha — Christian Science in Nebraska — Ak-Sar-Ben of Omaha 

opment of the potash industry 



■ Devel- 



GREATER OMAHA. A history of Ne- 
braska would not be complete without 
the recent enactments, and ordinances which 
have resulted in the consolidation of various 
suburbs of the city of Omaha — the whole 
being popularly called Greater Omaha. 

Omaha proper comprised an area of 24.50 
square miles, which, generally speaking, in- 
cluded about six miles north and south, 
liounded on the east by the Missouri river, and 
extending west about four miles. The organi- 
zation of the South Omaha Land Company, 
and the incorporation of the Union Stock 
Yards Company, in the early '80's, located at 
what, down to this time of annexation, was 
known as South Omaha, now called South 
Side. Necessity meant the founding of a 
city which was destined to grow as the en- 
terprise which gave it birth expanded. 

The village of Dundee, adjoining Omaha on 
the west, was incorporated in 1894. It was, 
from the first, a residential suburb. Situated 
on sightly hills commanding a view as far as 
the Little Rapio, it attracted many of Omaha's 
citizens, who in the years of its existence, 
have erected many elegant homes. Orna- 



Annexed 

Omaha Proper 

South Omaha 5/20/15 

Dundee 6/20/15 

Clontarf Precinct 4/25/17 

Elmwood Park and 

Vicinity 4/25/17 

Strip — Benson limits to 

Spaukling 

Strip ^ Between 48th 

and 52d Streets 4/25/17 

Levi Carter Park and 

Vicinity 3/31/17 

Benson 5/25/17 

Florence 5/25/17 

Totals for Greater 

Omaha 



mental shade trees, shrubbery of various 
kinds, paved streets, electric lights, and sewers 
have made Dundee an ideal city of homes. Its 
population at the time of annexation January 
20, 1915, was 2,500. 

Benson, adjoining Omaha on the northwest, 
was incorporated as a village December 4, 
1897. It occupies some of the highest land 
in Douglas county, and is situated on the old 
Military Road. Adjoining it is the Omaha 
Country Club with its splendid golf links. Its 
population at the time of annexation. May 25, 
1917, was 5,000. 

Florence, annexed May 25, 1917, has a 
population of 2,500. It lies seven miles due 
north of the original Omaha. From one view- 
point, it antedates any other city in Nebraska, 
as it, with Fort Calhoun, was "Winter Quar- 
ters" in the great Mormon migration in 1844. 
Its early history has been recounted at length 
elsewhere in this work. 

The total of the territory thus annexed, to- 
gether with the statement of the bonded debt 
of Omaha proper, and its constituent suburbs, 
their population and several areas as of Janu- 
ary 1, 1918, is here presented: 









Water Dist. 


School Dist. 


Sq. ^li. 


Est. Pop. 


Bond Debt 


Bond De!)t 


Bond Del)t 


24.50 


174,500 


7,925,250 


7,000,000 


2,492,000 


6.40 


40.000 


LOl 1,188 




220,000 


0.70 


2,500 


195,000 




83,000 


.04 











1.04 



77 

.69 
1.40 
2.24 



500 



5.000 
2,500 



74,500 
86,000 



53,000 



37.78 225,000 9,291,938 7,053.000 



110,000 
16,000 

2,921,000 



GREATER OMAHA 



695 



The city of Omaha adopted the commission 
form of government in the spring of 1912. 
Its affairs down to that time had been admin- 
istered by councilmen, two chosen from each 
ward, and a mayor. They are now entrusted 
to seven commissioners selected by the people, 
each commissioner having charge of a sepa- 
rate department. These departments are- 
Public affairs ; accounts and finance ; police, 
sanitation, and public safety ; fire protection 
and water supply ; street cleaning and main ■ 
tenance ; parks and public property ; and pub- 
lic improvements. The commissioners meet 
regularly every Tuesday morning for the 
transaction of public business, and special 
meetings are called when necessary by the 
mayor, who is ex officio president of the city 
council. The mayor is elected by and from 
the commissioners. 

Inseparably related to the growth of Omaha, 
is its system of parks and boulevards, inau- 
gurated and developed principally within the 
past two years. With twenty-one parks, large 
and small, and thirty-five miles of boulevard, 
unifying them into a connected and constitu- 
ent whole, this feature of her civic growth and 
development is one which, for natural beauty, 
accessibility for enjoyment, and possibilities 
for development, is the envy of all the cities of 
the middle west. 

Nature and art have combined to bring 
about this result : for, strange to say, the 
total amount expended upon this system has 
been less than $2,394,000. The generosity of 
wealthy citizens accounts in part for this re- 
markable fact. The actual value of this prop- 
erty exceeds many times its original cost. 
Hill and dale, woodland and prairie, river, 
lakes, and springs, all have lent themselves to 
the creation and beautification of a park and 
boulevard system which can be said to be al- 
most ideal. 

Le\i Carter park is, in area, the largest in 
the city, comprising .303 acres. Its distinctive 
feature, perhaps, *is Carter lake of two hun- 
dred acres, affording splendid boating, swim- 
ming and fishing facilities. 

West of Sixtieth street lies Elmvvood park, 
containing 208 acres. Nature has lavished 



upon this spot her gifts: landscape, level 
ground, and natural forests, with deliciotisly 
cold springs of clear water, making it an ideal 
recreation resort. Magnificent evergreens 
and white birches stand guard along its prin- 
cipal drives. Part of this tract was donated 
to the city of Omaha and part was purchased 
at a cost of $135,000. 

The largest natural park is "Riverview," 
containing 111 acres. It lies in the southern 
portion of original Omaha, and rises in tiers 
of plain and woodland, like a majestic amphi- 
theater, from the west bank of the Missouri. 
From the far spreading prairies and pictu- 
resque bluffs stretched along its Iowa side, it 
affords a magnificent prospect. All that was 
necessary to obtain a perfect park was to 
erect a fence around this 111 acres. A large 
swimming pool and liath house, and a "zoo" 
are among its acquired attractions. 

Fontenelle park lies in the northwestern 
part of the city and contains 107 acres. Only 
recently has this park been improved. A 
four-acre lagoon furnishes splendid bathing 
facilities. 

Miller park, the "Pride of North Omaha," 
is named after Doctor George L, Miller, a 
pioneer of the late '50's and one of the few 
fathers of Omaha still living. It contains 
seventy-eight acres, was formaly a cornfield, 
and exemplifies most strikingly the transfor- 
mation which time and money and the art of 
the landscape gardener can accomplish. 
Through it, concrete paved driveways have 
been built. A large lagoon with a wooded 
island has been made, and birch, evergreen, 
and other trees, planted years ago, beautifv 
the gently undulating ground. Its golf course 
and play grounds are well patronized. The 
Florence boulevard, containing "Omaha's 
prettiest mile," imifies it with the park system. 

Hanscom park, the oldest in the city, con- 
tains fifty-seven acres. When donated to the 
city by A. J. flanscom and S. A. Megeath, 
it was on the very verge of the city of which 
it is now the heart. Its natural beauty has 
discountenanced rather than invited artificial 
adornment. It has been called by experts one 
of the most beautiful parks in the United 



696 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



States. In the greenhouses of the park, more 
than 350,000 plants are propagated and raise<l 
yearly. These are used in ornamental flower 
beds planted in the various parks, hospitals, 
public schools, and fire stations of the city. 

Scattered throughout the city are numerous 
smaller parks, and breathing centers, some lo- 
cated in South ( )niaha, and most of them the 
gifts of public spirited citizens who have been 
enriched by the marvelous growth of the citv. 
Among these, many of them sylvan retreats, 
sequestered from the composite noises of the 
city's life, yet at once accessible, are the fol- 
lowing parks : Bemis, 10 acres ; Deer, 19 
acres ; Kountze, 1 1 acres ; Curtis Turner, S 
acres ; Harold Gifford, 2 acres ; Mercer, 4 
acres ; Jefferson square, 2 acres ; Hixenbaugh ; 
Burt playground ; Bluft' View : Spring Lake, 
11 acres; Highland, 6 acres; McKinley, 5 
acres ; Clear View, and Morton. 

In April, 1915, the city council organized a 
board of public recreation. It works in con- 
junction with the board of education, and the 
superintendent of parks to supervise chil- 
dren's play, and to promote various forms of 
recreation and enjoyment among the people 
of the city. The installation of playgrounds 
in the parks and schools relates, of course, to 
the recreational activities of children. The 
attendance on these in the 1916 season totaled 
262,878. An annual appropriation of $18,000 
is made for their support. The other phase of 
the board's activities interests the general pulj- 
lic. Under it, various recreations and sports 
have been provided. Among these are the 
establishment of free bathing Ijeaches and 
pools. In the summer of 1916, 292,815 per- 
sons availed themselves of these privileges. 
No charge whatever is made for them. 
Among the sports, facilities for which are 
provided, are: baseball, football, soccer, 
cricket, golf, and tennis. 

Still another phase of its work has been the 
establishment of "community centers," the 
general object of which is the bringing to- 
gether of the children and citizens of these 
communal organizations, and providing among 
them, athletics, community music, drama, lec- 
tures, concerts, moving picture exhibitions, 



social entertainments with literary programs 
added, and discussions of municipal questions. 
(.)nce a year or oftener, the different comnuini- 
ties meet in the municipal auditorium in 
friendly contest, vieing with each other in 
some prominent feature of the year's activi- 
ties. The attendance at the centers in 1917 
was 34,000. Community gardens have been 
established in some centers to assist the poor 
in their vicinities. 

Over $1,000,000 is spent annually upon its 
public schools and it shares with its sister, 
Lincoln, our capital city, the pride which 
naturally attaches to the development of an 
educational system, which has attracted to 
these cities, parents and students eager to 
avail themselves of the advantages thus freely 
offered. With respect to what may be called 
Omaha's material growth, and its development 
along certain lines in recent years much could 
be added. 

Its bank clearings for the year ending De- 
cember 31, 1917, were $1,873,353,171. If 
this is a fair .index of the amount of its an- 
nual business, Omaha ranks as the fourteenth 
city in the United States. It ranks thirty-third 
in population. It is the first city in the United 
States in butter production. The second as a 
live stock market ; and therefore, the second 
in the world. It is the fourth primary grain 
market in the United States. It is the first 
lead reducing center in the world. Gold and 
silver valued at $39,000,000 are reduced an- 
nually. It is the first feeder-sheep-market in 
the world, and the first range horse market in 
the world. In live stock receipts, it handled 
7,565,830 head. The value of its packed 
meats, during the time mentioned, was $191,- 
718,000. Its grain receipts were 66,462,100 
bushels. Its smelter output amounted to 
$59,247,165. Its total factory output for the 
year ending December 31, 1917, was $327,- 
721,546. The volume of its wholesale busi- 
ness was $236,137,067. Its new buildings 
represent an investment of $7,737,047. 

The oldest of the sons of Omaha are about 
sixty years of age. During their span of life, 
the city has grown until now, in point of popu- 
lation, it ranks thirt\-third among the cities 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE IN NEBRASKA 



697 



of the Union. Its growth in the very recent 
years, and now, has attracted the attention of 
all who keep informed as to the great cities 
of the land. The constant growth of its in- 
dustries and manufactories, the ramifications 
of its railway systems, the work and supplies 
they furnish the northern and western coun- 
try, the magnificent office and hotel buildings 
which have been erected and the private and 
almost palatial residences to be seen attest the 
stability of the city. All this is the more 
significant because Omaha nestles like a jewel 
in the bosom of the Missouri valley. Every- 
thing says the city is destined to pass on to a 
career of prosperity and success even greater 
than has been enjoyed during the years which 
have gone. 

Christian Science in Nebraska. Fifty 
years ago a history of the state of Nebraska 
would have contained no record of Christian 
Science either as a religious movement or as 
a method of healing, for at that time even in 
^Massachusetts, where it was first brought to 
the attention of the few who would listen, 
those actually interested in the movement 
numbered scarcely a score. When, in 1875. 
Science and Health with Key to the Scrip- 
tures, by Mary Baker Eddy, was published as 
the text book of Christian Science, conven- 
tional Massachusetts had no welcome for the 
book or its author. 

Two decades later, when the Mother 
Church in Boston had been dedicated and the 
disciples of Mrs. Eddy's teaching were flock- 
ing to the city from all parts of the globe, to 
attend a church meeting, held at that time an- 
nually for non-resident and local members, 
the Bay State awakened to the fact that it had, 
firmly founded in its capital, a Christian de- 
nomination that had come to stay and Bos- 
ton extended a cordial welcome to its visitors 
and a recognition of the sturdy worth of the 
local followers. We have witness of this in 
the attitude of the press of that date, numer- 
ous clippings from which are to be found in 
Mrs. Eddy's book, Pulpit and Press. Pre- 
vious to this event New England had ack- 
nowledged Mrs. Eddy one of its leading and 
honored citizens. 



The history of Christian Science in Nebras- 
ka properly begins in 1885, when a student of 
Mrs. Eddy, after having been healed through 
Christian Science treatment returned from her 
studies in the Massachusetts Metaphysical 
College in Boston and began to practice in 
Omaha. She taught her first clas.s in 1887. 
She was the first Christian Science practi- 
tioner west of the Missouri river. Prior to 
this time other teachers of Christian Science 
had made visits to diiTerent parts of the state 
giving talks upon the subject but there seems 
to have been no lasting results from these at- 
tempts to introduce Christian Science in Ne- 
braska. 

The first church building to be erected in 
Nebraska by Christian Scientists is at Weep- 
ing Water, gratitude for the healing in- 
fluence of Christian Science being expressed 
in the giving of the ground for the erection of 
this church resulted in a building seating 200 
and costing $1,600. This church was or- 
ganized July 13, 1891, and the building was 
dedicated the last Sunday in September, 1892. 
In 1885 the first class in Christian Science in 
this state was taught at Beatrice by a student 
of Mrs. Eddy. About this time another stu- 
dent began to teach and practice Christian 
Science in Lincoln. .'\s the result of the 
healing of two people the first Christian 
Science church in Nebraska was organized at 
Beatrice in 1888. First Church of Christ 
Scientist of Beatrice dedicated the $4,000 
church building May 27, 1901, a few months 
after its completion, and only after all bills 
for its construction had been paid. 

The first Christian Science services in 
Omaha were held in the Unitarian chapel on 
Sunday afternoons. These meetings not re- 
ceiving the support of the public as it was 
hoped were discontinued after some months, 
and for a season the Christian Scientists of 
Omaha were quite generally attending the 
services in Council Blufifs at the home of one 
of Mrs. Eddy's students. In December, 1890. 
the first move was made toward securing a 
downtown location in which to hold services 
and to be used as a reading room or dispen- 
sary as -it was then called, and jjractitioner's 



698 



HISTORY ()F XEl'.RASKA 



office to be open daily to the public. A com- 
mittee a])pointe(i for the purpose of carrying 
out this plan decided upon rooms in the Bee 
])uilding. This was virtually the first office 
opened in the business center of the city for 
the healing of disease through Christian 
Science. For a very short time nearly all the 
students in Omaha attended these services, 
then some withdrew, later holding meetings 
in the Karbach block and afterwards in the 
New York Life building. 

A number of students, believing that the 
time was ripe for church organization, held a 
meeting May 11, 1S93, in the Patterson block 
for the purpose of organizing a church which 
was to be a branch of the mother church, the 
First Church of Christ Scientist, Boston. As 
the result of this meeting, on the 18th day of 
the same month they adopted articles of in- 
corporation, with twenty-eight charter mem- 
bers, and became known as First Church of 
Christ Scientist, Omaha. At the same time a 
reading room was opened in connection w-ith 
the church, for the benefit of the pubhc. Those 
not yet seeing the need of organization con- 
tinued to hold meetings as heretofore. The 
Sunday school was formed January 20, 1894, 
with seven classes for adults and one for chil- 
dren. There were eight children in this class, 
ranging in age from four to thirteen years, 
representing three families. 

In those days the services in the Christian 
Science churches were generally in charge of 
one person recognized as pastor. This church 
called a pastor in December, 1893, and preach- 
ing continued until April, 1895, when the 
order of services was changed and the Biltle 
and Science and Health leitli Kev to the Scrif^- 
tures were established as the only preachers 
of the Word in the Christian Science churches 
throughout the world. Midweek meetings 
for the general discussion of the Bible and 
Science and Health were soon replaced by the 
inauguration of testimonial meetings, at first 
held Friday evening and later changed to 
Wednesda}' evening as is the present custom 
in all Christian Science churches. Services 
were continued in the Patterson block until 
earlv in December, 189.5. when the old Congre- 



gational church building on St. Marys avenue 
and Twenty-seventh street was engaged. The 
reading room was moved at the same time, a 
side room in the church being fitted U]) for 
that i)urpose. Later, deeming it advisable to 
have the reading room more centrally located, 
it was moved to the Paxton block where it re- 
mained until 1902 when it was transferred to 
the Bee building and later to the Brandeis 
building where it remained until January, 
1917. 

At the time of the organza tion of the chil- 
dren's society in Boston, known as the Busy 
Bees, whose contributions helped to furnish 
the mother church and keep it supplied with 
flowers, the Sunday school children of this 
church were identified with this movement 
until a notice from Mrs. Eddy recommended 
that they disband as a society, drop the name 
of Busy Bees, and turn their energies to 
broader achievements. The children then 
voted to start a church building fund. 

.After the First Church moved to the old 
Congregational church building on St. Marys 
avenue, students from the New Y^ork Life 
building gradually came to the church, some- 
times one or two at a time, until the number 
there was so depleted that services were dis- 
continued. In December, 1898, the society in 
the Bee building, seventy-six in number, con- 
sidering an invitation from the church, voted 
unanimously to disband and join the organ- 
ization. The Januar}' communion service of 
1899 saw all these united with the church 
under one roof, with one aim and object, to 
further the cause of Christian Science in 
( imaha. With this unity came a strengthen- 
ing of forces. It was voted that the sum of 
money ($106. 50 j turned over to the church 
treasurer by the society from the Bee build- 
ing, be added to the nucleus already accumu- 
lated by the children, and thus form a general 
building fund. This fund was steadily in- 
creasing and in 1903 a lot was purchased at 
St. Marys avenue and Twenty-fourth street 
upon which to erect a church building. 

Early in 1904 came a demand for larger 
quarters and not being ready to proceed with 
the building, another change was made to 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE IN NEBRASKA 



699 



Chambers Academy at Farnam and Twenty- 
fifth street this being the Only available place. 
The church remained here until the building 
was ready for occupancy. 

At that time it looked as though the ques- 
tion of building might be considered at an 
early date, Ijut as the extension to the mother 
church in Boston was in process of erection, 
and it was of vital interest to Christian Scien- 
tists all over the world, it was voted at a 
church meeting on July 3, 1905, to send the 
sum on hand to help with that work, to con- 
tinue contributing, and that nothing be done 
toward local building until such time as the 
treasurer of the mother church should indi- 
cate to the field at large that no more funds 
were needed. When this word came this 
church had contributed $10,945.34. Then 
the members cheerfully set to work to start 
another building, knowing as they did that the 
supply is unlimited and every need met by a 
gracious and loving Father, that parting with 
all they had only meant an increase. July 5, 
1907, with only a few thousand dollars on 
hand, the church requested the building com- 
mittee to proceed with its work and by Octo- 
ber 6, 1909, the foundation was ready for the 
corner-stone which was laid at 7 A.M. on 
that date. 

The cost of the church building, including 
the ground, was about S106,000. On Sunday 
morning, September 3, 1911. services were 
held for the first time in the new church with 
this sum paid, except about $37,000, which 
debt was entirely cancelled during January, 
1914. This structure was dedicated February 
1, 1914, according to the general custom 
among Christian Scientists — absolutely free 
from debt. 

During the winter of 1914-1915 the First 
church became so crowded that it was decided 
to organize another. The Second church was 
organized as an outgrowth of First and held 
its initial service on Easter Sunday, 1915, in 
Dundee hall. Fiftieth and Underwood avenue; 
the hall, seating about 250, was well filled. .At 
the present writing the Second church is hold- 
ing meetings in Dundee theater. A lot has 
been purchased and excavating started for the 



building of a church at Forty-first and Daven- 
port streets. 

About a year after the Second church was 
formed it was deemed advisable again to send 
out members from the First church to organ- 
ize another. The Third church was organ- 
ized in the north jiart of the city and on the 
first Sunday in June, 1916, the first service 
was held in Druid hall on Ames avenue near 
Twenty-fourth street. A little later reading 
roomsr were opened on the corner of Ames 
avenue at Twenty-fourth street under the 
auspices of the Third church for the accom- 
modation of people living in that part of 
Omaha. The Third church has selected, at 
Fowler avenue and Twenty-fourth street, the 
site for a church building and has made sub- 
stantial payments upon it. 

The First National Bank building being 
finished and ready for occupancy in January 
of 1917, the Christian Science churches of 
Omaha decided that the reading room should 
be situated there. New furnishings were pur- 
chased and reading rooms in keeping with the 
growth and advancement of Christian Science 
in Omaha were established there as soon as 
the building was ready. 

Shortly after the year 1885 a student of 
Mrs. Eddy located in Lincoln and began to 
teach and practice Christian Science. Another 
of her students from Milwaukee taught a few 
classes in Lincoln about this time. The first 
Christian Science services in Lincoln were 
held at 1210 O street in 1886. In 1.888 the 
Christian Science society opened a reading 
room and held services in the hall over King's 
grocery store. First Church of Christ Scien- 
tist was organized in 1891 and continued to 
hold services in this hall until 1895 ^yhen 
quarters were obtained in the Salisbury block 
on Twenty-first and M streets where they re- 
mained for some time. 

About this time another society was formed, 
holding services in the Farmers and Merchants 
building and remained as a society until in 
October, 1900, it was reorganized as the Sec- 
ond Church of Christ Scientist, Lincoln. In 
1897 the First church decided to purchase the 
old Christian church on Fourteenth and K 



700 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



streets. They arranged to buy it and re- 
mained here a year or so when they found 
they would he unaljle to meet the payments 
upon it so gave it up and held services in the 
Funk theatre for about a year, when they 
moved to the Jewish temple on Twelfth and D 
streets. On October 10, 1902. both the First 
and Second churches surrendered their char- 
ters and dislianded for the purpose of uniting 
in the organization of the present First Church 
of Christ Scientist, Lincoln. 

Shortly after the organization of the new 
church it was seen that more commodious 
quarters would be needed, and the building of 
a church was considered, $700 having already 
been paid into the church as the nucleus for a 
building fund. The present site on the cor- 
ner of Twelfth and L streets was bought for 
$7,000 and in a very short time the church 
owned its building lots. Work was then 
started on a fund to build a church, but shortly 
after this the building of the extension of the 
mother church in Boston was undertaken and 
the work of raising money for the local church 
was suspended in order that aid might be 
more freely given to the mother church. Plans 
were adopted for the erection of a building 
and on February 21, 1907, a contract was let 
for the construction of the Sunday school 
room and basement. On Thanksgiving day 
of that year the first services were held in this 
part of the building. On July 6, 1911, the 
church ratified the action of the building com- 
mittee in letting the contract for the comple- 
tion of the building. The corner-stone was 
laid on October 6, 1911. The first services 
were held in the completed building on Sun- 
day morning September 1, 1912. The church 
building was formally dedicated free from 
debt in October, 1917, having cost about $100,- 
000 including site and furnishings. 

According to the Christian Science Journal 
for February, 1918, there are churches or so- 
cieties also in the following Nebraska cities 
and towns: Alliance, Bancroft. Bloomfield, 
Broken Bow, Central City, Chadron, Cozad, 
Crawford, Exeter, Fairbury, Firth, Fremont, 
Grand Island, Holdredge, Kearney, McCook, 
INlinden, Nebraska City, Neligh, Norfolk, 



North Platte, Plattsmouth, Red Cloud, Scotts 
Bluff, and York. Besides these regularly or- 
ganized and advertised churches and societies, 
meetings are being held regularly in many 
other places in the state where they have not 
yet perfected an organization. 

Christian Science was discovered in 1866 by 
Mary Baker Eddy ; the details of this discov- 
ery and the circumstances leading up to it are 
set forth in Mrs. Eddy's own writings and in 
her personal history by Sibyl Wilbur. In 1875 
Mrs. Eddy presented her text book on Chris- 
tian Science, Science and Health with Key to 
the Scriptures. She introduced the Journal 
in 1883, this [niblication being the official 
organ of the mother church, the First Church 
of Christ Scientist, Boston. Later a weekly 
paper called the Christian Science Sentinel was 
published, followed by Dcr Herald der Chris- 
tian Science, a monthly magazine pubished in 
the German language. On January 1, 1918, 
Le Heraitt de Christian Science, a monthly 
magazine in the French language with the 
English text on the opposite page, was estab- 
lished. Beside these periodicals a great inter- 
national daily newspaper, the Christian Science 
Monitor, has been published since the year 
1908 with a worldwide circulation and recog- 
nized by publishers as a model of clean jour- 
nalism. 

A board of lectureship was inaugurated in 
1898 by Mrs. Eddy, and the members of this 
board are giving free lectures upon the sub- 
ject of Christian Science to an interested pub- 
lic under the auspices of local Christian 
Science churches. Omaha has been honored 
by having two of her citizens appointed to 
this board and one of them is today lecturing 
wherever he is called upon to do so. He has 
recently returned from an extensive lecture 
tour abroad, including England, Australia. 
China, and South Africa. 

A committee on publication with assistants 
in all the cities and a number of the smaller 
towns is supported, in Nebraska as in all the 
states of the Union and a large number of 
foreign countries, by per capita contributions 
from the organized churches and societies. It 
is the duty of this committee "to correct in a 
Christian manner, impositions on the public 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE IN NEBRASKA 



701 



in regard to Christian Science, injustices done 
Mrs. Eddy or members of this church by the 
daily press, by periodicals or circulated liter- 
ature of any sort." (Church Manual.) 

When this great war of Prussian militarism 
thrust itself upon the world, the mother church 
established a fund for the relief of sufferers 
in the theater of war and several hundred 
thousand dollars have been collected by the 
Christan Scientists, all of which has gone to 
the relief of the destitute in Europe, regard- 
less of their creed or nationality. Many ex- 
pressions of gratitude from those receiving 
this monetary benefit are being received daily, 
in Boston, and some of these are being pub- 
lished in the current numbers of the Sentinel. 
Collections taken in the different Christian 
Science churches and societies in Nebraska 
for the benefit of this fund are being for- 
warded to headquarters in Boston continually 
and these moneys are freely distributed to 
those found in need. 

All the churches and many of the societies 
in Nebraska maintain free reading rooms 
where all Christian Science literature may be 
read or purchased. Free lending libraries 
have been established in some of these reading 
rooms and all may avail themselves of this op- 
portunity to read Mrs. Eddy's books. 

The history of Christian Science in Ne- 
braska as elsewhere is largely found in the 
work done by individuals in healing all man- 
ner of diseases and and destroying all sorts of 
sinful habits. Students of Christian Science 
are encouraged to study the Bible thoroughly 
and Science and Health and it is the exact or 
scientific knowledge of God gained through 
this study which enables them to work out 
their life problems, to heal sickness and sin. 
Until sufficient knowledge is gained the begin- 
ner may go to a professional practitioner for 
healing and spiritual guidance. 

One of the landmarks in Christian Science 
history in Nebraska is known as the "Buswell 
Trial" and this is the title of a pamphlet which 
has done a great deal of good for the Chris- 
tian Science cause everywhere. The title of 
the case is "State of Nebraska vs. Ezra M. 
Buswell," and the trial was held in the district 



court of Gage county, February 28, 1893. 
Abundance of evidence was adduced to prove 
that the practice of Christian Science by the 
accused had been successful in a large num- 
ber of cases, and only two failures were found. 
The practice of Christian Science was shown 
to be based on the Bible, and its method was 
proved to be silent and solemn prayer to God, 
and sole reliance on Him for health as well as 
salvation. Mr. Buswell was acquitted, but the 
case was carried to the sujjreme court of Ne- 
braska on exceptions by the county attorney. 
And while no judgment could be rendered 
against the acquitted defendant, the excep- 
tions of the county attorney were sustained. 
As this was the first case ever decided against 
a Christian Scientist in a court of last resort, 
for the practice of praying for the recovery 
of the sick, it would certainly have been fol- 
lowed as a precedent by the courts of other 
states if the law had been correctly stated. But 
this opinion of the Nebraska commissioner 
stands alone, and the courts of other states 
have decided that statutes regulating the prac- 
tice of medicine do not make prayer for the 
recovery of the sick a criminal offense, and 
the decision, even in Nebraska, has been a dead 
letter for many years ; as the liberal views of 
the Nebraska people are opposed to prosecu- 
tion for prayer. 

Several other cases against Christian Scien- 
tists were brought in Nebraska, at Omaha, 
Lincoln, and Pawnee City, all of which ended 
well for the Christian Scientists, and none of 
them ever came to trial in the district court. 
A lady in Omaha was charged with insanity 
for treating a man who had been thrown from 
a buggy, striking his head against a log. A 
physician pronounced the accident fatal, and 
promptly brought proceedings in insanity 
against the practitioner. The injured man, ap- 
pearing sound and whole as a witness for 
the defendant, the board discharged the lady 
thus establishing the proposition that healing 
accidental injuries by prayer is not insanity 

In the few years since the first Christian 
Scientist came to Nebraska the movement has 
gained favor until now it is generally recog- 
nized, by the people of Nebraska, as a mem- 



"02 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



ber of the family of religions and Christian 
Scientists as a working and growing body of 
Christians. 

Under the heading "Christian Science in the 
Navy," the New York IVorld on Tuesday, 
February 5, 1918, printed the following as an 
editorial: 

The appointment by Secretary Daniels of a 
Christian Scientist as a navy chaplain denotes 
a significant change in the public attitude to- 
ward the faith founded by Mrs. Eddy. 

Could such a selection of a spiritual adviser 
been conceived of in Dewey's navy? Chris- 
tian Science then and long after was anathema 
to the regular religious denominations of the 
country. Jyegislation was invoked to restrain 
it, medical societies prosecuted the practi- 
tioners, and it was made to bear the brunt of 
powerful opposition everywhere. Now the ' 
go\ernment gives it full recognition and ac- 
cords its readers an ecjual status with the min- 
isters of other creeds. Beside the navy chap- 
lain, there are two Christian Science chaplains 
in the army. 

So have the old antagonisms subsided and 
the earlier intolerance given way under the 
spirit of religious freedom. History has re- 
peated itself once more, and the new kirk 
fought Its way to a place alongside the old 
kirk. It has been an interesting process, and 
the outcome is notable as an illustration of the 
liberalizing tendencies of modern opinion, 
whether religious or political.. 

Ak-S.'KR-Bkn of Omaha. Famed the 
country over for its novelty, its interest, and 
the work it accomjilishes, this order, if such 
it may be called, is mystical in its workings, 
and yet clear in purpose. 

"Ak-sar-ben" is Nebraska, spelled back- 
wards, and was founded in 1895 by a small 
number of business men of Omaha, for the 
purpose of welding the diverse interests of the 
city into one great organization for the ad- 
vancement of Omaha, and for the special pur- 
pose of cultivating harmonious relationship 
and friendship for both those within and with- 
out the gates of the city. Its object has been 
more than realized, and each year has wit- 
nessed a closer cooperation between the people 
of the city and those in the territory tributary 
to it. 

The direction of the organization is vested 
in a board of twelve jrovernors, elected bv the 



members, and serving gratuitously for a -pe- 
riod of four years. The expense of the or- 
ganization is borne through a membership 
charge and through direct contributions by all 
the business houses of the citv. The season's 
expenditures are approximately $100,000. 

From June until September, regular "Mon- 
day Nights" are held at the "Den," a large 
auditorium of peculiar construction, owned by 
the organization. These initiations are spec- 
tacular and of a theatrical nature, each year 
presenting a .special theme around which the 
work revolves. The participants in the Mon- 
day entertainments, usually consisting of from 
one to two hundred in number, are chosen 
from the ranks of the membership and donate 
their services as a part of the loyal support 
that is everywhere shown within the order. 
The Monday night performances are attended 
by the regular paid members and by visitors 
to the city. Every convention held in the city 
is so arranged that its opening date is fixed 
for Monday. The accredited hotels, also con- 
tributing members of the organization, are al- 
lowed to issue non-resident tickets to their 
guests, whilst special excursions are run every 
Monday night from some of the tributary 
cities within a radius of two hundred miles of 
Omaha. The attendance at these meetings 
ranges from two to three thousand people. A 
dozen or so of the visitors usually run the 
gauntlet of the initiatory work and form fit- 
ting food and fun for those in attendance. 
At the close of the meeting, representative 
speakers from the visitors are called upon to 
make a little "talk," whilst some able orator 
from the ranks of the Knights themselves 
makes a fitting reply, after which a bufifet 
luncheon is served, and at the conclusion the 
visitors are furnished special street cars to 
carrv them to the heart of the city. 

The season's gayety at the "Den" is con- 
cluded with "Carnival Week," during which 
two daylight parades are given, consisting of 
s]iecially decorated floats, whilst a gorgeous 
electrical night parade follows thereafter, 
formed of some twenty or more spectacularly 
designed and lighted floats with out-riders ex- 
emplifying the theme and subject of the year. 



AK-SAR-BEN OF OAlAliA 



703 



Omaha was the first city in the United States 
to utiHze electricity in the illumination of 
floats. 

The festivities of the season culminate with 
a grand ball, held at the "Den." This is 
looked forward to as the society event of the 
season. Two hundred Knights in gay armor 
lead the opennig march, heralding the ap- 
proach and entry of the queen and her retinue 
of attendants. The queen is usually chosen 
from the debutantes of the season, her iden- 
tity being strictly withheld from everyone up 
to the moment she enters upon her march to 
the throne, where she is joined by the king, 
chosen anew each year from some of the 
prominent men of the city. The Ak-Sar-Ben 
liall is always looked forward to as the great 
event of the year, and with its coronation fea- 
tures and grand setting, is very beautiful. 

What characterizes the work of Ak-Sar-Ben 
more than anything else is the loyalty and en- 
thusiasm accorded it by the entire city of 
Omaha, and the tribute paid it by adjacent 
cities. It not only has created a spirit of 
friendship and good-will amongst its own 
membership, but it has showered its benign 
influence upon the people throughout our 
state, who have in turn copied its precepts 
and teachings, and they have inculcated the 
same spirit of cohesion and friendly spirit 
amongst themselves. Hence, it is not only a 
benefactor for Omaha, but for the state as 
well. Past kings have grown gray in its ser- 
vice with never changing loyalty. Never were 
kings of old more faithful to their subjects 
than the much honored though democratic 
kings of the realms of Ak-Sar-Beu. Selected 
anew each year, they yet are kings to Omaha 
forevermore, whilst their faithful subjects 
from the ranks, the real workers of the year, 
sacrificing their time and energy season after 
season, are ever ready to begin the work 
again, knowing full well that their efforts 
mean a Greater Omaha spirit. 

The progress which Omaha has exhibited 
of late years towards a quickened spirit and 
wonderful growth, has been marvelous, and 
whilst its geographical position, its virile peo- 
ple, its golden grain, its enormous live stock 



industry, and the natural heritage of wealth 
with which the Creator endowed it, are all 
contributing factors to its success, yet the 
school of loyalty begun in the old days of 
panic and adversity, by that little band of 
loval Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben, has now ma- 
triculated into an order, most unique, a part 
of the fiber of the city itself, exerting a 
greater influence as years roll by, making pos- 
sible the fraternal and cohesive spirit so 
strongly characteristic of the people of Omaha 
today, and known now throughout the United 
States as the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben. 

Its oflicers for the present year, 1917-1918, 
are : President, E. Buckingham ; vice presi- 
dent, (iould Dietz ; secretary, J. D. Weaver ; 
treasurer, Chas. h. Saunders ; board of gov- 
ernors, Chas. D. Beaton, C. E. Black, George 
Brandeis, Randall K. Brown, E. Buckingham, 
Gould Dietz, W. B. T. Belt, W. D. Hosford, 
F. W. Judson, L. C. Nash, J. DeF. Richards, 
C. L. Saunders. 

Following is a list of the kings and queens 
since the organization of the society: 

1895 E. M. Bartlett and Meliora Woolworth Fair- 

field. 

1896 Casper E. Yost and Mae Dundy Lee. 

1897 Edward Porter Peck and Gertrude Kountze 

Stewart. 

1898 Robert S. Wilcox and Grace Allen Clarke. 

1899 William D. McHugh and Ethel Morse. 

1900 Fred .A. Nash and Mildred Loma.x. 

1901 Henrv J. Penfold and Edith Smith Day. 

1902 Thomas A. Frv and Ella Cotton Magee. 

1903 Fred Metz and Bessie Grady Davis. 

1904 Charles 11. Pickens and Ada Kirkendall 

Wharton. 

1905 Gurdon W. Wattles and Mary Lee McShane 

Hosford. 

1906 Gould Dietz and Margaret Wood Cranmer. 

1907 Victor B. Caldwell and Natalie Merriam Mil- 

lard. 

1908 Will L. Yetter and Brownie Bess Baum Rouse. 

1909 Artliur C. Smith and Jean Cudahy Wilhelm. 

1910 Everett Buckingham and Frances Nash. 

1911 Joseph Barker and Elizabeth Davis. 

1912 Thomas C. Byrne and Elizabeth Pickens Pat- 

terson. 

1913 Charles E. Black and Elizabeth Congdon 

Forgan. 

1914 Charles D. Beaton and Frances Hochstetler 

Daugherty. 

1915 Ward M. Burgess and Marian Howe. 

1916 John Lee Webster and Marv Megeath. 

1917 W. D. Hosford and Elizabeth Reed. 

Development of the Pot.ash Industry in 
Nebraska. The name "potash" is of com- 
paratively recent origin and is derived from 
the fact that the potassiferous solution from 



704 HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 

wood ashes was boiled down or concentrated magnesium, calcium, iron, etc. The com- 

in pots. The most important source of its pounds are principally sulphates, carbonates, 

supply has been the region near Strassfurt, in and chlorates. The relative amounts of so- 

Prussia, where two minerals containing ]jotas- dium and potash vary considerably in the 

sic compounds have been found in abundance potash region. By the percentage of potash 

and mined on a large scale. From these is meant the per cent in the water, or in the 

potassiferous compounds all the various salts solids of the water. For example, a brine 

of potash used in the arts, are manufactured, running 16 per cent solids and 28 per cent of 

and it has been by using the potash salts ob- that as potash (K,0) would be reported: 

tained at Strassfurt that the Chile saltpeter potash 28, or as potash, 4.44. Both of these 

(nitrate of soda) is converted into common are correct, but they refer, in the one case, to 

saltpeter, a substance important as the prin- the solids, and in the other, to the water and 

cipal ingredient in the manufacture of gun- salts combined. 

powder. Potash compounds are also numer- The following compounds occur in the 

ous and of great importance in the arts. alkali lakes of Nebraska, but in varying pro- 

The potash industry of Nebraska, originat- portions: 
ing with some small shipments of alkali crusts Potassium carbonate, KoCO^ — called pearl 

collected from the shores of McCarthy lake, ash. 

in Morrill county, and shipped to Omaha, rep- Potassium bi-carbonate, KHCO3. 

resents an investment and value of several Sodium carbonate, NaXr),, — called soda 

million dollars. The potash area containing ash. 

the producing lakes extends about thirty Sodium bi-carbonate, NaHCOj — called 

miles north and south and between twenty cooking soda. 

and thirty east and west, and production at Calcium carbonate, CaCO^, — called lime, 

the present time is confined to Sheridan, Gar- Potassium sulphate, KoSOj. 

den, and Morrill counties. The district is in Sodium sulphate, NaoS04 — called Cdauber 

what is known as the sand hill region, and salts. 

occupies nearly equal areas north and south Magnesium sulphate MgSO^ — called Ep- 

of the C, B. & Q. railroad. Lakes with more som salts. 

or less of potash occur in other counties, but Calcium sulphate CaS()4 — called gypsum, 

of all discovered, at least seventy-five are Potassium chloride, KCl — called sylvite. 

known to contain potash in paying quantities. Sodium chloride, NaCl — called halite or 

The lakes occur in two physiographic regions ; common salt. 

the table lands, such as Box Butte table, on Usually the brines of producing lakes con- 

the sand hills, but mostly in the bottom. The tain about equal percentages of potash and 

presence of the railroad has in a great degree soda salts. A sample collected from a well in 

rendered possible the advantageous prosecu- Jesse lake contained the following: 

tion of the industry. Towns such as HofT- Potassium oxide (K„0) 28.18% 

land, Antioch, and Lakeside mark the prin- Sodium oxide (Na„0) 27.79% 

cipal locations of the potash plants. A few of Sulphur trioxide (SO,) n.97% 

the lakes have an area of 600 or more acres. Carbon dioxide (CO.^) 27.19% 

while others are mere ponds, and alkali and Chlorine (CI) 3.38% 

fresh lakes are found side by side. The 

strong water is called brine, and in determin- Total 98.51% 

ing the Aalue of brines, two things stand out The conditions which determine the ac- 

prominently : the percentage of soluble salts cumulation of potash in sand hill lakes are 

and the percentage of K._,0 in the salts. about as follows : Comparatively fresh water 

The brines contain compounds, jirinci- enters the lakes from the highest point on the 

pally of potassium and sodium, and traces of surrounding ground water, which usually is to 



DEVELOPMENT OF POTASH INDUSTRY 



705 



the west. This seepage supply, though con- 
stant or nearly so, is most in evidence as a 
rule, in fall and spring. The water entering 
some lakes, passes out at once. In others it 
is held back by a sand dam, or by the natural 
form of the basin. In case the water is re- 
tained, the principal loss is through solar 
evaporation which becomes very heavy in the 
summer time. It is safe to state that about 
five feet of water would evaporate from one 
of these lake surfaces in a year. 

The alkali solutions are concentrated by 
evaporation. Alkali lakes deposit salts in 
their beds as the water lowers. This gives a 
fringe or belt of incrustations, the color of 
which varies from white to yellowish. 

The methods used in leasing potash lakes 
and oil lands are similar. The work is done 
by private parties, or by the representatives 
of promoters who expect to turn the leases to 
some company, or by the operators them- 
selves. In either case the person going to the 
field supplies himself with information con- 
cerning the ranch owners, and the names and 
locations of lakes. He visits the owners and 
urges the desirability of leasing according to 
his terms. The leases bind the lessor and 
lessee to a number of conditions relating to 
testing, erection of a plant, pumping, etc. 

As most potash is derived from the beds of 
lakes, that is, from the sub-surface, it is the 
practice to test out the waters below the lakes 
proper. This is done by putting down wells 
fifteen to forty feet by drilling. At first the 
production (of the brine) was from lake 
waters, but now the principal production is 
from the sub-surface sands. Production is 
by pumping and the brines are delivered to 
the reduction plants through pipe lines. High 
suction pumps are required to remove the 
brine. From 100 to 200 wells are connected 
with each pump. The pumping is done by 
motor-driven or gas engines. Pipe lines lead 
from the producing lakes to relay stations, 
and thence to the reduction works ; some of 
them are wood, w rapped with heavy wire, and 
about six inches in diameter. The brines are 
treated in reduction plants. 

The evaporation of brine is the main pro- 



cess in potash production. It requires exten- 
sive equipment and about seventy-five per 
cent of the coal consumed in a plant. 

In its simplest form, evaporation is done in 
open pans and by the use of direct heat. This 
method, used b}' small operators, is slow and 
wasteful of fuel. 

The large plants use multiple evaporators — 
in double and triple effect. The evaporators 
are operated part under pressure and part 
under vacuum. Each evaporator consists of 
a steam chest, a liquid circulating space and a 
vapor space. Live steam enters the chest of 
the first body in the series and causes the 
brine to boil. The vapor given off in this 
evaporator is carried to the second body and 
so on through the series. The boiling point 
becomes lower in each succeeding evaporator. 
This is due to vacuum brought about by means 
of a pump and condenser. 

In most plants the brines are evaporated to 
some extent by the use of solar towers. The 
condensation of vapor in the last effect or 
eft'ects is produced by pumping water through 
a condenser, from which it goes to the cooling 
tower or to a spray pond. The tower is es- 
sentially one of the eft'ects. 

The Potash Reduction Plant, the first in the 
field, is at Hoffland, eleven miles east of Al- 
liance, and has by changes and improvements 
developed works costing many thousands of 
dollars. Mr. John H. Show deserves credit 
for inaugurating the enterprise. Associated 
with him was Mr. Carl ^lodesitt, a graduate 
of the State Univer.sity. Messrs. T. E. Ste- 
vens, W. H. Austinberg, Hon. William A. 
Redick, and Dr. H. Reinbolt, financed the field 
examination and the erection of the first plant. 
Messrs. V. I. Jeep and C. C. Denny, former 
University students, were also associated with 
the company. This plant represents an in- 
vestment of l)etween $500,000 and $600,000, 
and an output of about eighty tons a day. 

The Hord Alkali Products Company oper- 
ates at Lakeside and has large holdings of 
ranch lands, on which are its ponds and lakes. 
The plant itself cost more than $200,000 and 
has a capacity of aboitt fifty tons a day. Its 
ofiices are at Central City. Heber Hord is 



706 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



president and W. E. Richardson, manager. 
Its output is shipped principally to southern 
states for use in the manufacture of fertil- 
izers. 

The American Potash Company is located 
at Antioch. Its office is in Omaha. Its presi- 
dent is Arthur English and A. J. Dunbar is 
superintendent. Its capacity is about eighty 
tons a day, and its total production for 1917 
was sold to the American Agricultural Chemi- 
cal Company.. It is capitalized at $250,000. 

The Nebraska Potash Works Company is 
also located at Antioch, and has pipe lines 
extending to various lakes. 

The Alliance Potash Company, at Antioch, 
is owned chiefly by the Krause Bros, and Al- 
liance people, and is said to be the most mod- 
ern plant in that region. Its central office is 
in Alliance and the plant has a capacity of 
100 tons, or more, a day. 

The Western Potash Company is capital- 
ized at about $500,000 and holds valuable 
leases. It has erected a very modern plant at 
Antioch. Its central office is in Lincoln and 
W. E. Sharp is its president. 

The National Potash Company contem- 
plates the erection of a plant at Antioch with 
a capacity of 100 tons a day. 



The cost of production of the potash varies 
in the difit'erejit localities, and is difficult of 
definite ascertainment. The mean average of 
the cost of production is said to be $30 per 
ton, or more. Before the European war, most 
of the fertilizer potash used in the United 
States came, as indicated above, from Ger- 
many. As this supply decreased, the price of 
the domestic product greatly advanced. Ne- 
braska potash now sells at $4.50 or more per 
unit, a unit meaning one per cent of potash 
( K^O ) in a ton in the material marketed — 
that is, a product carrying 28% K„0 may be 
sold at $4.50 a unit, which would be $126 a 
ton for the material marketed. The reduc- 
tion companies pay the freight. 

The high price of potash has been a great 
incentive to the development of the industry 
in Nebraska. Without this the industry 
would not be in its present condition. Most 
of the producers are deepl\- concerned re- 
garding future prices. 

Nebraska produces about seventy-five per 
cent of the entire potash output of the United 
States, and with the exception of Searles 
Lake, in California, is the only place in this 
country where potash is produced from alkali 
lakes. 



CHAPTER XXXV 



Semi-Centenxial Ceeebration — Nebraska and the Great War 



One of the most interesting and profit- 
aljle pages in the history of the state is the 
semi-centennial celebration of the admission 
of Nebraska into the Union. This celebra- 
tion took place in 1917 under the direction of 
the State Historical Society. The Honorable 
John L. Webster of Omaha, who had been 
president of the society for a good manv 
vears, appointed a committee of one hundred 
members to take charge of the celebration. 
This body of citizens was appointed to pro- 
vide the means and to suggest a general pro- 
gram for a fitting commemoration of the 
fiftieth anniversary of the admission of Ne- 
braska as a state. The dates of these two im- 
portant events are March 1, 1867, and March 
1, 1917. Gurdon W. Wattles of Omaha was 
made chairman of the committee of one hun- 
dred. The plans for the celebration included 
a pageant at Omaha in October. 1916, in 
connection with the Ak-Sar-Ben for that year. 
The committee of arrangements for Omaha 
consisted of Gurdon W. Wattles. Gilbert M. 
Hitchcock, E. E. Buckingham, C. E. Yost, 
\'ictor Rosewater, Norris Brown, Rome Mil- 
ler, A. L. Reed, W. H. Bucholz, and W. A. 
Eraser. The celebration which the committee 
planned and guided was much greater in size 
and in its attractive features than anyone 
thought possible. The ceremonies were wit- 
nessed by more than 100.000 people. Presi- 
dent and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson from Wash- 
ington. D. C, were present and reviewed the 
pageant and President Wilson made an ad- 
dress. 

The celebration in Lincoln took place in 
June. 1917. at the time of the commencement 
of the State University. The committee of 
arrangements for Lincoln was made up of 
H. 1\L Bushnell. H. B. Lowry, E. B. Sizer, 



and A. J. Sawyer. The plans were made on 
a large and imposing scale. One of the most 
significant and attractive featiires was the ad- 
dress of ex-President Theodore Roosevelt. 

The celebration was statewide and at al- 
most every place was worthy of the people 
and of the occasion. The general committee 
for the state at large was made up of A. O. 
Thomas, at the time state school superinten- 
dent. Paul Jessen of Nebraska City, and Ross 
L. Llammond of Fremont. For each county 
in the state the committee was composed of 
the county superintendent, the mayor of the 
county seat city or town, the president of the 
commercial club, and the president of the 
woman's club. Local committees were en- 
couraged to have, in addition to the county 
celebration, gatherings and exercises in honor 
of the occasion. The following is an outline 
of the plan in nearly every part of the state • 

1. By way of special preparation and to 
create interest in the celebration on the part 
of all people the committee encouraged a study 
of Nebraska history, collection of historical 
data, and marking places which have been 
connected wiih the history of the state. 

2. Making maps by the children and high 
school pupils of historic trails and of places 
of note during pioneer days. 

3. Celebration on February 12th in all the 
rural and village schools of Nebraska. The 
committee suggested that the program include 
patriotic songs, the Nebraska patriotic ode, a 
brief account of the purchase of the Louisi- 
ana territory, a sketch of Nebraska as a terri- 
tory and the place it occupied in the purchase, 
essays on various phases of local history, 
stories of the pioneers told by themselves 
wherever possible, and brief addresses by 
local sjjeakers. 



708 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




lOHX L. W KBSTER 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 



709 



4. Exercises fitting for the occasion to be 
held in the churches and Sunday schools Feb- 
ruary 25, 1917 — the Sunday nearest Wash- 
ington's birthday in that year. 

5. The general or county celebration to be 
held March 1, 1917, by schools, commercial 
clubs, historical societies, churches, women's 
clubs. Daughters of the American Revolution, 
men's clubs, and civic societies. 

6. The following is a copy of the program 
suggested by the committee : 

(1) March 1, 1917, to be observed in a 
formal way by the state legislature as Ne- 
braska Day. 

(2) Moving pictures where they could be 
procured, showing local schools, local history, 
and local scenes of community and state de- 
velopment. 

(3) Dramatization of local and state his- 
tory. 

(4) Addresses on the pioneer days and 
the stirring scenes which confronted our 
fathers in transforming the wilds into a gar- 
den of beauty. 

(5) Nebraska, present and future, by local 
speakers. 

(6) Historic carnival or pageant covering 
local and state themes. 

7. County exhibitions and contests from 
all schools, spelling contests, ciphering 
matches, essay and oration, local contests, 
compositions on local history, collections of 
historic relics, and general school work. 

8. Unveiling of pictures and statuary in 
court-houses, public libraries, and schools, of 
important characters who had to do with up- 
building of the community and of those whom 
it is a delight to honor. 

To make all this the more valuable to the 
people as a whole and especially to children, 
pupils, and students Professor C. N. Ander- 
son of the state normal school at Kearney 
prepared an outline for the guidance of teach- 
ers and others in collecting material on the 
history of the people of Nebraska. Among 
other suggestions are the following: 

1. Collect real first-hand material on the 
history of the people. 

2. Make a record of what is learned and 



as near as possible in the language of the 
people. 

3. Get, as near as possible, exact names, 
dates, places, and order of events. 

4. Secure, when possible, old papers, let- 
ters, and diaries. 

These directions were followed by others 
relating to the form in which they may be 
preserved. 

To stimulate interest in the celebration the 
Honorable John D. Haskell of Wakefield, 
Nebraska, offered a prize of $100 in 1916 
for the best poem adopted as a state song for 
Nebraska. One of the conditions was that the 
ode to Nebraska should be written by some 
person who at the time was living in the 
state. The judges of the contest appointed 
by the state school superintendent were Dr. 
L. A. Sherman of the State University, Pro- 
fessor W. E. Nicholl of Bellevue College, and 
Miss Mar}' Crawford of the State Normal 
School at Kearney. The judges awarded the 
prize to the Rev. William H. Buss of Fre- 
mont. Mr. Haskell gave, also, a prize of 
$100 for the best musical arrangement for 
the poem. This award was secured by Mr. 
John Prindle Scott of New York City. 

THE ODE TO NEBRASKA 

Reverend William H. Buss, Fremont 

Now laud the proud tree planter state, 

Nebraska — free, enlightened, great ; 
Her royal place she has in song ; 

The noblest strains to her belong : 
Her fame is sure. 
Then sing Nebraska through the years; 

Extol her stalwart pioneers ; 
The days when, staunch and unafraid. 

The state's foundations, well they laid, 
To long endure. 

The land where Coronado trod. 

And brave Marquette surveyed the sod ; 
Where red men long in council sat ; 

Where spreads the valley of the Platte 
Far 'neath the sun. 
The land beside whose borders sweep 

The big Missouri's waters, deep, 
Whose course erratic, through its sands. 

From northland on, througli many lands, 
Does seaward run. 



"10 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



The foothills of the Rockies lie 

Afar athwart her western sky ; 
Her rolling prairie, like the sea. 

Held long in virgin sanctity. 
Her fertile loam. 
Her wild-life roamed o'er treeless plains. 

Till came the toiling wagon-trains, 
And settlers bold, far westward bound, 

In broad Nebraska's valley found 
Their chosen home. 

Now o'er her realm and 'neath her sky. 

Her golden harvests richly lie : 
Iter corn more vast than Egypt yields; 

Her grain unmatched in other fields ; 
Her cattle rare ; 
Alfalfa fields, by winding streams; 

.\nd sunsets, thrilling poets' dreams ; 
There all we sing, and know that time 

Has ne'er revealed a fairer clime. 
Or sweeter air. 

O proud Nebraska, brave and free ; 

Thus sings tliy populace to thee. 
Thy virile strength, thy love of light ; 

Thy civic .glory, joined with rigllt. 
Our hearts tlate. 
Thy manly wisdom, firm to rule ; 

Thy womanhood in church and school; 
Thy learning, culture, art and peace. 

Do make thee strong, and ne'er shall cease 
To keep thee great. 

(To be included when desired) 

Her heaving blufifs uplift their heads 
Along her winding river-beds, 

And, pleasing far the traveler's view. — 
Well guard her Elkhorn and her Blue, 

Encrowned with wood. 
And there, by landmarks, ne'er to fail. 

Upon the ancient westward trail ; 
Or graven stone, securely placed. 
By eye observant may be traced 
Where wigwam stood. 

Her honored cities grow in wealth ; 

In thriving commerce, public health ; 
Her first, the gateway of the west ; 

Her Omaha, that will not rest, 
Nor take defeat. 
Her capital of worthy fame, * 

That bears the mighty Lincoln's name, 
And thousands of Nebraska's youth 

E'er summons to the fount of truth, 
At learning's seat. 

The senii-centetmial celebration, for its 
form, scope, spirit, success, and influence, owes 



much to the members of many committees and 
to many citizens of the state, but more by far 
than to any other one person, to the Honor- 
al)le John L. Webster of Omaha. For many 
years he had taken great interest in the his- 
tory of the state and in the welfare, progress, 
and usefulness of the State Historical So- 
ciety. During the period prior to the semi- 
centennial Mr. Webster had been president of 
the society. When the state was approaching 
1917 he proposed to the members of the his- 
torical society the propriety of holding a cele- 
bration, the chief feature to be an historical 
pageant. His thought was that this should be 
of such a character that it would symbolize 
not only the development of Nebraska but, 
also, show the relation and position of the 
state to the opening and settlement of the 
great West. The idea and purpose appealed 
to the members of the society. All were in 
sympathy with it provided Mr. Webster 
would take the chairmanship of the commit- 
tee and the responsibility which the position 
and undertaking carried with them. It is 
well known beyond the limits of Nebraska 
that Mr. Webster is a collector of art trea- 
stires and one of many people in his city who 
cultivate the best there is in art and in art 
ideals. He is known as the founder of the 
Friends of the Art Association. This love 
of art in part gave shape and color to the 
pageant in Omaha .and to the celebration in 
the various parts of Nebraska. While much 
had been done by the Historical Society in 
collecting and preserving treasures of value 
and interest relating to the people and to the 
history of the state during the years since its 
organization, much more will be done in the 
future because of the semi-centennial celebra- 
tion. 

Nebraska and the Grkat War in 

Europe. The foregoing pages have for their 
scope and purpose an account of the earliest 
days of which we have any knowledge — 
days before the white man saw the vast plains 
and rich uplands now within the borders of 
the state and before he crossed the valley of 
the Platte or the Elkhorn. These pages give 
an account, also, of the movements of daring 



NEBRASKA AND THE GREAT \\'AR 



711 



hunters and iinlustrious trappers ; a history 
of the early settlements and pioneer days, of 
those who lived in log houses and sod dwell- 
ings, of the organization of Nebraska into a 
territorial division, and of its admission to 
membership in the federal union. This is 
followed by a record of the fifty years of 
statehood which lie between March 1, 1867, 
and March 1, 1917. 

As these pages are passing through the 
press the greatest war in all history is raging 
in Europe. Our own nation, by the authority 
of the Congress of the United States and that 
authority seconded and made effective by the 
proclamation of the President in the name and 
on behalf of the American people, entered 
into the struggle April 6, 1917. Our purpose 
in taking part with Great Britain and France 
and the other allied nations was then and is 
now that civilization may not perish from the 
earth. To this end all peoples, great and 
small, must have the opportunity to test self- 
government for themselves, and to cherish 
democratic principles, to work out their own 



destiny in peace and quiet and to achieve, un- 
molested, the growth and position a benign 
Providence desires and makes possible. 

Nebraska, as she ought, is playing an im- 
portant part in that her soldiers and sailors, 
her nurses and Red Cross workers, her chap- 
lains and Y. M. C. A. secretaries, her pur- 
chase of liberty bonds and payment of war 
taxes, and her many other war activities are 
known and recognized everywhere. An ac- 
count of Nebraska's place and work, devo- 
tion and sacrifice to win a complete victory 
and thus secure a lasting peace is not given in 
this volume for two reasons : ( 1 ) This is the 
semi-centennial history of the state; and (2) 
It cannot be known and told until the war 
closes, what part Nebraska shall take in what 
is now an unfinished task. 

When the righteous ends of this war shall 
have been secured — as most assuredly they 
will be — Nebraska's contribution will be 
written. Nebraska's unfinished task is to help 
to win the war nov\% and then to write the 
history of the part taken in it. 



INDEX 



Abbott. E. S., 612 

Abbott. Dr. L. J.. 614 

.Abbott. O. ,\., 585. 634 

Abolition bill, see Bills 

.\brams. Henry, 203 

.\dair. William, 579 

.Adams, C. E.. 635 

.\dams, John Ouincv. 103. 104. 113, 115 

.Admission of Nebraska, see Nebraska 

.\dobe-town. 406 

Adventists, 506 

Advertiser, the, 88, 89, 92, 93. 95, 444 

.-\gee. ,\. N., 604 

Agricultural College, see University of 
Nebraska 

.Agriculture. ZdZ, 421 

Aitchison, C. D., 24 

.\k-Sar-Ben. 693, 701, 702 

.Alabama. 120 

.Albemarle county, see County 

.Aldrich. C. .A.. 646. 649 

.Ale.xander. S. J., 603 

Alfalfa. 661 

.Allen. Captain James, 139 

Allen. T. C. 620, 631, 633 

Allen, t., 149 

.\llen, W. v., 615. 630, 641 

-Allis. Rev. Samuel. 55, 422 

.Allison. W. B., 385 

-Ambrose, G. W., 582 

.Amendments, see Constitntion 

.American citizens, see Citizens 

.American flag. 109 

-American Fur Company, 55, 57. 74. 76. 
86 

-Amerind. 8 

-Ames. Fisher, 120 

-Ames, J. H.. 428. 595, 614, 636 

-Allies, Oakes, 467 

-Ames Monument, 484 

-Amiens, Treaty of, 102 

-Anderson, H. C. 203 

.Anderson. H, P.. 366 

.Anderson. Ole. 360 

Andrus. E. H.. 597 

-Andrews. H. C. 611 

-Andrews. W. E., 628, 639 

.Annexation. 273, 279. 284 

.Anti-prohibition convention, see Conven- 
tion 

-Anti-slavery feeling. 114, 301, 449 

-Aoway river. 29 

.Appleget. Thomas. 610 

.Appomattox. 145 

.Apportionment census, see Census 

-Apportionment law. see Lett's 

Appropriation bills, see BVh 

-Arbitration of labor, see Labor 

-Arbor Day. 425. 672 

.Archaeology. 7 

.Architecture. Indian, 28 

-Arikara tribe, see Indians, Tribes 

Arikaree falls. 2. 3 

-\rkansas, 98, 111, 112, 120, 137 

-Arkansas river, 94, 110 

.Armstrong, .A, T.. 632 

-Armstrong, Colonel George. 3'^6' 

Armstrong. Mrs. Tulia E.. 326 

Arnv. Tndge, VV. F. M.. 285 

.^rroa-.'the. 147. 149. 195, 196, 435 

.Arthur countv. =ee County 

-Ash Creek. 65. 68 

Ash Hollow. 66. 68. 399 

Ashby, D. C, 585 

Ashley, General, W. H., 395, 585. 593. 
596 

.Ashton. F. W.. 645 

.Ashton. William. 41 1 

-Aspinwall Journal. 444 

-Astor. T. J.. 46. 85 

.Astor. W. B.. 85 

.Astoria, founding. 47 



-Asylum, see Hospital for the Insane 

-Asylum for Blind. 574 

.Atchison, Senator, 120, 121, 131 

.Atchison. Kansas, 81, 84 

.Atchison Globe. 445 

.Atkinson, Colonel Henry, 48. 384 

Aughey, Samuel, 14 

.Augur. General. 688 

.Australian ballot. 615. 618. 622 

Aurora Branch railroad, 677 

Aylsworth, W. P., 494 

Babbitt, A. W.. 401, 439 

Bad Lands, 3, 6. 74 

Bailey, G. E., 13 

Baker. B. S., 635 

Balcombe, A. D., 369, 433, 440 

Baldwin, C. A., 603 

Ballard. T. R.. 616 

Ballard. S. M.. 193 

Bancroft. H. H.. 39 

Bane, M. M.. 271 

Bank-Guaranty law, 646 

Banks, 217, 218, 228, 237, 238, 603, 635. 

675 
Banner county, see County 
Barbed wire, duty on, 606 
Barbour, E. H.. 4 
Barker. L. O.. 585 
Barnard. E. H.. 380 
Barnd. Tobn. 603 
Barnum. G. C, 359 
Barrett. F. M.. 445 
Barrett. S. L.. 593 
Barrowman, Lee, 437 
Barrows, B. H.. 441 
Bartlev, T. S., 642 
Barton, G. C, 485 
Barton, J. T., 283 

Bates, Frederick, acting governor, 110 
Bates House. 29 
Batie, Tohn. 616 
Ratty. R. A., 597. 608, 625, 636 
Bauman, Ottn. 636 
Beanchamn. ^Tajor, 57 
Beacon Hill. 72 

Bear. .Alexander 579, 582, 588, 593, 597 
Beatty. Tohn, 603 
Beck, W. B , 241. 594 
Becker. J. P.. 322 
Rcckman. Fred. 650 
Bedford. T. W.. 367 
Bell. Thomas. 603 
Belle Fontaine. 44 
Bellevue. 35. 47. 75, 76. 86 128. 148. 

149. 154. 155. 174. 186, 433 
Bellevue College, 501 
Bellevue Gazette. 23?, 241 
Bellevue Mission. 198 
Bellows Falls. 92 
Bennett, H. P., 128. 173, 203, 220, 221, 

261 
Bennett, Tsaiah H.. 169 
Benson. K. T.. 140 
Beutler. Tacoh. 439 
Rentley. "C. E.. 628 
Benton, A. R.. 523 
Benton. K. PL, 593 
Benton. Colonel T. H.. 50. 52. 115, 131, 

620, 633 
Berge, G. W., 642, 644 
Hessey. C. E-, J5 
Betts, G. F.. 632, 633 
Bibb. R. S.. 638 
Biddle, Thomas. 53 
Big Blue river. 64 
Big Elk. Omaha chief, 139 
Bieelow. G. E.. 612 
Bieler. Tohn. 636 
Billingsley, L. W., 592 
Bills 

.Abolition of slavery. 306, 453 



Act in 1860, 332 

Appropriation bills, 581 

Bill No. 353, 118 

Bill of 1844, 135 

Bill of 1848, The, 136 

Bill of rights, 110, 582 

Bland bill, 592 

Capital removal. 241. 649 

Census act of 1856. 207 

Colorado. 387 

Convict labor, 594 

Dodge bill, 112, 121, 136 

Douglas bill, 123, 128, 135 

Hatch, 611 

Homestead, 297, 329 

Kansas-Nebraska. Ill, 112. 115, 117, 
123, 125, 127. 130, 131 

Morrill. 354 

Nebraska bills. 12. 145 

Newberry. The. 623. 624, 627, 629 

Pacific railway, 329 

Passenger fare, 645 

Richardson, the. 112. 117, 135, 136 

To remove race distinctions, 455 

L'nion Pacific, i27 
Bills, C. J., 691 
Bingham, T. .A.. 385 
Birkhauser. P. W.. 594 
Bishop. A. S.. 203 
Bittenbender. Mrs. Ida M., 625 
Bixler, J. W.. 614 
Black. Teremiah. 429 
Black. Governor S. W.. 273, 274, 293. 

296, 297, 308, 317, 403. 452 
Black Hills. 73 
Blackbird's grave. 42 
Blackburn, W. S., 444 
Blackman, E. E.. 24 
Blaine, J. G., 385, 503. 607 
Blair. Montgomery, 429 
Blake. G. W.. 618 
Blakely. William. 614 
Blanchard. G. F.. 588 
Block House. 403 
Blue Ridge mountains. 98 
Boies. H. E., 626 
Bone dry law. see Prohibition 
Boulware. John. 210 
Bonneville. Captain. 50. 64. 65, 72, 76, 

407. 430 
Boutwell. G. S.. Ifl. 385 
Bowen, T. S., 242. 347, 349 
Bowen, L- L.. 210 
Bowlby. C. J.. 604 
Bo.x Butte county, see County 
Bovd. T. E., 93. 414. 597, 604, 605, 608, 

618, 624. 627, 628. 630 
Boyd. J. F., 644 
Boyer Lake. 142 
Bracket, A. B.. 411 
Bradford. Tudge A. A.. 202. 205, 217 
Bradford, Dr. Henry. 437 
Bradley. .Associate Tustice. 151, 156 
Bragg, Edward, 579 
Bratt, T. P., 388. 691 
Brewer. D. J.. 640 
Bridenthal. Luke. 636 
Briggs. Clinton, 578. 583, 588 
Briggs, J. .S., 442 
Broad .\xe. the. 445 
Broady. T. H.. 624. 638 
Brogan. F. A.. 624 
Brooke. Dr. T. R-. 361 
Brooks, n. C. 441 
Brooks. G. A.. 607 
Brooks. J. W.. 489 
Brooks. Samuel. 445 
Brower. T. \'.. 40 
Brown. A. W. 135 
Brown. C. IL. 339. 348. 537. 594. 597. 

604. 609. 627 
Brown. Mrs. C. I.. 358 



714 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Brown, E. C,.. 39S 

Brown, G. A., 578 

Brown, G. L.. 590 

Brown. H. 1., 440 

Brown, John, 459, 460 

Brown, Norris, 644 

Brown. Richard, 255 

Brown, Samuel, 129 

Brown, W. A., 438 

Brown, W. D,, 277 

Brown county, see County 

Browne, Dr. Joseph, 110 

Brownell Half. 515 

Browning, O. H., 489 

Brownville, 75 

Bryara, Charles, 650 

Brvan, W. T.. 592, 614, 618. 620. 624, 

626. 630. 634, 636, 641. 647. 648. 675 
Brvant, Edwin. 68. 69. 74 
Buchanan, President, 52. 134. 270. 271 
Buck. J. F.. 214 
Buckalew. C. R., 382 
Bucks Bend, 90 
Buell, H. A., 445 
Buffalos, the, 431 
Buffalo Bill, 86, 431 
Buffalo county, see County 
Bull Bear, 36 
Bull Moose, 650 
Bull of the Woods, 91 
Bulletin, the, 444 
Bunnell, T. A., 594 
Burbank, J. E., 445 
Bureau of Labor, see Lobar 
Burke, John, 383 
Burkett, E. J.. 641. 646. 649 
Burkley. F. J.. 442 
Burks. 'J. M., 604 
Burlington and Missouri rrilroad. 90, 

95, 349, 677 
Barnum, G. C, 361 
Burnham, Leavitt. 609 
Burr, Aaron, 110 
Burrows, Jay, 603, 615 
Burt,Dr. Armistead, 143. 14>. 149, 152. 

169 '-- ,. 
Burt county, see Conntx 
Burtch. S. F., 305 
Rush. T. E.. 635 
Butler. Governor David. 88. I'll. 419. 

428. 526. 536, 537, 540, 542, 587, 612, 

689 
Butler. General W. O.. 143. 158 
Butterfield Mail Comnanv. 81 
Byers. VV. N., 149. 446 

Cabanne, J. P.. 55, 57. 60 

Cadman, John, 90 

Cadv, A. E., 612, 627, 634, 63S, 642 

Caffrev. Major. 443 

Caldwell, T. L., 609 

Calhoun, John, surveyor-general, 188 

Calhoun, S. H.. 582, 583, 585, 596, 597, 

610 
California. 65. 78. 83. 115. 116. 118 
Calkins. E. A.. 634 
Camp Clarke. 14, 73 
Camp Floyd, 83 
Canitol building. 171. 172. 207. 237, 

239, 595, 605, 606, 609 
Caoitol controversy. 143. 154. 159. 162. 

163. 174. 186. 213. 227, 332 
Capitol grounds, 613 
Caoitol. location of, 154, 155, 171, 212. 

213, 241 
Capitol removal, ?''.7, 529, 559. 587. 5SS 
Capitol removal bills, see Bills 
Capitol sqiiare. Omaha. 239 
Carberg, Peter, 603 
Carlisle, Alexander, 91 
Carlisle, Tames, 91 
Carlvle, G. H.. 415 
Carpenter. D. W., 442 
Carpet-bag svstem. 152 
Carrigan, John, 312 
Carson, J. D.. 636 
Carson. J. L.. 596 
Carson, Kit, 50. 86 
Carson City. 83 
Cams. E. C. 598 
Case. M. B.. 203 
Casper. C. D.. 632 
Cass County Sentinel, 446 
Cass, Lewis, 154 
Cassell,_J. N.. 368 
Castetter, .Abram. 446 
Castor. Tobias. 582. 60S. 634 



Census, 110, 160, 201, 219, 307, 585, 

589, 590, 610, 611 
Chambers, S. A., 283 
Chandler. E- B., 337 
,Chapin, W, F., 367 
Chapman, B. B., 168. 199. 219, 433. 439 
Chapman, E. H.. 619 
Chase. C. S., 585, 605 
Chase, S. P.. 115 
Cherry county, see Cottnty 
Cherry Creek, 94 
Cheyenne Indians, see Indians 
Chicago and Northwestern railroad. 88, 

95, 381. 682 
Chicago and Rock Island railroad. 145 
Childs, Captain E. P., 412 
Chimney Rock, 65, 71, 72, 74, 75, 430 
Chinn, C. B.. 203 
Chippewas. the. see Indians 
Christian Science. 693, 696, 700 
Chronicle, The, 438 
Church, J. S., 443 
Cisco, J. J., 473 
Cities, incorporation of. 231 
Citizenship, 195 
Civil service, 592 
Civil war, 81, 100, 106, 129, 145. 318, 

411 
Claims clubs, 171, 189, 191 
Claim laws. 189 
Clancv, William, 154 
Clark,' E. H.. 384 
Clark, H. T., 73, 445, 501, 603, 610 
Clark, Loren, 589. 604 
Clark, P. H., 640 
Clark, Mrs. Phoebe, 385 
Clark. S. H. n.. 491 
Clark, Judge William, 109 
Climate, 4, 13. 14 
Clowry, R. C, 93 
Coal. 426 
Cobb. Amasa, 583. 58". 588. 592. 595. 

624. 625 
Cobbev. J. E-. 634 
Codv.'W. F.. S3. 558 
Colby, General L. W., 601 
Coleman, J. W., 318 
Coleman, Nancv lane, 319 
Colhapp, I. L.,' 443 
College View. 508 
Collegiate Institute, 193 
Collins, G. W., 541, 597 
Colorado, 94, 98, 122, 392 
Colson. S. B., 272 
Columbia, District of. 116. 1-15 
Columbia river. 46, 64, 75, 76 
Columbus, 88, 93 
Columbus Ferry Company. 93 
Comanches. see Indians 
Commission government. 649 
Common carriers, liahi'ity (if. 6' 6 
Commonwealth, the. 438 
Concord coaches. 81 
Congdon. J. H., 491 
Congressional campaigns of 1860-1862. 

297 
Conkling. Tudee -Mfred. 293 
Conkling. Dr. J. R.. 292 
Conkling, Mrs. Jennie Ilanscom, 292 
Conkling. Roscoe, 293 
Connell, W. T.. 593. 619 
Conner, A. H.. 578. 604 
Connor. General P. E.. 94. 583 
Conseri'otii-e, the. 62 
Constitution, the. 100. 104. 105. 108. 

329. 351. 352. 526, 579, 580 
Constitutional amendments, 37S. 645. 

646 
Conventions. 

.Anti-prohibition. 603 

Constitutional convention. 282. 284. 
329. 333, 526. 547. 558. 578 

Democratic conventions. 133. 255. 299, 
335, 337, 343, 344, 359. 582. 593. 
596. 597. 600. 604, 607, 612. 614, 
618, 624, 625, 627, 634, 644. 645 

Farmers and Mechanics convention of 
protest. 563 

Grasshopper convention. 671 

Greenback convention. 594. 603 

Tabor convention. 614 

People's independent party for 1892, 
615, 616, 624, 625, 626, 627. 635, 
636 

Philadelnhia national convention, 371 

Prohibition convention, 604 

Reoublican conventions, 253, 287, 297, 
343, 583, 590, 595, 600, 603, 606, 
607, 609, 610, 611. 612, 614, 618, 



624. 625, 627, 634, 635, 543, 6-15 

Territorial union, 369 

Whig state convention, 114 
Converse, J. A., 683 
Cook, Captain, 129 
Cooke, D. W., 636 
Cooley, T, M,, 100 
Cooper, J. F., 1, 2, 4 
Corn area, 660 
Cornish, A. J.. 639 
Coronado. 26, 38, 39, 422 
Correll, E- M.. 628 
Cottongin, invention of. 113 
Cotner University. 493 
Cottonwood Springs. 84, 92 
Council Bluffs, 35, 75. 84. 87. 92, 93, 

96, 128, 142, 395, 405 
Council Bluffs and St. Joseph railrtiad. 

94 
Counties, boundaries of, 211 
Counties, names of, 211 
Counties, new, 231 
Counties, organization of. 16Z, 381 
County officers, 209 
Counties, 

Albemarle county, 98 

Arthur county, 611 

Banner county, 613 

Box Butte county, 613 

Brown county, 605 

Buffalo county, 94. 290 

Cherry county. 605 

Custer county, 605 

Deuel county, 613 

Grant county, 611, 613 

Hall county, 290 

Hayes county, 605 

Hooker county, 613 

Jefferson county. 65 

Kimball county. 613 

Knox county, 605 

Loup county, 605 

Perkins county, 613 

Rock county. 613 

Sarpy county, 128 

Scott's Bluff county, 613. 664 

Sioux county, 605 

Thomas county, 611, 613 

Thurston county, 613 

Wheeler county, 605 
County commissioner system, 207, 209 
County option, 647, 649 
County superintendents. Zil 
Courier-Journal, 389 
Court House Rock, 67. 69, 70, 74, 75 
Courtney, D. G.. 609 
Courts, territorial, 200 
Cow island, 49 
Cowgill. W. H.. 645 
Cowin. J. C. 585. 604. 605 
Cox. J. D., 690 
Craig, Tames, 255 
Craig. R. A., 442 
Cramb, T. O.. 620 

Crawford. J. C, 587, 593, 604, 625, 636 
Credit Mobilier speculation, 349, 474, 

482, 483 
Creighton, C. H.. 597 

Creighton, Edward, 84. 93. 93. 415. 492 
Creighton. J. A.. 493. 608 
Creighton. James. 603 
Creighton. Mary Lucretia. 492. 493 
Creighton. Sarah Emily. 493 
Creighton University, 492 
Crites, A. W., 609 ' 
Crooks, Ramsey, 46 
Crounse. Lorenzo. 361. 371, 428, 585, 

588. 609. 627, 630, 635 
Crow Dog. 36 
Croxton. J. H., 283 
Cuffy. J. A., 594 
Cnltiz'ator, The. 444 
Culver. E. E., 692 
Culver, J. H., 692 
Cuming, T. B.. 87, 150. 153. 157. ir6. 

183. 186. 223. 247. 248. 446 
Cuming City Star, 446 
Cunningham. E. E.. 444, 540 
Cummins, S. H., 593 
Currencv. 624 
Curtis, Major, H. Z., 440 
Curtis, Colonel. S. R., 129, 193, 465 
Custer, General, 686, 689 
Cutler's Park, 140 

Dahlman-. T. C. 646 648. 649 

Daily, S. G.. 281, 285. 303. 314. 327. 

45'0 
Daily press. 438 



INDEX 



715 



Daily St. Joseph Ga:ctte, 459, 460 

Daily Slalc Democrat. 596 

Dailv State Journal, 593 

Daily Telegraph, 440 

Dakota City. 96 

Dakota City Herald, _'9 

Dakotas. the, 132, 123. 392 

Dalano. Columhus. 385 

Dale. VV. F., 635 

D'Allemand. A.. 616. 624 

Daniels, E. R., 607 

Davis, Alexander, 149 

Davis, Dr. B. B.. 611 

Davis, David, 429 

Davis, F. M., 585 

Davis, Garrett, 382 

Davis, G. T. JM., 349 

Davis, T. W., 593 

Davis, Tefferson, 116. 400 

Davis, O. F., 287, 490 

Dawts. H. L.. 308. 385 

Dawes. T. VV., 590, 592, 595. 597, 603. 
604, 608, 610 

Dawson. Jacob, 283 

Decatur, Stephen, 59, 161, 169. 180. 198 

Dech. \V. H.. 616 

Decker. J. H., 163, 235 

Declaration of Independence. 98, 100 

Dcmorat of Dakota City, 424 

Democrat of Omaha, 441 

Democratic partv, 114. 130. 2H, 2?>7, 
344. 375. 594. 642 

Democratic Times, 446 

DeMorin. Edward. 410 

DePny. H. W., 287 

DeSmet, P. J., 75. 76. 86. 87. 398. 420. 
432 

DeSoto Pilot, 232, 446 

Detroit Free Press, 434 
Deutsche Zeitung, 438 

DeWitt, Major F. J.. 30 

Dey. P. A., 474, 477 

Dietrich, Governor C. H., 641, 642 

Dietz, J. F., 616 

Dillon, Sidney, 467 

Dinsmore, J. 'B,, 598, 603, 610 

Dix. T. .\., 473, 475 

Doane, G. W.. 233. 261. 598. 612. 631. 

633 
Doane. Thomas. 496 
Doane College, 495 
Dodge bill, fee Bills 
Dodge, General G. M.. 62, 488 
l>odge. Colonel Henry, 50, 130 
Dodge. N. P., 148, 208 
Dolezal, Frank, 648 
Donahue. Patrick, 203 
Donnellv, Tames, 603 
Doolittle, j. R., 376, 382, 587 
Doolittle, Milton, 636 
Dorgan, W. H., 631. 632 
Dorsey, C. G., 367 
Dorsey, G. W. E., 603. 604, 607, 609, 

619 
Douglas, S. A., 112, 116, 129, 135, 235, 

467 
Downs, O. H.. 149 
Dow-ns, Lieutenant-Colonel H. P., 169, 

210, 319 
Downing, O. H., 270 _„ 

Doyle. E. R., 155, 167 t*^ 

Dovle, James, 146 
Dred Scott case, 100, 126, 453 
Drips, Andrew, 60 
Drouths. 671 
Druse. O. M., 444 
Dry farming, 664 
Drvden, J, N., 639 
DujRe. E. R., 638 
Dunbar, John, 294 
Dundv, Elmer, 259, 260, 534, 571 
Dungin, W. A.. 406. 632 
Durant. Dr. T. C. 88, 467. 472, 473 
Dysart, William. 628 
Dyson, Josepli, 168, 188 

Eager, F. D.. 639. 69t 
Early. T. I.. 337, 345, 446 
Edgerton, J. W., 612, S16. 624 
Education, compulsorv, 548 
Egbert, A. A., 490 
Eight-hour law, 616, 624 
Eight-o'clock closing law, 646, 647 
Elder. S. M.. 620. 623 
Election precincts. 143. 154. 157 
Elections. 143. 167. 187. 304, 363, 578. 

585, 588, 639, 649. 650 
Electoral vote, 587. 588 



Elkhorn and Missouri X'allev railway, 
682 

Elkhorn ferry, 92 

Elkhorn river, 76, 92, 93. 140 

Elkhorn valley. 402 

Elliot. General, 411 

Ely, Rosalie L.. 394 

Emigrants, 93, 140, 437 

Enactments, legislative, 187, 262, 296, 
594 

England, Paren, 583 

Environment, physical, 1 

Equal pay for both sexes. 603, 627 

Estabrook, Attorney-General, 156, 245 

Estabrook, Experience, 151, l^i, 349, 
544, 549 

Evangelical Lutiieran Teachers' Sem- 
inary (normal), 509 

Evans, John, 201, 499 

Evans, J. H., 639 

Evening Dispatch, 441 

Expeditions, 2, 24, 37, 46, 48. 50. 60. 
61. 64. 431 

Explorers and explorations. 24, 46 

Fahy, Patrick, 608 

Fair, First territorial, 263, 273, 275, 277 

Fairbrother, G. VV., 443, 444 

Falls of North Iv<nip river, 7 

Falls City, 444 

Farm conditions, 662 

Farmers' Alliance, 603, 615. 616. 621, 

673 
Fauna, 21 
Federal lands, 609 
Feed yards, 654, 655 
Felton, G. A., 632 
Ferguson, Chief Justice Fenner, 146, 

150, 156, 170, 173, 273, 296. 439 
Fetternian, Colonel, 687 
Ficklin, B. F., 82 
Field, A. VV., 609, 628, 640 
Fifield, L. B., 607 
Financial conditions, 212, 226. 295. 341. 

541 
Fire commission, 646 

First territorial fair, see Fair, first ter- 
ritorial 
Fish commission, 594 
Fitzgerald, John, 623 
Fleming, N. K., 684 
Fleming, VV. C, 450 
Flint implements, 9 
Flora, the, 15 

Florence, 75, 87, 139, 223, 241, 243. 279 
Florence Courier, 441 
Floyd, J. B., 401 
Floyd, Sergeant Charles, 44. 45 
Floyd monument, 45 
Folda, Frank, 597 
Folsom, B. R., 175 
Folsom, N. R., 174, 177 
Fontenelle, Henry, 33, 54 
Fontenelle, Logan, 37, 54 
Fontenelle, Lucien, 60, 76 
Forestry, 672 
Forney, J. W., 309 
Fortifications, 406 
Forts, 

Fort .Atkinson, 42, 394 

Fort Benton, 85 

Fort Bridges, 80 

Fort Calhoun, 42, 53 

Fort Clark, 110 

Fort Des Moines, 405 

Fort Dodge. 398 

Fort Grattan, 77 

Fort Heiman, 41 1 

Fort Kearney, 66, 79, 81, 83. 88. 93. 
94. 96. 142. 196, 401, 406. 407. 420 

Fort Laramie, 65, 67, 76, 79, 80. 142, 
398, 417 

Fort Leavenworth, 48, 63, f6. 75. 78, 
79, 81, 86, 89, 92, 122, 139 

Fort Lisa. 53 

Fort McPherson, 416, 687 

Fort Recovery, 395 

Fort Ridgley, 96 

Fort Ripley. 398 

Fort Sanders. 490 

Fort Sedgwick, 687 

Fort Snelling. 405 

Fort Union. 86 

Fort Vancouver. 64 

Fort Yuma. 81 
Foster. L. S.. 382 
Fowler, Bishop. 499 

Free silver, 585, 592, 615, 618. 624. 6JS 
Free trade, 606 



Free transportation, 642 

Freight rates, 606, 610, 611. 616, 61S. 

624. 629, 645 
Freighting, 91, 95, 603 
Fremont, General J. C, 407 
Fremont, 65, 75, 76 
Fremont, J. C, 51, 52. 62 
Frev, T. E., 382 
Frick. J. E., 634 
Frontier Guardian, 35 
Frost, G. VV., 441 
Fuller. B. H., 334 
Fur trade, 24- 
Furnas, R. W., 30, 227, 229, 230, 242, 

253, 255, 267, 277, 283, 404, 410. 433, 

443, 444, 539, 557, 560, 561 

Gaffin. J. N., 628, 636, 639 

Gage, Rev. VV. D., 175 

Gaines, General E. P., 405 

Gale, Dr. John, 57 

Galey, S. B., 592, 593 

Gallagher, C. V., 594, 627, 634 

Gannett. J. VV., 596 

Gannon, M. V., 618, 625 

Gantt, Daniel, 592 

Gather, Governor Silas, 559, 563, 576, 
587, 595 

Gardner, J. F., 585 

Garfield, James A., 385 

Gaston. George B., 458 

Gaylord, M. C, 190 

Geological survey, 427 

Geology of Nebraska, 4 

Gere, C. H., 419, 563, 584, 585, 590, 
592, 596, 503, 604, 608, 610, 624, 640 

Gering. M. W., 627 

Gerrard, Leander, 610 

Gerry, Elbridge, 105 

Gibbs, I. L.. 175, 203, 376 

Gibson, John, 109 

Gibson, Thomas. 596 

Giddings, Joshua, 118 

Giddings, N. B., 168 

Gilbert, C. F., 645 

Gilbert, J. W., 362 

Giles, Elijah, 445 

Gilkison, T. R., 593 

Gillespie, John, 353, 361, 371. 542 

Gillis. Major, 413 

Gilmore, A. H., 254 

Giltner, Rev. H. M., 203. 205 

Girls' Industrial School, 623 

Globe-Journal. 445 

Gold standard, 566 

Goodrich, C. S., 440 

Goodrich, St. John, 345, 359, 585 

Goudy, A. K.", 620 

Gould, C. H.. 592 

Gould. Jay, 467 

Governors, see individual names 

Goyer, Alfred D.. 191 

Graham. J. M., 379 

Graham. Thomas. 598 

Grand C.anvon. 38 

Grand Island. 64. 65. 140. 141. 290 

Grand Island College, 504 

Grande Ronde River, 75 

Granges, 673, 674 

Grant county, see Coiuitv 

Grant, General H. S., 68'6 

Grasses. 17 

Grasshoppers. 425, 426, 574. 589. 590. 

595. 609, 667, 670 
Grattan, J. L., 399 
Gray, Captain, 46 

Great Britain, 99, 101. 102. 119. 141 
Great falls of Missouri river, 96 
Great medical road, 76 
Great Salt Lake, 66 
Grebe, Henry, 585, 604 
Green, Barton, !46 
Green, J. T., 428 
Greenback party, 585, 593 
Greenbacks, fusion with democrats. 594 
Greene. VV, L.. 630, 633, 636, 638 
Greer, R. R.. 623 
Greshani law, operation of, 218 
Griffin, Judge John, 109 
Griggs,."N. K.. 603 
Grimm, J. H., 594 
Groat, G. W., 313 
Guam, 98 

Gulf of Mexico, 15 
Gurley, VV. F.. 442 
Guthrie. Abelard. 125, 127 . ■ 
Gwin, Senator W. M., 82 
Gwyer, W. A., 465, 583 



716 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Hacker. J. H., 294 

Hacker, T. C, 443, 444 

Hadley, E. A., 624 

Hail. W. D., 448 

Hainer, E. J., 638 

Hale, J. P., 115 

Hale, R. S., 385 

Hall, A., 258 

Hall, C. L., 639 

Hall, F. M., 641 

Hall, S. E., 485 

Hall. T. F., 312 

Hall, W. P., 117 

Hallctt, Samuel, 472 

Hamer, F. G., 606 

Hamilton, Captain, 418 

Hamilton, Rev. William, 169, 170, 177 

Hammond, C. G., 491 

Hammond. R. L.. 638 

Hanna, M. A.. 643 

Hannibal and St, Joseph railroad. 88. 

349. 680 
Hanscom, A. T.. 191, 473 
Harden, E. H., 156 
Harden, E. R,, associate justice, 151 
Harding, A. J., 369 
Harding, N. S., 330 
Hardy, H. W., 592 
Hare, T. B., 203, 204 
Hargraves, Henry, 605 
Harlan, N, V.. 610. 619 
Harman, F. A.. 583 
Harney. General W. S.. 399. 400. 403, 

408. 412 
Harris. F. L.. 611 
Harrison, T. O. C, 634 
Harrison, Governor W. H., 109 
Hartley, J. W., 623 
Harvey, A, F., 433. 442 
Harvey. H. L.. 442 
Harvey. W. E., 347 
Harwood. N. S.. 592. 607. 625 
Hascall, I. S., 371, 582, 583 
Hastings, G. H.. 620. 631. 633 
Hastings. W. G.. 618. 642 
Hastings College. 501 
Hathawav. H. D.. 446 
Hawes, P. O.. 614 
Hawke. Nuckolls & Company, 90 
Hawlev, R. A., 638 
Hay, .lohn, 102 
Hayes county, see Coitntv 
Hayes, J. R.. 627 
Havden. D. T., 594 
Havdcn. F. v.. 427 

Hayward. M. L.. 592. 595, 609, 634, 640 
Hazen, General, 88 
Hazlett, A. W.. 609 
Heath, E. L., 635 
Heath, General H. H., 347, 440 
Heck, Tacob, 314 

Hendricks, T. A.. 255. 273. 382. 608 
Henn. Bernhart. 130, 131, 146 
Henniger, S. F., 624 
Henry, R. H., 206 
Henzel, J. A., 438 
Hepburn, G. W., 439 
Hepner, Major George. 161, 169 
Herald, the, 88, 95, 270 
Hergesejmer, C. A., 445 
Hervey, G. W., 444 
Hess, E. W., 614 
Hewitt, J. R., 587 
Hiatt, J. M., 607 
Hiegins. T. G., 608 
Hill. G. A.. 445 
Hill, G. W.. 443 
Hill. T. E.. 620, 631. 633 
Hinman. B. I.. 578. 608 
Hinshaw. E. H., 644 
Hitchcock. G. M., 442. 579. 583. 588, 

641. 644. 645. 647. 649. 676 
Hitchcock, P. W., 338. 340, 447, 541, 

566, 571, 588 
Hoar, E. R., 429 
Hoecken, Father Christian, 86, 87 
Holcomb, S. A., 210, 635, 636, 640 
Holdrege, George, 678 
Holladay, Dr. .V. S.. 410. 444 
Hollister, A. W., 161, 169, 174 
Hollister, G. H., 169 
Hollowav, C. T., 198 
Holly, C. F., 255 
Holmes, C. A... 579, 585, 597 
Holmes, E. P., 607 
Homesteads, 264, 377. 574 
Hord, T. B., 653 
Hoover, Dr. Jerome. 203 



Hopkins, Andrew, 428 

Hopkins, J. H., 429 

Horse creek, 67 

Hospital for the Insane, 546, 611, 629, 
631, 633 

House of representatives, see Legis- 
lature 

Houston, H. A., 438 

Howard, Edgar, 642 

Howard, Colonel B., 146 

Howe, Church, 587, 588, 606, 609, 613, 
614, 617, 627, 628 

Howe. E. W.. 445 

Howe. T. D.. 593. 598 

Howell. R. B.. 650 

Hoxie, H. M., 474, 491 

Huff, William, 491 

Huffaker, T. S„ 62 

Hughes, W. H. S., 415 

Hull, M. J., 603, 607 

Humphrey, A. R., 620, 631, 633 

Humphrey, G, M., 604 

Hungerford, E. M,, 579 

Hunt, W. P., 47 

Huntington, D. W. C, 498 

Huntsman's Echo, 26, 94, 413, 423, 425, 
432 

Hurford, O. P., 93, 415 

Hyde. Orson, 35, 142 

Idaho, 64, 106, 392 
Illinois, 110, 117, 118, 12u, 137 
Immigration, 541, 558, 589 
Impeachment of state officers. 590. 615. 

630, 633 
Income taxation, 624 
Incorporation laws, 171, 192 
Independence Day, 171, 197 
Independence, Declaration of, 98 
Independence landing, 64 
Independence Rock, 76 
Indian affairs, 10, 11, 26. 28. 38. 39, 96. 

118. 196. 273. 340. 343. 394, 404, 408. 

410, 419, 422, 576. 590. 609. 622. 677. 

680. 686. 689 
Indian chiefs. 30. 36, 37, 46, 687. 689 
Indian schools. 33, 434 
Indians, Tribes, 

Algonkin, 31 

Arapahoes, 31 

Arikara, 26, 46, 64, 395, 402 

Arkansas, 32 

Black Hills, 31 

Blackfeet, 31 

Brule, 31 

Cheyenne, 31, 689 

Chippewas, 33, 398 

Chouis. 7, 27 

Comanches, 32, 119 

Crows, 31 

Dakotas, 31 

Grand Pawnees, 63 

Iowa, 29 

Kickapoos, 110 

Kit-ke-haki, 27 

Mandans, 27. 29 

Minnetaree. 31 

Missouri, 29, 42, 44 

Nemaha, 31 

Ogalalla, 31 

Omahas. 26, 29, 31, 36. 119. 398 

Otoes. 29, 35, 36, 42. 44, 119. 398 

Ottawas, 33 

Pawnees. 26. 27. 31, 35, 62, 63, 78. 
119, 396, 398. 609 

Pita-how-e-rat, 27 

Poncas, 29, 35, 36. 393. 605 

Pottowatamie. 33 

Santee, 31 

Saskatchewan. 31 

Shawnees. the Ohio and Missouri. 119 

Shoshones. 32 

Siowan. 27 

Sioux, 32 

Sisseton. 31 

Skidi, 26 

Tapages. 63 

Teton, 31 

Wichitas, 26 

Winnebagos, 28, 30, 31, 33 

Vanktons. 31, 44 
Indiana, 108, 109. 120 
Ingalls, T. L., 445 
Ingersoll, E, P., 603. 604 
Insane asylum, see Hospital for the In- 
sane 
Institute for Feeble-minded, 632 
Interest rates, 188, 302 



Inter-marriage law, 210 

Inter-state Commerce Commission, 610 

Iowa, 83, 98, 110, 117, 118, 120. 129. 

132. 135 
Ireland. F. P., 593. 597, 624, 627 
Irish home rule, 610 
Irish, O. H., 287, 375, 433, 435. 527 
Irrigation, 614, 659, 664 
Irving, Washington, 1, 2, 4, 47, 65, 197 
Irwin, J. D., 445 
Irwin, W, J,. 603 

Izard. J. S., 201, 202, 222, 231, 233 
Izard, Mark W.. 151, 156, 184 

Jackson, \. H.. 335, 439 

Jackson, J. A.. 193 

Jackson. S. T.. 338 

Jackson. S. N.. 438 

.Jackson, Zaremba, 446 

Jackson's Hole, 64 

James, W. H., 328, 544, 605 

Jamison, S. R., 445 

jay, John, 102 

Jeffcoat, John, 639 

Jefferson, Thomas, 46, 98. 101, 102, 

104, 106, 108, 109, 112, 113 
Jefferson county, see County 
Jeffries, L. D., 445 
Jenkins, D. C, 419 
Jenkins, D. E., 515 
Jennings, W. H., 642 
Jensen, John, 607 
Johnson, Andrew, 343, 440 
Johnson, Eric, 628 
Johnson, F. B., 441 
Johnson, C^ W., 597 

Johnson, H. D.. 127, 129. 168. 205. 441 
Johnson. Harrison, 191 
Johnson, J. E., 433, 435 
Johnson. J. P.. 188. 279 
Johnson, Reverdv, 382, 387 
Johnson, Rev. Thomas, 128 
Johnston, General A. S., 80 
Johnston, G. W., 608 
Tones, A. D., 149, 171, 190, 217 
Jones, J. D., 205 
Jones, T. M., 585 
Jones, "W. A., 635 
Jones, W. R., 146 
Jones. W. W. W.. 597 
Jones. Russell and Company. 94 
Joslin. G. A.. 514 
Journal Territorial Council. 424 
Judges. 581 

Judicial districts. 151. 211, 580. 605 
Judicial system organization. 171 
Julesburg. 67. 82, 84 
Junction City. 39 

Kaley. C. W.. 639 

Kaley. H. S.. 346 

Kane, E. K., 142 

Kane, T. L., 142 

Kansas, annexation to, 273 

Kansas and Missouri rivers, 136 

Kansas and Nebraska territories, 127, 

129 
Kansas City, 64, 84 
Kansas river, the, 64, 94 
Kansas-Nebraska campaign, 116, 117 
Kansas-Nebraska iniquity, 134 
Kansas-Nebraska sovereignty, 126 
Kearney, General, 139 
Kearney stage, 89 
Keckley. C. K.. 616 
Keeling. .W. W.. 283 
Keith, JI. C, 585 
Kellev, William, 72, 79 
Kellogg, W., 354 
Kellogg, W. P., 315 
Kellom. John H., 238, 287 
Kern, O. M.. 614. 619. 620. 628, 637 
Kendall, .\. G., 597 
Kendall, N. B., 683 
Kennard, T. P., 361. 446 
Xennard claims. 567 

Kennedy. B. E. B.. 331, 349, 359, 473 
Kennedy, T. F., 197 
Kenower. G. P.. 639 
Keokuk Dispatch, 150 
Kerr. D. R., D.D.. 502 
Killian. E. .\.. 62 
Kimball. Ella Saunders. 140 
Kimball. H. C. 140. 141 
Kimball. T. L.. 491 
Kimball. T. M., 583 
Kimball county, see County 
King. Jacob. 176 



INDEX 



717 



King. Rufus, 101 

Kinkaid act, 662 

Kiiikaid. M. P., 644 

Kinney, John, 605 

Kinney, L. B., 198 

Kinney, \V. S., 692 

Kirk, A. D., 203, 445 

Kirkow, Gus. 603 

Kirkpatrick, S. M., 201. 205 

Kirtley, T. J., 603 

Knapp, Dr. W. M., 633 

Kneeval's land claims. 606 

Knight. J. L. H.. 614 

Knox county, see Cottntv 

Koenig. H. A., 310 

Kosters, A.. 256 

Kosters. Magdalena. 256 

Kountze, Augustus, 371, 349, 473 

Kountze, Herman, 676 

Kuhl, John, 648 

Kuony, J. B., 178 

Kuony, Regina, 178 

La Barge, Captain Joseph, 86 

Labor. 607. 611, 612', 613, 627 

Ladd's artillery. 88 

La Flesche, Joseph. 400 

La Flesche. Mary. 400 

I^ird, James. 593, 597, 604, 609, 610 

Lake Bemidji, 107 

Lake, G. B., 329, 349, 428, 588, 590 

Lake, O. F., 174 

Lake of Woods, 107 

Lambert, \\^ C.. 5 1 

Lambertson. G. M., 592. 641 

Land, 190, 191, 253, 255, 257. 273, J02, 

329, 331, 341, 428, 429, 580, 590, 594, 

603, 606, 608, 616 
Land offices, 232, 367, 541 
Lane, G: B., 611 
Lane, Tim, 414 
Langdon, C. S., 443. 444 
Laramie, 83 
Laramie river, 75 
Laramie Peak, 74 
Larimer. A. W, 473 
Larne. Tip. 605 
Latimer, \\'illiam, Sr., 203 
Latta, J, A., 88 
Latta, J. F.. 645 
Latter Day Saints, see Mormons 
Laws, 171, 186, 205, 331, 349. 589. 594 
Laws, G. L., 618 
T-,awrence Republican, 284 
L'eau-qui-court, 88 
Leavenworth, Colonel, 87 
Leavenworth, General Henry, 395 
Leavenworth, Lieutenant-Coionel, 395 
Leavenworth Herald, 282 
Leavenworth road, 90 
Lee, Daniel, 76 
Lee, Jason, 76 
Lee, William, 605 
Leese, William. 616, 627, 632, 633 
Legislature, 88, 104, 106, 114, 116, 120, 

121. 124, 145. 171, 173, 175, 177. 194, 

201, 203, 217, 220. 223. 227, 235. 239. 

253. 254. 257. 259, 262. 293. 297. 306. 

320. 329, 339, 340. 347. 359. 363. 364. 

376, 391, 447. 533, 552, 581, 587, 589, 

594, 598. 600, 605, 610, 620, 628, 638, 

641, 644, 645, 648. 650 
Leroy. 65 

I ewis. Meriwether, 41 
Lewis and Clark, 35, 40, 41, 43, 110 
Ley, Lewis, 594 

Liberty and St. Joseph railroad. 89 
Lincoln. 95, 125, 475, 531, 539 
Lincoln, Abraham, 84. 344, 443, 473, 

60S, 609 
Lincoln and Northwestern railroad, 679 
Lincoln Car, 487 
Lincoln Daily Call, 622 
Lincoln Daily Star, 641 
Lincoln Globe, 591 
) indlev, David, 131, 149, 155 
Liquor question. 187, 262, 539. 613. 614, 

645, 648, 650; see also Prohibition 
Lisa, Manuel de, 46, 5% 53, 56, 59 
Little, W. A., 339 
Little Bad Lands, 3 
Little Bighorn battle, 687 
Little Bighorn river, 37 
Little Blue, 64. 65. 67, 75 
Little Creek, 67 
Little Globe, 445 
Little Nemaha. 90 
Little Sioux, 86 



Live stock, 655, 656, 658 

Livingston, Colonel, 94, 99, 101, 414 

Loan's brigade, 411 

Lodge Pole creek, 67 

Lone Tree and Plum creek, 415 

Long, Major S. H., 49, 63, 65, 421, 422 

Loomis, G. L., 645 

Louisiana, 44, 98, 99, 100, 101, 103, 106, 

114, 120, 135, 137 
Louisiana Purchase, 35, 98, 100, 103, 

106, 107, 114, 121, 136, 137 
Loup county, see County 
Loup ford, 140 
Loup Fork, 88, 92, 93 
Loup river, 63 
Lowe, Enos, 193, 411 
Lowe, Jesse, 157, 159, 240 
Lowe, W. W.. 411 
Lucas. T. B. C, 110 
Ludden, L. P., 623 
Lumber supply, 424 
Luther college. 512 
Lyanna. L- E-, 443 
Lyman, Amasa, 140 

MacColl, John H., 589, 610, 618, 635, 

638 
McAllister, Wm., 597 
McBride. J. C, 444 
McCabe, J. W., 579 
McCann, D. J., 369, 438 
McClay, J. H., 692 
McClure, E. A., 440 
McConihe, General John. 413 
McConnell, T. L., 592 
McConnell, Robert, 491 
McCormick, C. H., 458 
McCreeley, Joseph, 593 
McCullough, Thomas. 438 
McDonald. Charles. 216 
McFadden. Captain Joseph, 412 
Mcintosh, H. F.. 444 
McKay, -Mexander, 47 
McKeighan, W. A., 619, 620. 628 
McKenna. W. S., 614 
McKenzie. T. M.. 518. 670 
McLellan. Robert. 46 
McLennan. William. 233, 236 
McManigal. John. 608 
McMeans. J. A.. 594 
McMurphy, J. A.. 446 
McNeely. E. G., 203 
McNeely. Hugh. 446 
McPherson. Dr. John, 303. 443 
McPherson. Smith. 639 
McShane. J. .\., 442. 612. 614. 636 
Madeley. C. H.. 603 
Magoon, C. E., 618 
Maha village, 42 
Mahoney, T. J., 625, 634 
Mail rates, 94 
iMail service, 194 

Majors, Alexander, 80, 81, 89, 90 
Majors, T. T.. 518. 585. 592, 52J, 618. 

620. 627. 630. 635, 637 "* 
Malcolm. Dr. A. B.. 169 
Mallaieu. J. T.. 607 
Mallet Brothers, expedition of. 40 
Manderson. General C. F., 579, 583, 

588, 603. 604, 614 
Mann, J. H.. 444 
Manners. C. A.. 428 
Manufactures. 665 
Manypenny.' G. W., 157 
Mapes. W. S., 691 
Marcos de Niza, 37 
Marpiya Luta. 36 
Marple, C. H.. 624 
Marquett. T. M., 235. 261. 282, 339. 

369. 445. 449. 526. 530, 535, 537, 592 
Marriage act, 210 
Marshall, A. B.. D.D., 504 
Martin. Euclid, 625, 634, 636 
Martin, E. L.. 445 
Martin. Frank. 610 
Martin. Franklin, 578 
Martin, G. W.. 623 
Martin. Colonel H. L.. 255 
Marvin. G. P.. 608. 636 
Marvin, J. J., 445 
Mason, O. P.. 260. 271. 347. 415. 429. 

551. 553. 571. 611 
Massachusetts, 98. 105. 106 
Mather. C. L.. 445. 579 
Maurepas lake. 106, 107 
Maxwell, Samuel. 611, 612, 634, 635, 63S 
May, George, 347 
Mayares, Spanish lieutenant, 46 



Mayberry, C. M,. 616 

Mead, F, J.. 583. 593 

Medary. Governor. 285, 286 

Medill, Commissioner, 119 

Megeath, J. G.. 347. 593 

Meiklejohn. G. D.. 610. 611, 613 

Mentzer, J. M., 441 

Mercer, D. H., 641 

Mercer, S. D,, 618, 627 

Meridian, guide, 189 

Merrick, .-\. W.. 446 

Merrill. Rev. Moses, 55, 57, 60 

Merrill, Rev. S. P.. 55 

Merritt. E. L., 442 

Methodist educational affairs, 499 

Mexico, 38, 106, UO, 115 

Meyer, Louis, 623 

Mickey, J. H., 642 

Midland Pacific railroad, 683 

Mile creek, 84 

Miles, Colonel, 89 

Miles, S. B., 583 

Milford Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, 

see Soldiers' and Sailors' Home 
Military affairs. 297 
Military bonds. 349 
Military expeditions, 396 
Military history, territorial, 394 
Military organization, first, 210 
Military post, second, 407 
Military roads. 262 
Militia, see Nebraska Militia 
Millard. Alfred. 442 
Millard. Ezra. 95 

Millard. J. H.. 604, 605, 641, 644 
Miller. Dr. G. L., 191, 196, 203. 217. 

416, 425. 447. 535, 582. 590. 593 
Miller. T. G.. 608 
Miller. Colonel Lorin. 284 
Miller. Matt. 612. 636 
Miller. Richard. 579 
Miller, W, H., 438. 443 
Miller's Hollow. 142 

Milwaukee and Mississippi railroad, 145 
Miner, I. W., 441 
Minnesota. 98. 118. 392 
Mississippi. 103. 112. 120 
Mississippi river, 102. 107 
Mississippi vallev. 1 
Missouri. 98. 110, 114, 118, 120 
Missouri Compromise. 112. 115. 120. 

122, 124. 125. 126. 127. 131. 133. 145 
Missouri Fur Company. 47. 48. 54. 55. 

57 
Missouri Pacific railroad. 683 
Missouri posts. 64 
Missouri river. 64. 76. 85. 94. 96. 111. 

123. 136 

Missouri River and Platte X'allev rail- 
road. 194 

Missouri river steamboats. 58 

Mitchell. D. D.. 398 

Mitchell. J. C. 167. 180. 181. 441 

Mitchell's pass. 73 

Mob violence. 447. 600 

MolTatt. D. H.. 561. 563 

.Monell. Dr. G. C, 438. 440. 473 

Monetary theory. 586 

Monroe. A. A.. 635 

Montgomery. C. S., 634 

Montgomery, General Milton M.. 583. 
6lp 

Monroe. President, 99, 100, 102, 114, 
115, 119 

Montana, 96, 98, 122, 392 

Monument marking. 274, 275 

Moore, Eugene, 639 

Moore. R, E.. 641 

Moore. Dr. S. \'., 603. 604 

Morehead. J. H., 649. 650 

Morer. Captain S, H.. 94 

Morgan. B. T. C, 491 

Morgan, E. D., 382 

Mormons, 67, 93, 138, 139, 140. 142. 
279 

Morrill. C. H.. 614 

Morris. Gouverneur. 105 

Morris. W. H., 585, 624 

Morrissey, Frank, 442 

Morrissey, John, 587 

Morse. J. W.. 485 

Morton. J, Sterling. 62, 95. 163. 166, 
20.3, 215, 217, 263, 265, 297, 299, 302, 
313. 315, 317. 318, 428, 535. 590. 593, 
603, 605. 608, 614. 624. 627, 628, 630 
672 

Morton. O. C, 91 

Morton, O. P., 590, 592 



718 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 



Morton, Thomas, 163, 437 

Mosher, C. W., 623, 631, 632, 635 

Mosquito creek, 198 

Mud Springs, 67 

Muir, R. v., 443 

Mulford, H. B., 691 

Munger, W. 11.. 604, 608 

Municipal charters, 193 

Murphy, Frank, 371 

Murphy, Michael, 155 

Murray. C. A., 63 

Murray, Patrick, 414 

Nance. Albinus, 592, 600, 606 
Napoleon Bonaparte, 98, 99, 102, 103, 

106 
Nash, Captain E. R., 412 
Nason, W. N., 623 

National cemetery. Fort McPherson. 416 
Nebraska, admission, 126, 145, 376, 381, 

393 
Sebraska AdvertUcr. 447 
Nebraska boundaries, 112, 116. 135, 392, 

393 
Nebraska Central College, 512 
Nebraska City, 75, 81, 84, 85, 89, 90, 92, 

93, 94, 96 
Nebraska City National Bank, 605 
Nebraska City News, 22, 88, 96, 167. 

257, 433, 438, 439 
Nebraska City Press, 94, 433. 438, 444, 

446, 689 
Xcbraska Enquirer, 446 
Nebraska Farmer, 444 
Nebraska government, 109, 112. 127 
Nebraska Industrial Home. 611 
Nebraska Medical Society, 193 
Nebraska militia, 156, 319, 411, 618. 627, 

640, 708, 709 
■Nebraska Paliadium. 147, 149, 160, 163, 

195, 433, 434, 439 
Nebraska Pioneer, 446 
Nebraska Register, 445 
Nebraska Republican, 440 
Nebraska resources, 651, 657, 665 
Nebraska Sanitarium, College View, 509 
Nebraska State Board of Pharmacy, 611 
Nebraska State Journal, 446, 591, 604, 

622, 640, 689 
Nebraska Statesman, 361 
Nebraska, strategic location, 666 
Nebraska territory, 116, 122, 127, 135, 

392 
Nebraska University, at Fontenelle. 193 
Negro question, 344. 354. 359. 376. 394. 

539: see also Slavery 
Nemaha City. 90. 444 
Nemaha Universitv. 211 
Nemaha valley, 423 
Nemalia Vallev Journal. 44 
Nettleton. n. M., 616 
Neville. William. 609 
New Eldorado. 38 
New England. 104. 106. 113. 117 
New Galicia. 38 

New Mexico, 64. 114, 116. 118. 136 
New Orleans, 79, 83, 98, 99. 101. 103, 

109. 141 
Newspapers, see individual names 
New York, 85, 88, 98 
New York Herald, 129 
New York Times, 218 
Newberry freight law, 635 
Nichols. Joseph, 491 
Nickerson, O. G., 439 
Niobrara river. 5 
Norris. G. W., 644. 647 
North, Captain F. T., 412. 4IS 
North. T. E., 593, 603, 60S, 610 
North Fork river, 88 
North Loup river, 7 
North Platte, 88. 92. 95. 159 
Northern Pacific railroad. 85 
Northwest Territory. 110. 120. 136 
Norton. D. S., 382 
Norval. T. T... 614 
Nuckolls. Houston, 449 
Nuckolls. S. F.. 215. 282 
Nye. Caroline M.. 266 
Nye, Frederick, 441 
Nye, Ray. 607 
Nye. Theron, 266. 588 

Occupation tax, 646 
O'Dav, Thomas. 609. 611, 612 
Odd Fellows Order, 211 
O'Fallon. Benjamin, 395 
O'Fallon's Bluff, 84 



Offut, Charles. 625, 626 

Ogden, Charles, 625 

Ohio Slate Journal, 147, 441 

Oklahoma. 31. 98 

Oldham. W. D.. 636 

Olive, I. P., 605 

Ollis, J. A„ 650 

Omaha. 73. 75. 83. 88. 96. 130', 147. 151. 

191. 611, 613, 693. 696 
—Omaha .'irrow, 89. 435 

Omaha Bee, 441. 578. 589. 603, 604, 6!)7, 

615, 619, 622, 628, 630, 635, 63S, 644 
Omaha bridge, 490 
Omaha City Times, 92, 439 
Omaha DaUv Herald, 95, 442. 57S. 612. 

690 
C)maha Daily Republican, 92, 417. 440, 

607. 615. 617 
Omaha high school. 539. 687 
Omaha missionary station. 196 
Omaha Ncbraskian, 89, 92, 94, 218, 417, 

424, 433, 439 
Omaha Seminary, 503 
Omaha World-Herald, 442, 622. 624, 

637. 687 
Ong. Jud^e. 634 
Opdyke, George. 473 
Orchardist, 444. 445 
Ordinance of 1787, 109, 118, 120. 123, 

136, 137 
Oregon, 78, 106, 115, 118, 392. 646 
Oregon trail. 48, 50, 64. 67. 73. 75. 78. 

399 
Osage Indians. 110, 111, 119, 127 
Osborn, L. W.. 611 
Overland mail, 80, 416 
Overland stage, 62, 80, 95 

Pace, L. C, 592, 596, 603 

Pacific Fur Company, 46, 47 

Pacific telegraph, 416 

Pacific wagon roads, 97 

Packing house products, 657 

Paddock, A. S., 318, 339, 376, 411. 456. 

457. 571. 630 
Paddock. T. W., 191, 203, 235. 44r, 
Paine, B. L., 619 
Paine, Phelps. 579 
Palladium, see Nebraska Pall-jdinni 
Palmer. loel. 65. 67 
Palmer. L. B., 619 
Palmerton, Benjamin, 593 
Papillion creek, 140 
Parish, T. E., 446 
Parker, G, W., 39 
Parker, Samuel, 69, 76 
Parkman. Francis, 62, 65, 7S 
Parrott, M. T., 285 
Patrick, T. H., 276 
Patrick, "M. T., 411 
Patterson, n. C, 597 
Patterson, Rachel, 77 
Patterson, Thomas, 210 
Pattison, J. W.. 218. 435. 436 
Pawnees, see Indians 
Peabody, J. A,, 292 
Peabodv. Mrs. Tennie Yates. 292 
Pearman, Maior J. W., 408, 605 
Peck, J. P.. 246 
Peckham, Marv. 256 
Peckham. Perry M.. 256 
Pendleton, G. H., 308. 309. 311 
Pendleton Messenger, 143 
Penitentiary, 211. 546. 559. 576. 631. 

633 
Pentland. A. W.. 309. 311 
People's Press. 433. 437. 445 
Perkins county, see County 
Perry. D. B.. 496 
Peru Times, the. 444 
Philippines. 98. 105. 387. 640 
Philpott. T. E.. 428 
Phoenix Park. 72 
Pierce. C. W.. 155, 203 
Pierre, President Franklin, 124. 143, 

145 
Pierce, N. O.. 445 
Pierce, W. L., 620 
Pierre, 85 
Pigeon creek, 198 
Pike, Lieutenant Z. M., 27, 44. 46 
Pike's Peak. 75. 81. 84. 90. 93. 94 
Pike's Peak express. 81. 83 
Pilcher, Major Joshua. 54. 59. 86. 395 
Pile. J. M., 520 
Pine Ridge. 3. 17. 36. 689 
Pioneer railway. 465 
Pirtle. C. H.. 618. 6?4 
Placerville. Cal.. 81, 83 



Piatt, L. W., 458 

Platte river, 64, 75, 88, 94, 117, 377 

Platte vallev, 87, 130, 194 

Platte Valley Herald, 445 

Platte \'alley Times, 445 

Plattsmouth, 75, 88, 196 

Plattsmouth Jeftersonian, 445 

Points, J. J., 603 

Police commission, 613 

Political conditions, 201. 202. 213. 221. 

22i, 228. 2i2, 253. 259, 287. 289. 293. 

299. 301. 303. 309. 329. 332. 3ii, iiJ, 

343. 347. 351. 354, 369, 374, 381, 430, 

447, 451, 556, 578, 583, 590, 598, 636. 

642 
Political journals. 219 
Political parties, 533, 551, 572, 599, 603. 

647 
Politicians. 133, a7 
Pollard. E. M.. 644. 645 
Pollard. Isaac. 10 
Pomeroy. General. S. C. 285 
Poncas. see Indians 
Pony express. 62, 82, 84, 94 
Pool, C. W., 646, 648 
Poor, 11. v., 473 
Pope, Major-General John, 52. 404. 411. 

686 
Poppleton. A. L. 88. 159. 172. 203. 44S. 

473. 608, 614 
Population, 585, 587 
Populist party, 540, 603. 615. t34 
Porter, Captain C. F., 411, 414 
Porter, J. R., 371, 417 
Porter, N. S., 369 
Porter, W. F., 622 
Post. A. M.. 624, 639 
Post. G. W.. 607 

Postal telegraph and savings banks, 627 
Potash industry. 693, 702, 705. 
Pottawattomie. 128 
Potter. VV. M., 441 
Poultry raising, 662 
I'ound. Laura B., 373 
I'MUnd. S. B.. 372. 630, 633 
Powell. Major, 417 
Powers, Isaac, 607 

Powers. J. II.. 615, 616, 619, 637, 631 
Povnter, W. A., 609, 624, 627, 635, 64.1, 

641 
Prairie du Chien treaty, 273 
Pratt, Orson, 140 
Pratt, P. P., 141 
Preparatory institute. 211 
Presbyterian mission at Bellevue, 182 
Press, see Nebraska City Press 
Presson, Colonel, 88 
Prey. T. W.. 428 
Price. S. B.. 438 

Pritchett. G. E.. 593, 597, 610. 612 
Prohibition, 187, 306, 604, 607, 622, 647. 

650 
Prohibition, see Liquor Question 
Promontory Point. 490 
Prouty. L. B.. 445 
Pryor. Ensign Nathaniel. 46 
Public lands and buildings, board of, 581 
Pulitzer. Joseph. 644 

QuiNcy, JOSIAH, 106 
Quincy & Alton railroad. 677 

Ragan. J. F.. 635 

Railroads. 62. 145, 465, 491. 607, 6:9. 

677. 680 

Assessments, 576 

Bonds, 470. 471 

Commission, see Railway eomm' 

Construction. 151. 677, 680, 681 



61; 



\ss\ou 
61 .. 



548, 
individual 



7, 569, 574. 

■s of 

639, 



Government ownership of. 

624 
Kings. 484. 548 
Legislation. 538. 

589. 623. 652 
Names of. see 

railroads 
Passes 604. 606, 607. 616. 618 

641 
Politics. 598 
Rates. 589, 593 
622, 624, 627 
.Stations and naming, 622 
\'aluation, 643 
Railway commission. 603, 613, 627. 650 
Rainfall. 14. 661. 671 
Randolph. John. 114 
Rankin. B. P.. 201. 221 
Ransom. F. T.. 638 
Ravmond. I. M.. 613 



603. 606, 611, 6IS. 



264. 450 



INDEX 



'19 



Reavis, Isham, 370 

Red River, 106 

Redick. J. I., 363, 592, 604 

Reed. S. B., 491 

Reese, M. B., 606, 607. 614, 618, 6-M, 

634, 645 
Reeves, M. S., 283 
Reiley, Austin, 632 
Relief commission, 623, 629 
Remington, William, 350 
Remington, Mrs. William, 350 
Republican, see Weekly Republican 
Republican party, 134. 261, 2U1. 302. 

318, 344, 415, 603, 642 
Republican river, 5 
Resumption act, 593 
Revenue law. 231, 269 
Rcvnolds, D. B.. 603 
Reynolds. M. W., 274, 433, 439. 454 
Richards. Lucius D., 612. 614. 618. 619. 

625. 655 
Richards. Willard. 140. 141 
Richardson, A. T., 62 
Richardson, J. W., 447 
Richardson. Lvraan. 190. 442 
Richardson, O'. D., 181. 191. 205 
Richardson. W. A., 117, 234. 307 
Ricklev, John, 337 
Riden," M. W.. 175 
Ring, Rufus. 113 
Rio Roxo or Red river. 106 
Ritchie. Joseph, 585 
Rittenhouse. A. J., 608 
River navigation, 62, 85 
Roads, 

Military, 88 

Old Fort Kearney, 406 

Territorial, 263 
Roberts, Dr. G. H.. 585, 611 
Robertson, Seth. 428 
Robertson. T. H., 371, 433 
Robertson, W. H., 596 
Robidoux, Joseph, 72, 404 
Robinson, j. S., 641 
Rock, Carboniferous, 4 
Rock, Cretaceous, 5 
Rock BlutTs City, 359, 446 
Rock county, see County 
Rock Island railroad. 677. 683 
Rockefeller eifts. 643 
Rockv mountains. US, 136 
Rogers, E. H., 337 
Rogers, Manley, 312 
Rogers, S. E.. 191, 423 
Rogers, W. R., 149 
Roggen. E. P.. 428 
Rolfe, D. P., 636 
Rolfe. R. M.. 326 
Rooker, W. V., 442 
Roosevelt, Theodore, 650 
Root, Allen, 446, 585, 596. 619 
Rose, A. M., 163 
Rosewater. Edward, 441. 566. 5S9. 591, 

592, 603^ 610, 618, 625, 635. 641, 644, 

676 
Rothacker, O. H., 441 
Rounds. S. P.. Sr.. 441 
Rouse, G. L., 639, 642 
Royce, C. C, 27 
Rule, 445 

Russell, W. H.. 83 
Ryan, T. J., 683 

Safford. Jacob. 154 

Sage. Rufus, 62 

St. Augustine. 107 

St. Domingo. 103 

St. Joseph, 66. 75. 81. 83. 88. 93 94 

St. Joseph St Denver railroad company. 
606 

St. Joseph & Des Moines railroad com- 
pany. 679 

St. Joseph to Albany railroad, 679 

St. Louis. 65, 83. 85. 87, 93 

St. Mary. 86 

St. Mary's Gazette. 129 

St. Paul & Missouri River railrond. 6S2 

Salt. 426. 427. 428. 430. 537, 539 

Salt Creek valley. 427 

Salt lake. 80. 83. 94 

Salt Lake City. 81, 84, 140 

San Francisco, 81, 83, 84 

Sandstone BlulTs. 74 

Santa Fe trail, 48, 63, 64 

Santo Domingo, 99, 100, 105 

Sarpy, T. B., 56 

Sarpy. P. A.. 51. 56. 57. 86. 148 

Sarpy county, see County 



^arpy's ferry. 139 

Saulsbury, Willard. iS^ 

Saunders, Alvin, 301. 318. 526. 571, 5S3. 

588, 604. 605, 676 
Savage, E. I*.. 642 

Savage, 1. W., 579, 587, 588, 604, 607 
Sawyer, A. J., 596, 612, 623, 625 
Saxon, John, 596 
Schneider, E. F., 440 
School funds, 627, 632 
School lands, see Land 
School law, 209 
Scientific American, 96 
Scofield, B., 582 
Scott, T. A., 467 
Scotts BIuiT. 65, 72, 75 
Scotts Bluflf county, see County 
Seaton. J. S., 344 
Secession in 1860, 112 
Sedgwick, S. H., 645 
Semi-Centennial, 706, 708 
Seminar, botanical, 16 
t^enate. see Legislature 
Sergeants Bluff. 86 
Session laws, 186 
Settlements, first, 24 
Seward, W. H., 440, 473 
Seymour, Silas, 475, 476 
Shallenberger, A. C, 641, 644, 645 
Sharp, E. S., 203 
Sharp, J. L., 128, 155, 169, 172, ISO, 

205 
Shawnees, see Indians 
Shedd, Lieutenant-Governor II. II., 598, 

609 
Sheep, 654, 656 
Sheldon, G. L., 642, 643 
Sheldon, Lawson, 422 
Shallenberger. Governor. 646 
Shelley, Dr. B. Y.. 167 
Sherfey, C. W., 445 
Sheridan, J. A., 628 
Sherman, C. W., 440 
Sherman, J. H., 382. 433. 439 
Sherman, General W. T., 404, 6S6 
Shervin, J. E., 618 
Shinn, M. F., 196 
Shinn's ferry, 93 
Shoemaker, I., 191 
Shoemaker, W. S., 636 
Shumway, H. B.. 624 
Sickler, T. E., 491 
Sierre Leone, 112 
Silver dollars, coinage of. 592 
Simons, George, 92 
Simons, Norton, 92 

Simpson, Colonel J. H.. 465. 477. 43'J 
Simpson University (early Wesleyan, 

Omaha), 193, 211, 497 
Singleton, General,' 270, 449 
Sioux Indians, see Indians 
Sioux City. 92 
Sioux county, see County 
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 7 
Sites, Colonel George, 87 
Slaughter. B. D.. 625. 635 
Slavery. 105. 106, 112, 115. 123. 126. 

143, 280, 290, 301, 341, 449. 431, 452, 

454, 455, 458, 459 
Slavery, see Negro Question 
Slicker, J. M.. 6fl 
Slocumb law. 599, 648 
Smails, N. W.. 593, 597 
Smith, -Adam, 414 
Smith, A. I., 593 
Smith, C. B., 149, 155, 201 
Smith, K. P., 634. 636 
Smith, G. A., 140 
Smith, Hoke, 635 
Smith, Hyrum, 138 
Smith, Toseph, 138 
Smythe." C. J.. 634, 639 
Snake river, 75 
Snell, N. Z.. 632 
Snort Daily, 444 
Snowden, Rechel, 164 
Snowden, W. P.. 165 
Snyder. Webster. 491 
Social life and character. 394 421 
Soldiers' & Sailors* Home, Milford. 640 
Solitary tower. 67. 69 
Sorenson. John, 441 
South Carolina. 98, 143, 145 
South Pass route, 129 
South Platte river, 64. 65 
Spain. 101. 103. 106. 677. 690. 692 
Spanish, the. 37. 99. 103. 108. 110 
Speice. C. A.. 312. 604 
Stoats Zeitung, 438 



Stansbury, Howard, 66. 72. 74, 79, 80, 

431 
Stark, W. F., 638 
State banking board, 638 
State capitol, see Capitol 
State Historical Society, 605 
>tate institutions. 631 
State Normal Schools, 

Chadron, 520 

Kearney, 519 

Peru, 518 

Wayne, 520 
State officers, 359, 580 
State organization, 533, 534 
State Register, 442 
State University, see L'nizersity of ,\'c- 

braska 
Statehood question. 296. 297. 331. 349, 

351, 359, 361, 363 
Statutes, 349 
Steam wagon line, 96 
Steele City, 75 
Steinhart, John 294 
Stephens, A. H., 220 
Stevens. Thaddeus. 385 
Stevenson, T. B.. 411 
Stewart. John, 439 
Stickel, T. H., 604. 605. 609 
Stock yards. 649, 652, 653. 655 
Stoddard, Captain Amos, 109 
Stone, G. A.. 594 
Stone age material, 8 
Stotsenburg, J. M., 691 
Stout, W. H. B.. 594. 606. 607. 609, 

632 
Stowell. Martin. 444 
Streeter, J. E-, 380 
Streeter, Rienzi, 380 
Stretch, W. S., 444 
Strickland, S. A., 161, 191 
Strickland, J. B., 439 
Strode, J. B., 638 
Stuart, David, 47 
Stuart, Robert, 47, 48 
Sturdevant, P. D., 603. 604, 607, 636 
Sturger, C. W.. 359. 361 
Suffrage qualifications. 112. 457 
Sugar beets, 658 
Sugar bounty law, 613, 614. 622. 627, 

637, 638 , 

Sullenberger, O. P., 594 
Sullivan, T. I., 639 
Sullivan, P. "C. 203. 446 
Sully. General .Mfred. 404 
Summers. Dr. J., Sr., 277 
Sumner. Charles. 376. 382 
Supreme court, 579, 581, 613 
Sutherland, George, 505 
Sutherland, T. R.. 616 
Sutherland, R. D., 638 
Sutton, ,-\. L.. 650 
Sutton. H. T., 644 
Sweesy, W. F., 377 
Sweet, Franklin, 342 
Sweetwater, 75 
Swezev, G. D., 13 
Sydenham, M. H.. 84 
Symmer, F. W., 155 

■Taffe, John. 278, 369, 433, 440. 441. 
539, 566, 591 

Taft, William Howard, 650 

Tafte, W. F., 645 

Taggart, J. M., 244 

Talbot, A. R.. 640 

Talbot. R. C. 579 

Tallyrand. 99. 101. 103 

Taney, Chief Justice, 108 

Tariff, 607. 609, 612, 616, 618. 624 

Taxes. 188. 327, 335, 610, 613 

Taylor, Bayard, 79 

Taylor, E. B.. 433. 440. 527. 537 

Taylor, Elisha. 644 

Taylor, John, 112, 141 

Taylor, T. P.. 684 

Taylor. W. H., 259, 283 

Tekamah, 196 

Telegraph company. Missouri & West- 
ern. 84. 93 

Telegraph, government ownership of, 
616. 624 - 

Territorial agricultural and mechanic:;! 
fair, see Fair, first territorial 

Territorial assemblv. officers of, 376 

Territorial debt, 331 

Territorial fair, see Fair, first territorial 

Territorial legislature. 381 

Territorial library. 423 

Territorial organization. 147 



"20 



HISTORY OF NEBRASKA 




Territorial scliool commissioner, 297 
_;,Thanksgiving day, 155, 198, 434 
?*rhirty-two mile creek. 415 
Thomas, A. O., 519, 650 
Thomas, C. B., 441 
Thomas, E. W., 359 
Thomas county, see Cotattv 
Thompson, B, B.. 180 
Thompson, D. E., 640, 641 
Thomjison, Edward, 499 
Thompson, J. D. N., 205, 255 
Thompson, J. M., 615 
Thompson, R. B., 632 
Thompson, S. R., 13, 585 
Thompson, W. H., 620, 627, 636, 639, 

644 
Thorne, James, 438 

aw. Mrs. William, 503 
Thayer, General T. M.. 88. 190. 210. 
■, 319. 403. 409. 419. 541. 571. 573. 604. 

613, 617. 618. 628. 629 
Thummel, G. H., 624, 634 
Thurber, H. P., 210 
Thurston. J. M., 583, 593, 597, 607, 

630, 637 
Thurston county, see Coitntv 
Tibbets, G. W.. 646 
Tibbies. T. H., 402 
Tibbies, Vosette La Flesche, 402 
Tichenor, A. C, 428 
Tilden. S. J., 583, 608 
Times, 445 
Tipton. T. W., 88. 339. 378. 537. 597, 

604 
Toadstool park. 6 
Todd. Levi. 603 
Tolls. 606 
Tower, L. H., 606 
Towns, naming of, 196 
Townsend, A. 11.. 445 
Townshiji organization. 605 
Tracy, E. H., 691 
Traders, early. 24 
Trading post, old, 86 

Train, G. F.. 88. 349. 359, 465. 472. 473 
Transcontinental railway. 85 
Trans-Mississippi exposition. 675 
Transportation, board of. 611 
Travel and transportation, early. 62 
Treaty of 1783. 394 
Trees and tree i)lanting. 16, 425. 672 
Trumbull. Lyman. 382 
Tucker, G. P., 225 
Tucker, Nancy T., 224 
Turk, J. C. 446 
Turner, M. K.. 603, 604 
Turtle Hill, 96 
Tuttle. S. }.. 579 
Tzschuck. Tlruno, 321, 563. 578 

Uliei-Er, Joseph, 380 

Underground railroad, 458 

Union College, 506, 507 

Union Pacific railroad, 62, 81, 82, 87, 

88, 95, 129, 182, 198. 349, 377. 378. 

465. 473, 480, 481, 485, 491, 527, 613. 

684, 686 
Union republican party, 337, 347, 361 
U. S. senators, popular election of, 618, 

624, 627, 632 » 

U. S. surveys. 171. 188. 273 
University of Nebrnsk.T. 495. 521. 524. 



538. 579, 581, 609. 611. 630, 650, 664 
University of Omaha, 514 
Upjohn, Dr. E. N., 277 
Utah, 76, 90, 118, 122, 125, 392 

Valentine, E. K., 592. 597, 604. 607 

Vallandigham, C. L., 308 

Vallery. Jacob. Sr.. 578 

Vandervoort. Paul, 630 

Vanderburgh. Judge Henry, 109 

A^andeventes. George. 369 

\'an Reulh. Floris, ii7 

Van \'liet. Captain Stuart, 401 

Van Wvck, C. H., 578, 583. 598. 604, 

610, 616, 619, 627 
\'erniillion, 67 

Vifquain, Victor, 298, 299, 418, 597. 692 
Vincennes, 109 
Virginia. 98. 104, 112 
\^olcano in Nebraska, 44 
Von Forell, E-, 639 
Voorhees, U. W., 308, 309, 311, 314. 590 

Wade. B. F.. 382 

Wait, .-\ddison. 648 

Wakeley. Eleazer, 262, 318, 429, 596, 

612, 630 
Walford, W. W.. 314 
Walker. William. 124. 126 
Wall. Aaron. 612 
Wallace. General Lew, 409 
Wallichs. John. 597 
Wallingford. A. J.. 418 
Wantossa, the steamer, 92 
Warbonnet canyon, 3 
Warner, T. F.. 604 
Warren. E. F.. 606 
Warren, Marvin. 585 
Washburn. William. 369 
Washington College. 211 
Washington County Sitiiy 446 
Washington monument, 599 
Waterman, Herman, 314 
Waters, W. H. H.. 337. 438 
Watkins. Albert. 77. 625 
Watson, Grove, 490 
Watson, J. C, 613 
Watterson, Henrv, 389 
Wattles, G. W.. 676 
Wattles, S. H.. 410 
Waugh, Samuel. 585 
Weather bureau. 13 
Weaver. A. 7., 604. 610 
Webster. Daniel, 114, 116, 124. 125 
Webster, E. D., 433, 625 
Webster, J. L., 578, 624, 625, 629, 643. 

647 
Webster. W. H.. 593 
Wecklv Republican, Omaha. 93, 96. 374, 

690 
Weeping Water, 10 
Welch, Frank, 585 
Welch, James, 300 
Wellington, 72 
. Wells Fargo S: Co.. 88 
Wesleyan University, 497 
West, G. W., 636 
West Indies. 105 
Western Bugle. 129 
Western Stage Comprny. 82. 94 
M'esfer'y Stockntnn, 444 
Westport. 64 



Wharton. Captain, W, H., 400 

Wharton, Major, 396 

Wheat area, 660 

Wiudon, C. 0., 593, 641, 642 

W iKcler, D. H., 336 

Wliceler. T. H.. 683 

WlRckr. R. L.. 501 

Wheeler county, see Couiily 

White. Captain A. G., 411 

VNfhite, F. E.. 620 

White. Major, J. D.. 189 

Whitefield, N. B., 326 

Whitehead, James, 628 

W lutman, Marcus, 76 

Whitmore. Frank, 653 

Whitniore, William, 653 

Whitted, R. B., 149, 190 

Whitworth, Lord, 101 

Wilcox, T. C, 441 

Wilcox, W. H., 605 

Wild Cat mountain, 75 

Wilder, William. 414 

W'iles. Captain Isaac. 411 

Wilkinson. General James. 44, 109, 110 

Williams, T. A.. 645 

Williams. T. L., 193, 476 

Williams, T. M. S.. 349 

Williams. R. S., 458 

Wilmot Proviso, 116, 123 

Wilson, A. G., 585 

Wilson. J. S.. 273 

Wilson. Woodrow. 650 

Wiltse. Senator. 646 

Wind river. 64 

\\''ineRar. R.. 446 

A\'imiehagos. see Indians 

Wisconsin. 118. 120, 123, 137 

Wise. B. T., 411 

Wiseman, Henson. 407 

W.,lhach, S. N., 627, 636 

Wolfe. T. v.. 616. 627 

Woman" suffrage. 549, 574, 604, 627 

Woman's associate charities, 611 

Wood. J. M., 175 

Wood River Center, 94 

Woodruff. Wilford. 140 

Woodston. S. H., 80 

Woodward. T. H , 596 

Woodward, W. H., 632 

Woolworth, T. M., 87, 154, 192. 248. 

252, 352, 389, 557, 607 
World-Herald, see Omaha World-Herald 
Wright, John, 71, 77, 274 
Wrieht, William, 149 
Wright, W. F., 616 
Wyandotte, Otoe county. 126. 142 
Wveth, Cantain Nathaniel T.. 50. 64 
Wyman. W. W.. 226 
Wyoming, 98, 137, 392 
Wyoming Telescope, 437, 438 

Yates, Richard, 473 

'S'cllowstone river, 76 

Yellowstone, the steamer, 85 

York College, 511 

York Seminary. 499 

Yost. C. E.. 340. 441 

Young. Biigham, 139, 141. 4111. 473 

A'oung, Charles. 439 

■S'oung. Harriet P. W.. 140 

Young. L. D., 140 

Zentmeyer. Miles. 582, 585, 60S, 611 



/m 



